Handbook
Troop 72
Handbook for Scouts, Parents, and Leaders
Click for Roster of Troop Leaders
We
have compiled this “handbook” to describe some of the basics of
how our troop works. We hope that
both newcomers and “old timers” will find it useful. We welcome your
suggestions. A supplement to this
handbook provides a roster of both youth and adult leaders of the troop.
They are referred to in this Handbook by numbers in parentheses.
Scouts
will not be permitted along on an outing without a written permission slip,
signed by the parent or guardian. These
slips are usually due at least a week before the outing.
Drivers
are often needed for outings. We
hope that all parents will volunteer to drive on some outings, even if they are
not planning to stay. The Tour
Permit Coordinator (1) maintains a master list of drivers, vehicles, and
insurance information that he uses to obtain tour permits for our outings.
New parents should provide this information to the Tour Permit
Coordinator. Changes of vehicles
and/or insurance should also be provided to him.
Passengers and drivers must wear seatbelts.
Each
troop trip has an adult tour leader (21 years or older) and an assistant tour leader (18
years or older) and a Scout tour leader. The
Scout tour leader works with the adults in planning and carrying out many of the
trip activities. This includes helping with the site selection, announcing and
giving out trip information/permission slips, assigning trip patrols, and
telephoning reminders if needed. He
should prepare afternoon Scout advancement programs and evening campfire program
activities (stories, jokes, games) as appropriate.
4.
Food and Equipment on Outings
The
troop works by the "patrol method."
That means that on outings where meals are prepared, the food purchase,
meal preparation, and cleanup are done by patrol.
The patrol leader is responsible for organizing this and, if he is not
going on an outing, is responsible for designating an acting patrol leader for
the outing and for letting the trip organizer know who this will be.
Sometimes we will combine patrols for trips.
Parents who come along should eat with their son's patrol.
Senior scouts will eat by senior patrol, except that senior scouts who
are assigned to patrols will usually eat with their patrol.
Please be sure to reimburse the person buying the food as soon as
possible. Meals that are not
prepared, such as trail lunches or lunches on day hikes, are left up to
individuals, and are not up to the patrol, unless the patrol decides it wants to
combine on these meals as well.
Cooking
equipment such as pots and pans, dishwashing supplies, backpacking stoves and
fuel, is usually arranged by the patrol leader or his designated replacement for
the trip. Scouts and parents should
bring their own plates, cups, and silverware.
Other personal equipment is individual.
We will be glad to offer advice about what to bring.
Some equipment, such as tents and some cooking gear, can be borrowed from
the troop.
The
troop policy is to encourage interesting and innovative cooking on trips. We
strongly discourage hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, and other junk food, cans of
soda, etc. Meals should be well
balanced, pay attention to nutrition (fat, cholesterol, calories), to cost, and
also to garbage disposal problems and packaging. In general, all waste should be
disposed of properly (burned or carried out) and the patrol is responsible for
garbage bags. We want to see dishes
properly washed, rinsed, and sanitized in hot water.
That means that patrols need to bring along pots for heating hot water as
well as biodegradable dish detergent and dishwashing supplies.
The
patrol leader is responsible for organizing "duty rosters" for each
trip, with scouts assigned to preparation (wood gathering, water fetching),
cooking, and cleanup for different meals on a rotating basis.
5.
Code of Conduct
It
should go without saying that all participants in troop activities are expected
to behave in such a way that exhibits the tenets of the scout oath and law.
Anyone found to be violating these fundamental principles of scouting,
and in particular any scout found to be using tobacco, alcohol, or drugs, will
not be allowed to continue in the activity; his parents will be contacted and
will be asked to come and get him.
We
cannot tolerate disruptive behavior at troop meetings.
By the policy adopted by the troop leaders council (the scout leaders in the
troop), any scout who is found to be disruptive will be given a first warning.
If the behavior is repeated, the scout's parents will be called and the
scout will be asked to miss a meeting.
6.
Troop Leadership
Our troop is run by the scouts. Youth leaders are usually chosen in the late Spring or early Fall, and a list of troop leaders is distributed in the Fall. The basic program is run by a Senior Patrol Leader (2), with the assistance of a team of Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders and Instructors. These scouts are among the most experienced scouts in the troop, and they work hard on planning programs and running meetings. They will welcome suggestions from scouts and parents and volunteers to help with special meetings or special demonstrations. Some of our older senior scouts act in an advisory capacity as Junior Assistant Scoutmasters.
Other scouts hold important jobs in the troop.
These jobs include instructor (usually a senior scout), quartermaster (in
charge of equipment), librarian (in charge of our merit badge library), scribe
and inspection scribe (keep the troop records and send letters of thank you and
of invitation to outsiders), chaplain, and newsletter editor.
Some senior scouts are given the jobs of "patrol
guides." Their jobs are to
advise the patrol and its leader, to help them in planning for activities and
outings, and to assist younger scouts in the patrol with advancement.
Patrol guides will generally compete for their patrol when we run
competitions at meetings.
7.
The Patrol Method
A scout troop works best if boys at all ages are given
increasingly larger and larger responsibility for running their own troop.
The fundamental working unit of a troop is the patrol.
Each patrol will have a patrol leader and an assistant patrol leader.
Patrols will be formed early in the Fall.
We will try to take preferences for patrol membership into account in
forming the patrols. Patrols will
compete against each other in troop competitions, work together on outings, and
help each other with advancement, under the watchful eye of a patrol guide, a
senior scout assigned to give advice. Note
that the patrol leader should not be doing all of the work.
He needs to split the responsibilities, for instance assigning others to
bring certain things to meetings or outings.
Patrols are encouraged to plan patrol meetings.
These are usually held at some patrol member's house, and we ask that one
of the parents from the patrol be present. Patrols
are also welcome to organize outings. We
ask that you notify the scoutmaster about patrol outings.
There will be some days during the year, for instance when the homeless
are in the church, when there are no troop meetings.
These days will be excellent opportunities for patrols to meet. Sometimes
we will designate these as patrol meeting days, and ask each patrol to prepare
for some competition or to get together to work on advancement.
8. Troop Leaders Council
Troop 72 is run by its boy leaders.
These leaders form the “Troop Leaders Council," which meets
regularly to discuss problems and plan future activities.
The
Troop Leaders Council is chaired by the Senior Patrol Leader, and is attended by the Assistant
Senior Patrol Leaders, Junior Assistant Scoutmasters, and one representative of
each patrol (usually the patrol leader or his representative), as well as others
who might be invited to attend from time to time.
We expect that the Troop Leaders Council will meet at the first Monday
meeting of each month, for half an hour after the regular troop meeting ends
(that is, from 8:30 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.). Parents
and scouts should plan accordingly. As
the year progresses, we might modify this schedule, and will schedule occasional
separate meetings of this council, once we see how it operates.
9.
Adult Leaders
Troop
72 has many adult leaders who are interested in helping the boys progress along
the trail to Eagle and to get the most out of their scouting experience.
Parents are always welcome to join us as volunteer leaders.
Please do talk to any troop leader if you would like to help.
The
following positions have usually been held in our troop by uniformed leaders,
i.e., the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters, though they are not all
limited to uniformed leaders. The
Scoutmaster (3) is in charge of the day to day program of the troop.
If you cannot think of anyone else to ask, ask him!
In general, any of our Assistant Scoutmasters is available to help with
advancement, questions, scoutmasters' conferences, etc.
Some of the specific tasks covered by Assistant Scoutmasters and others
are as follows. The Merit Badge
Coordinator (4) updates our merit badge counselor list, handles questions about
finding merit badge counselors, gives out applications for merit badge cards,
and collects and processes completed merit badge cards.
The Eagle Scout Advisor (5) is advisor to the scouts working on their
Eagle award. The New Scout Advisor
(6) runs our program of advancement for scouts who have not yet reached the rank
of first class. The Senior Scout
Advisor (7) is responsible for our program for senior scouts.
The Mentor Coordinator (8) handles our "mentor" program (senior
scouts mentoring younger scouts) and keeps track of each scout's progress on the
advancement trail. The
Equipment/Meeting Room Coordinator (9) is the person to see if you want
information about our troop equipment or on relations with the church.
The Flags Coordinator (10) coordinates the troop's program of putting up
and taking down flags in
We have many other adult volunteers. Our Troop Committee Chair (12) is responsible for the supportive work of the troop committee. Organizational issues, financial issues, parental volunteers, fund-raising, and the like should be brought to his attention. He organizes the monthly troop committee meetings, prepares the agenda, and does backup work. He acts as liaison between the troop and the sponsoring organizations, Questers and the Session of the Presbyterian Church of Westfield. The Advancement Chair (13) organizes boards of review and
Courts of honor (and can use lots of help
with both). The Fund Raising
Coordinator (14) runs our fund-raising activities.
The Canada Trip Coordinator (15) coordinates all phases of our summer
trip to
10.
Advancement
Advancement is a key aspect of Scouting. We have found that at the meetings we do not have as much time as we would like for advancement. It is the responsibility of scouts to pursue advancement outside of the meetings as well as at the meetings when time is allocated for this purpose. We will start some merit badge classes at meetings, but usually not complete them. We will allow time for young scouts to pursue their beginning awards. However, scouts will need to find time outside of meetings to pursue their awards.
In order to make meetings run better, our policy is that if you would
like to work with an adult leader on advancement at a meeting, this may only be
done during a designated time for advancement or by prior arrangement with the
scoutmaster or senior patrol leader. We
urge you to use the period from '7:00 to '7:25 P.M., prior to the official
meeting opening, to do your t1busy work11 with respect to
advancement, namely, to visit with adult leaders, ask for scoutmasters'
conferences, pick up applications for merit badges, get requirements signed off
in your handbooks or merit badge cards, etc.
We will also have a short advancement period following each meeting, from
Every scout is required to bring his Scout Handbook to each meeting.
The handbook is used to record advancement.
All rank award cards, merit badge cards, and the like should be carefully
saved and brought along for boards of review and scoutmasters' conferences.
We have found that the best way to organize all of these cards is to keep
a notebook designed for baseball cards. (A
notebook could also be a good place to keep other troop materials, such as
rosters, directions, outings announcements, and this troop handbook.)
After you have completed the requirements for advancement to higher rank, you will go through a scoutmaster's conference. Because our troop is so large, this conference can be arranged with any uniformed leader, that is the scoutmaster or an assistant scoutmaster. However, unless prior arrangements have been made, only the Scoutmaster will give Life and Eagle Scoutmaster's conferences. A Board of Review follows the scoutmaster's conference. Please be alert to the days that Boards of Review are scheduled. Come prepared for both of these events with your advancement book, scout handbook, and, in the case of the Board of Review, in complete uniform. Questions about schedules for Boards of Review should be directed at our Advancement Chair (13).
The New Scout Advisor (6) is the advisor for advancement for scouts who
have not yet achieved the rank of first class.
Please see him for help. The
Eagle Scout Advisor (5) is the advisor for our Eagles.
You should see him as you get close to your Life badge.
Other uniformed leaders can assist you with any of your advancement
questions.
We will be assigning each scout under the rank of first class to a senior
scout who will act as mentor and personal guide, and who can be called upon to
help with advancement and give other advice pertaining to scouting.
We have a Mentor Coordinator (8) who coordinates this program.
Because Troop '72 operates its own summer camp, many scouts
in the troop end up earning all of their merit badges from troop merit badge
counselors. They are missing a great
opportunity to benefit from the world of scouting beyond the troop.
Scouts are encouraged to work with merit badge counselors outside the
troop (the Merit Badge Coordinator (4) keeps a list) and to attend Summer scout
camps run by the Watchung Area Council or high adventure scout camps such as
Philmont, SeaBase, and Adirondack treks, where they will learn a great many
scout skills.
11.
Service Projects and Leadership Positions for the Higher Ranks
Service projects and leadership positions are required for advancement in
scouting. We take these very
seriously. Please ask the
scoutmaster or the Eagle Advisor for advice about how to meet these
requirements. Specifically, you
cannot attain the rank of Star, Life, or Eagle without paying close attention to
how you exemplify Scout spirit and without taking a serious and conscientious
interest in leadership in the troop. Simply
having a leadership position without doing the job is not sufficient.
The standards become more and more stringent the higher the rank.
As for service projects, all Life projects must be approved in advance by
the scoutmaster and must be your own project, not one organized by someone else.
All Eagle projects must be worked out with the Eagle Advisor and be submitted
for written approval. Our Community
Projects Coordinator (18) keeps a list of contact people at local and community
organizations that are potential places to do volunteer work.
12.
Courts of Honor
Several times a year, the troop meets in a court of honor, at which time
awards are given for advancement and participation, and other highlights of the
troop's activities are recalled. The
dates for the courts of honor are usually noted on our troop calendar, but are
subject to change. Changes will be
announced in writing or by our telephone chain.
The courts of honor are held in the chapel of the parish house of the
church, starting at '7:30 P.M. They
are usually followed by refreshments. Scouts
are expected to attend in full uniform, and are asked to arrive by
The program for the courts of honor is put together by our Advancement
Chair (13), with help from parent volunteers with printing, refreshments, and
the like, and with help from the senior patrol leader, who organizes the scout
participation and acts as master of ceremonies.
(Parent volunteers are welcomed.)
13.
Senior Scouts
Our
troop has a large number of scouts who are aged 14 or older or are at least
freshmen in high school. Most of
these scouts have had considerable scouting experience, and volunteer as troop
leaders, instructors, patrol guides, or just give us guidance.
We plan to organize some activities just for the seniors.
Suggestions about the program for the seniors are welcome and should be
directed to the Senior Patrol Leader (2), any of the Junior Assistant
Scoutmasters or Assistant Senior Patrol Leaders, or to the Senior Scout Advisor
(7).
14.
Uniforms
Uniforms are required for all scout meetings.
However, at troop or patrol meetings, we do not require that you wear
scout pants. At courts of honor and
boards of review, full uniform should be worn.
We welcome ideas about exchanges of old uniforms and discreet inquiries
from any parent for whom purchase of a uniform would present a financial
problem. As a general rule, we do
not require uniforms on outings, though we strongly prefer it if you wear your
uniform to and from a scout outing (with obvious exceptions such as ski trips),
and in some cases we require that you do. (For
example, uniform shirts are worn on designated 'historical medal
hikes?? where participating scouts earn hike medals.)
Scout uniforms are well made and are usually outgrown before being worn
out. Therefore, wear it - don't save it.
15.
Registration, Fees, Fund-Raising
Dues are collected once a year at the registration time in January/February, and are minimal. Scouts who join mid-year are not charged dues. We rarely charge for a troop activity (except for entrance fees, for instance on a ski outing or a deep sea fishing expedition). Our troop treasury subsidizes most activities. We have one major fund-raising event each Fall. This year scouts will be offered a choice of selling poinsettias or participating in an alternative fund-raiser we will be organizing. All scouts are required to sell a certain minimum number of poinsettias or meet a comparable quota in the alternate fund-raiser, or to make alternative arrangements with the troop committee chair. Alternative arrangements would be a contribution to the troop treasury or a personally designed alternative fund-raising project. It is through this fund-raiser that we finance the activities of the troop for the entire year.
16.
Flags
Our troop has volunteered to put up and take down flags in
17
Troop
Equipment and Library
The troop has a variety of camping equipment for loan.
This includes tents and cooking equipment, paddles and life preservers.
If you would like to use troop equipment on an outing, please sign it out
at the Monday meeting prior to the outing, and return it at the following Monday
meeting, in good condition, clean, and dry (in the case of items such as tents).
It is sometimes possible to sign out equipment on the day we leave on an
outing, but we prefer that you plan ahead and no one can guarantee what will be
available at the last minute. Our
troop quartermaster is in charge of our equipment room, but parental and scout
volunteers are needed to help us organize this room better.
We have a large library of merit badge pamphlets that may be signed out
by scouts working on badges. The library is maintained by our troop librarian,
and there is a sign-out sheet by the library. Those who borrow merit badge
pamphlets should return them as soon as possible.
We also welcome donations of used merit badge pamphlets.
18.
Scout of the Year
We have an annual competition for "scout of the year," with
points awarded for advancement, attendance, fund-raising, participation in troop
activities, etc. A complicated point
system is planned by the troop committee. Awards
are given at the end of the year.
19.
Our Troop as Part of the Boy Scout Movement
The Boy Scouts of America is a national organization and has ties to Boy
Scout organizations all over the world. Our
troop is part of the Patriot Path Council. The
Council office and scout store is on Route 22W and the phone number there is
654-9191. The Council is divided
into districts, and we are part of the Patriot District.
The troop has a sponsoring organization, Quarters and the Session of the
Presbyterian Church. Scouts are
encouraged to take advantage of the many local, regional, national, and
international scouting opportunities such as summer camps run by the Patriot
Path Council, high adventure camps such as Philmont in the Southwest, SeaBase in
Florida, and Adirondack Treks in New York State, and national and international
jamborees.
20.
Parent Participation
A troop only works if parents help. Parents
will find this a very rewarding experience, a way to get close to their sons.
There is a mandatory meeting of all parents in the Fall.
Our troop committee, consisting of parent volunteers and other adult
leaders, meets monthly, usually on the third Tuesday of the month, at
Ver 1.0a, 3/2004