YPT Optimal Expiration Date

Posted on August 30, 2015 Updated on December 8, 2015

As we head into rechartering season, opening October 1st, the Commissioner’s Staff is going to work hard at making this process as quick and painless as possible.

In order to allow this goal to be accomplished, we need the cooperation of our volunteers. One of the logistical nightmares for our unit chairs is to assure that each of the scouters registered is properly trained in Youth Protection Training.

BSA puts the requirements this way:

BSA Policy is:

Youth Protection training is required for all BSA registered volunteers. Youth Protection training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer does not meet the BSA’s Youth Protection training requirement at the time of recharter, the volunteer will not be reregistered.

To find out more about the Youth Protection policies of the Boy Scouts of America and how to help Scouting keep your family safe, see the Parent’s Guide in any of the Cub Scouting or Boy Scouting handbooks, or go to http://www.scouting.org/Training/YouthProtection.aspx.

This begs the question, “When is rechartering done?”

Due to past practices of extensions, there are many units that believe that rechartering is due at a different time that it is really due.

Because November and December are always busy months, North Star District’s Commissioner Service will be working aggressively to have all units complete an initial review of their recharter status in October. Specific dates, times, and locations are scheduled for each unit to meet with the Commissioner Staff to review the Annual Recharter Agreement and supporting documentation.

This means that all scouters will need to be current on their Youth Protection Training before these reviews begin and through year’s end to make this as clean a process as possible.

Why is this necessary if a scouter’s Youth Protection Training expires in November?

Imagine the Unit Chair arrives at his Rechartering meeting with the Commissioner Staff. The Annual Recharter Agreement is signed by the Chartered Organization’s executive officer. The roster is up to date and accurate on the scouters’ positions. The dues check is made out correctly. The scouters are all properly trained for Position-Specific purposes.

Then the Commissioner Staff reviews the unit’s Youth Protection Training. This review yields four scouters whose YPT status is expired. The unit chair must make a snap decision. Either the Rechartering has to be paused to wait for the YPT certifications to be brought up to date or those scouters must be dropped from the roster and re-registered later.

Now let’s imagine a slightly different scenario. Instead of being expired, let’s imagine that the scouters expire before November 30, 2015. The paperwork is fine, except some unrelated glitch, typically Popcorn proceeds are not yet available to cover rechartering fees. The unit chair takes the paperwork home and nearly forgets about the rechartering process for a month. Then the glitch is fixed and paperwork is turned in. Unfortunately, the unit’s paperwork is in the middle of a huge stack that needs processing at Council. It takes a few weeks to clear the backlog. The backlog is cleared after December 1, 2015. This means that the rechartering application must be rejected because the scouter’s YPT is expired or the scouter must be dropped. The delay is no one’s fault, but is an inherent part of the system.

So now imagine a scouter has YPT expire on January 15th. He is current on the January 1st recharter. That is good enough, right? No. Council wants all scouters to have at least 60 days left on their YPT status on each recharter year. That means that anyone who expires prior to March 1st will be asked to renew training.

The best practice for avoiding these problems is to attempt to move all YPT expiration dates prior to October 1st of each year. This way the unit committee chair can be sure that the diligent scouters’ are all in good shape before Rechartering season begins each year.

To do this, please encourage your scouters who expire in 2015 to complete their Youth Protection Training prior to October 1, 2015. It will be an annoyance this year and a god-send in years to come. You can even have veteran scouters sit in mass YPT sessions with new scouters each September to make the process as simple as possible.

So, please have your YPT done prior to October 1, 2015. You will make life easier on your unit committee chair, your unit training chair, the District YPT Champion, the District Training Chair, the District Commissioner Service, and the Council office.

In the future, we would encourage all adults in the district to have their expiration scheduled between March 1st and September 30th. That way there will be no effect on rechartering. Ever.

Thanks for your cooperation.