Commissioner Service
District Reminders for next 7 days
1. Thursday, July 14th at 6:30 pm is Roundtable at St Luke’s United Methodist Church (New room assignment Room W-125 (Entry #4) due to scheduling conflict.). The topic will be annual planning and adult staffing. See Church Map (Entry #4 cut off on bottom of map.)
2. Friday, July 15th Membership Kickoff beginning at 7:00 pm at St Paul’s Episcopal Church. Packs and Troops welcome. Food served.
3. Sunday, July 17th is the 50th Anniversary Celebration for Camp Ransburg.
New for Fall Recruitment: Online Registration
The BSA has established a new Online Registration for adults and youth. You can see an overview video of how the system works below. The video describes it as “Coming Soon.” It is already activated in Crossroads of America Council.
This system has many advantages:
- You never run out of paper forms.
- Your applicant will be immediately notified whether data on one of the screens is incomplete, avoiding the need to circulate the form around twice to fill in missing information or signatures.
- There is no physical application that needs to be delivered or sent.
- Necessary signators traveling out of town can fulfill their obligations from anywhere in the world.
- Your applicant can pay their BSA membership dues online with a credit card.
The current weaknesses in the system are being able to find where to access the website to start.
- You must access this from the http://www.BeAScout.org.
- From the main page, the applicant needs to navigate to your unit.
- On the unit page, the applicant needs to correctly choose “Cub,” “Scout,” “Venturing,” or “Volunteering.” Picking a program puts the applicant in “Youth” status. Adults must pick the “Volunteering” choice, then select a unit.
- You can pick the links for your unit and save them for placement on your webpage or emails. This means that you can circumvent some of the problems above.
- The system does not collect your unit’s dues or added costs (like local council insurance). It merely establishes the applicant as a member of the BSA through your unit. I have even used it to promote an existing volunteer to a new position without having to pay dues again.
I have used this system successfully twice. I have not dealt with Youth Protection Training in either case because they were existing volunteers. I cannot offer much feedback on that issue yet.
Please begin using this system immediately, especially before recruiting season and rechartering. The more information that is properly registered in the system before October 1st, the smoother your rechartering will proceed.
REMINDER: Roundtable Thursday
This Thursday is round table. We will be meeting at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church outbuilding,Luke’s Lodge.
Cub Scouts topic: National Den Award. This is a powerful way to bring your den together and enhance retention.
Boy Scouts topic: using Junior Assistant Scoutmasters. This is a great use of your oldest scouts before they age out. Successful use of JASM’s will increase your rank advancement and participation of early teenagers.
REMINDER: Roundtable at strange location
This Thursday’s Roundtable will be at the Scout Service Center 7125 Fall Creek Blvd, N Dr, Indianapolis, IN. We will start at 7:00 pm with the Council’s Ideal Year in Scouting presentation.
When Council complete its agenda, Con is arranging a break-out room for us (no word on the room number yet). We will discuss district-specific issues and topics during the break out session.
All packs, troops, and crews should have a representative present. This presentation is important for all scouters to be able to improve the unit’s annual planning process. However, the topic is absolutely crucial to newer unit leaders, committee chairs, and Chartered Organization Representatives. If you have never participated in this recently inaugurated annual event, participation is a must. If you have participated, it is a wonderful method of bringing more recently initiated unit scouters up to speed on how to do annual planning.
We look forward to seeing all units present.
REMINDER: Committee and Commissioner Meetings Thurs 5/5
Just a quick reminder that the District Commissioners meet at 6:00 pm Thursday, May 5th at Second Presbyterian Church, Room 407.
Immediately afterward, the District Committee meets in the same building at 7:00 pm, Room 401.
See you there!
Save the Date: Ideal Year in Scouting
At Council’s joint Commissioner and Membership Committee meeting, the Council Membership Chair announced some dates for the Ideal Year in Scouting presentation.
For North Star District, it will take place on Thursday, May 12, 2016 at the Scout Center. This will be in lieu of our regular roundtable meeting. We will have a North Star District-specific breakout session at the Scout Center when the general session is done.
The presentation will begin at 7:00 pm. A light dinner will be served at 6:30 pm.
If your unit cannot send a representative that night, the same general session presentation will be held again on THursday, May 19, 2016 at Camp Kikthawenund, near Anderson, Indiana also at 7:00 pm.
This presentation will touch on annual planning, including programming, fund-raising, unit administration, camp preparations. There will also be information tables about NYLT, Wood Badge, Voyageur.
Recruit your unit members to attend now. Early scheduling is the key to good attendance. We would like 100% attendance from the District’s units.
This is for all scouting programs (i.e., Cub, Scouts, and Venturing).
Journey to Excellence Patches
Since our District did so well on Journey to Excellence for 2015, we now get to celebrate our success.
Please make sure to order your JTE patches from the Scout Shop to give to your scouts and scouters. They can put it on their left sleeve (Cub, Scouts).
This is very important for the long-term success of your unit. As I often repeat, we wear patches of recognition for personal recognition but also — and I think more importantly — as an invitation to tell a story.
If you see a scout wearing a Philmont patch, you are more likely to ask about his adventure. If you have been to Philmont, too, you will share your story. This creates a personal bond between strangers.
If a new parent visiting your unit looks at your JTE patch on your sleeve, they may ask what that means. “Gold” or “silver” sounds impressive. It is an invitation for you to brag about the strength of your unit.
If you are at summer camp, other scouters may ask you questions about what your unit does. They may never acknowledge the patch, but they find your unit’s experience more powerful. This is a quiet way for us to support other units.
So, please, make sure that your unit has and wears their JTE patches.
Last note: if you also have 100% Boy’s Life subscriptions, that is a slightly different JTE patch.
Prototype Unit Handbook: Request for pack and troop forms
I am beginning a project that I want to complete by May 30th. I am looking to design a prototype of a new parent handbook.
I am asking for your help.
First I am asking each unit to email me a copy of their current handbook, annual calendar and handout on costs of membership by May 5th. We will use these as sources of best practices. Documents in a word processing file are preferred.
Second, I am looking for a panel of editors to assist in assessing the result and focusing on simplification and clarity.
Some of the concepts I will be building come from Scouting Magazine’s article last spring. They had to be more generic nationally. Ideally we as a district can put in more specifics in a prototype.
REMINDER: Roundtable this Thursday
Roundtable will be this Thursday, April 14th at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the northeast corner campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260. The general session of announcements and information sharing about sundry topics begins at 6:30 pm. The formal program begins near 7:00 pm, but will be whenever general session is done.
Heavy emphasis at general session will be about the busy upcoming camporee including:
- Youth Training: Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops
- Adults: Unit Key 3 Conference for Packs, Troops, and Crews
- Adult Training: Unit Commissioner Basic Training (details TBA, tentatively afternoon session)
The topic for all programs (Packs, Troops, and Crews) will be recruiting new adult leaders and training them to make a better unit.
Feel free to bring your brown bag dinners.
Calling all COR’s, Chairs, Cubmasters, & Scoutmaster
At Spring Camporee, District will hold its first Annual Unit Key 3 Conference. This will take place a Camp Kikthawenund on Saturday, April 23rd from 9:00 am to 11:00 am.
It is very important that your unit be represented.
We will be discussing plans for District, resources available for units, training opportunities, and unit operations.
We will also have some guest speakers stop in and discuss council issues.
You can make your reservation online.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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