BSA Troop 175

Policy 1000

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BSA TROOP 175
POLICY STATEMENT
1000 / DATE
August 31, 2015
(Revised)
SUBJECT
Family Participation Policy
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Purpose

A fundamental tenant of Boy Scouts of America Troop 175 is that the scouts lead the troop. Scouts plan activities and execute leadership functions within Troop 175. Nonetheless, adult participation is crucial to ensure safe, orderly and fun scouting experiences. For this reason, family participation is needed and will be required for those scouts who wish to attend Troop 175 Summer Camp.

I.  Definitions

Family Member is any person who is related to a scout or stands in loco parentis to the scout.

Volunteer Coordinator is responsible for assigning volunteer hours to activities and tracking the volunteer hours served by family members for each scout in Troop 175.

Volunteer Hours: For each volunteer activity, the number of hours will be identified at the time the family member signs up for the activity. The family member who completes the volunteer activity will earn that number of hours, regardless of the actual length of time spent.

II.  Required Volunteer Hours – New Scouts

In order to join Troop 175, each new scout’s parent(s) will agree to provide (14, 16 or 20) ten (10) volunteer hours from January 1 to January 1. The parent(s) will identify one or more family members who will provide the required volunteer hours to the Troop 175 Volunteer Coordinator.

Families with multiple scouts in Troop 175 are only required to provide ten (10) volunteer hours from January 1 to January 1.

Additionally, one family member will be required to register with the troop as a committee member or other designated role supporting the troop. This individual will need to complete both the BSA and Troop 175 registration including driver’s license, insurance, and other required information will be collected and entered into TroopMaster.

This is an area that probably needs some discussion. 10 hours per family would be approximately 700 hours, basically between 9/1 and 5/31, which is about half of a full-time employee. How many hours are enough to show commitment, but not so many that it’s a) a burden and b) we don’t have people tripping over each other (which is an unfortunate side effect of this type of thing)/

III.  Required Volunteer Hours – Returning Scouts

For current members of Troop 175, the scout’s parent(s) must identify one or more family members who will provide the required volunteer hours as one condition of their scout attending summer camp in 2015 and in future years. As with new scouts, one parent will need to continue to be registered with the troop and families with multiple scouts in Troop 175 are only required to provide ten (10) volunteer hours from September 1 to May 1.

IV.  Required Training

BSA Youth Protection training is mandatory for all adults volunteering and is a requirement for registering with Boy Scouts of America online safety course. The completion of the course counts for two (2) volunteer hours.

V.  Certain Troop Committee Positions Exempt

Adults who are family members of scouts and serve in the following positions with Troop 175 are exempt from any additional volunteer hours during the year or at summer camp:

A.  Scoutmaster

B.  Assistant Scoutmaster

C.  Secretary

D.  Treasurer

E.  Volunteer Coordinator

F.  {add additional positions?}.

G.  Committee Chairs

H.  Camp 175 Committee (it is separate from Troop 175 leadership, correct?)

I.  Any position or function designated by the Scoutmaster as exempt from additional volunteer hours. We could either list them all, or give things like re-chartering enough hours that Cody is essentially exempt.

VI. 

J.  Waiver

K. 

L.  The Scoutmaster may grant a waiver of any or all of the required volunteer hours for good cause, which shall include medical reasons, death in the family, or any other unforeseen circumstances that cause a family not to fulfill the requirements. Additionally, the Scoutmaster may designate certain individuals to hear the circumstances regarding requests for waiver and to grant waivers.

M. Remediation: What if someone does not meet the requirements, but has a very good reason? An example would be that a scout’s grandparent is sick, or dying. His parents are distracted and are trying to make sure the scout’s life goes on as normally as possible, meaning they work hard to get him to meetings and events, but have other obligations. Sounds like a stretch, but having done this for a charter school, there are valid reasons for not fulfilling the requirements. And as a parent that has had additional obligations one year, I suggest we find some mechanism (appeal to a governing committee?) to allow well-meaning folks the ability to state their case.

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10-11-2015 (dmd)