Cub Scouts
Back to School: 24 Days and Counting
For August 27th, we still need volunteers (such as Boy Scout Troop leaders and scouts) to man tables at the following schools. None of them have existing scouting units:
- IPS 109
- Deer Run Elementary
- Eastbrook Elementary
- Snacks Crossing Elementary
- Park Tudor (no confirmations but two families contacted; expect a “yes” from one of two)
Pack 625 needs help at New Augusta South and Central Elementary, their normal feeder schools.
Please contact Con Sullivan, our District Executive, to sign up or with questions.
Making Stronger Units: Cub Den Edition
Around 2010, Boy Scouts of America examined what new packs and troops had in common and what distinguished those healthy ones from packs and troop that died quickly. One conclusion was that there were three people dedicated to the health of the new unit: the chartered organization representative, the unit committee chair, and the unit leader (e.g., Cubmaster or Scoutmaster). These key 3 people consistently worked well together toward a common vision.
BSA subsequently examined all levels of scouting to see how these lessons learned could be applied. BSA rolled out the idea of a Key 3 at every level of scouting.
For a Cub Scout Pack, the Key 3 is identified as the Chartered Org Rep, the Pack Chair, and the Cubmaster. They are what make the Pack function (but, as we used to say until May 31, 2015, “The Cub makes the Pack go.”)
So is there a Key 3 in a Cub Scout Den? According to official BSA literature, I have not seen that official designation yet (but I have not read all the new material cover to cover yet).
But, if we were looking for such a designation, what would be looking for?
In the Pack Key 3, the Chartered Org Rep handles obtaining facilities and communicates with the Chartering Organization (e.g., school, PTO, church, etc.). The Pack Chair handles planning and parents. The Cubmaster handles program delivery to the boys by leading meetings, pack activities, and pack campouts.
Using that model, what parallels are there in a Den to what we see in a Pack?
The Den Mother often feels like she has to provide the room at her house, plan the program, talk to the parents, and deliver the program. Is this the correct answer? Maybe not.
The Den Mother certainly may be responsible for offering the room, if the meeting is at her house. She definitely needs to communicate with the parents. Does she need to plan the program and deliver it?
There are two positions in Cub Scouts that are underused. The Den Chief and the Denner. We have looked at a Denner before.
A Den Chief is a Boy Scout who is fulfilling his rank requirement for Star rank or above by serving in a Cub Scout Den. His job is to serve as the Den Mother’s assistant and mentor to the Cubs and the Denner. For many Boy Scouts, Den Chief is their first role of responsibility. They need coaching. Once coached for a couple meetings, the Den Chief usually knows his job with a Denner and takes over the job of coaching each successive Denner.
The Denner is the temporary senior Cub Scout in the Den. He leads the other boys with advice and guidance of the Den Chief and the Den Mother. Good Dens have the Denner lead discussions about what the Cubs want to plan to do and help deliver that plan. Denners do not have much in leadership experience so they will need constant coaching.
Many Den Leaders do not like using Den Chiefs or Denners because it prevents the operation of a smooth meeting. Our goal in scouting is not to have smooth meetings without drama. It is to teach citizenship and responsibility through experiences. A successful meeting is not necessarily a smooth meeting. A successful Den Meeting has a clear chance for the Den Chief and Denner to talk to the Den Mother for 2-3 minutes before the meeting about the plan. Then before a new task, the Den mother reminds the Den Chief and Denner what to do for their next task in a matter of 15-30 seconds. There is no expectation that either the Den Chief or the Denner will remember from the before-meeting conversation. The reminders go faster, though, because of the before-meeting conversation. At the end of the meeting, before closing ceremony, the Den Mother coaches the Den Chief and Denner to have a Stop-Start-Continue conversation with the entire Den. This may only take a minute or two — short-attention spans and new concepts, you know.
Getting Den Chiefs can be difficult with the Boy Scouts hectic extracurricular schedules. Even so, don’t skimp on working on building your Den Key 3. You will be astounded by the results in a very short time.
Back to School Night: 29 Days to Go
At Back to School Night, new parents will be looking to answer the following questions:
- How much does Cub Scouts cost for the year?
- How does it fit with the family calendar?
- Does the Pack have a vision for its success?
To be able to answer these questions, your Pack Committee needs to be able to deliver 3 key documents to the prospective Cub parents:
- A document telling the parent how the program is paid for. This could be a budget for out of pocket expenses in neighborhoods with well-to-do families. This is more likely to be a statement of costs for each Cub and the role popcorn sales is used to defer the costs. This could be a statement describing how financial assistance is offered to families who need it. Your Unit Commissioner should be able to get you guidance for these items.
- A year-long calendar of Pack events. The dens should be meeting in early August to discuss with their den leaders what they would like to see the Pack to do. The den leaders should report those results for a mid-August Pack Committee meeting to schedule the year. The results should be listed on one sheet of paper and be specific about arrival times and departure times. For example, the North Star District fall family overnight at Indianapolis Motor Speedway should tell families to arrive at the track at a specific time and expect to leave by a specific time. This allows new families to put the event on their family calendars with specificity. This prevents double booking as easily. Successful packs are good at calendaring by habit because they simply say, “We customarily go to . . . in November so that we can . . . .” Newer or struggling packs can duplicate the clarity of vision by simply stating, “We are scheduled to go to . . . in November so that we can . . . .” Prospective families are looking for programs close to home that can clearly describe the program. They will avoid wishy-washy units that only say, “We are thinking about doing something this fall.”
- Having a vision statement for how the Pack will perform is very important. This vision statement is not a formalistic business plan gobbledy-gook. It is simply a some concrete goal that can be understood. To be a strong unit, look at the Journey to Excellence criteria for bronze, silver, and gold. Pick a level that makes sense to your Pack. Then tell prospective families what your goal is, “We plan on being a Gold Award Pack.” Most parent don’t know the criteria, and don’t care. They will be interested in knowing that the Pack has a vision of meeting the highest criteria. The statement could be focused on the boys, too. “We plan on each boy making rank by February’s Blue and Gold Banquet and going family overnight camping in the fall, in the spring, and at summer camp. We plan on attending {insert two Council Circuit of Fun Activities}.” The vision of success is contagious and exciting for prospective families.
Remember that part of your programming is already done for you. The Rocket Launch on September 12th and the Pack Family Overnight with District at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October.
New Pack Start Ups Need Troop Help Now
Currently the District is looking at starting or rebooting 3 to 4 packs in the next 30 days. These packs will need help from veteran scouters to make them work.
Each troop should always have an eye on one or two packs that feed Webelos into the troop. These prospective scouts are the lifeblood of our troops.
All too often, the scoutmaster corps and troop committee members are exhausted of their time and energy after giving to their home unit. They don’t have anymore to give.
One of the best ways for a troop to support a Cub scout pack is identify a past den mother who is not currently active with the troop. Through cooperation with District Commissioner Jeff Heck, she can find a role to assist a pack. She would not be asked to join the pack committee, be a cubmistress, or be a den leader. She would simply be an advisor.
We need four past den mothers who can serve in this role. Please contact Commissioner Jeff Heck at jheck@cacnorthstar.org to find out how this can work.
Whoever places the former den mother in a pack has the best chance of recruiting scouts in the future.
REMINDER: Thursday’s Recruiting Rally at Victory Field
Remember that all Cub Scout Packs should have a representative attend the Recruiting Rally at Victory Field downtown west of the Convention Center on Maryland and Missouri Avenues this Thursday, July 16, 2015. Food is served but that required an RSVP last Monday. Now it is an open house, but no additional food reservations are being accepted.
The Rally starts at 7:00 p.m. 
Your Pack representative will receive the recruitment package that you will need to run the August 27th sign up including paperwork, yard signs, and rockets.
Scout Troops and Venturing Crews are encouraged to send a representative. While the bulk of the recruitment goes to Cub Packs, Troops and Crews can learn how they can help support their sister Packs. We have over thirty elementary schools to staff on August 27th and only 18 Cub Packs. We need Troops and Crews to help cover the balance of the schools that night. We also need volunteers to present “Boy Talks” at the elementary schools. Troops and Crews would be wonderful in this effort.
Remember, Troops, most of your future recruits come from Webelos. If we don’t recruit Cub Scouts aggressively today, your Troop will fewer recruits in the near future. Your help is critical now. For more information on the plan, read this article.
The District Executive Con Sullivan, District Chair Steve James, District Commissioner Jeff Heck, many Unit Commissioners will be in attendance. This is a great opportunity to ask questions.
Encouraging Advancement
This past spring, my nephew joined a troop in Cincinnati’s Dan Beard Council. Since it was his first troop summer camp, my son and I drove over to surprise him.
It was a very interesting experience. It was my first time visiting Camp Friedlander. In fact, most of my scouting experience has been in the Crossroads of America Council, especially North Star District. This visit allowed me to see some new takes on scouting.
One of the surprises was a simple system for encouraging advancement. My nephew’s troop has an advancement board. The entire free time after lunch, scouts were hovering around the board, adding their own white tiles, moving the white tiles to reflect in-camp boards-of-review completed, and otherwise planning their advancement plans for the week.
The scoutmasters had encouraged the new scouts to take a white “tile” (a small piece of wood painted white) and use colored Sharpie pens to customize their tile. Hooks and eyes were set into the tiles to allow them to hang properly.
No adults were prompting advancement conversations, but the campsite was buzzing with plans. The troop had made clear that Scoutmaster Conferences were being held Wednesday and Boards of Review on Thursday. This chance for immediate advancement and the privilege of moving the tiles quickly helped further the drama.
In the electronic age, we tend to forget old tools sometimes work best. Our own Troop 35 has the privilege of a dedicated room 
for scouting. As a result, they have one of the old-school advancement charts hanging on the wall. (Generic and Cub Scout and Boy Scout specific charts are available.) Each boy can easily see his own progress. In my short visit in June, I saw several scouts go over and read the chart to find out where they and their fellow scouts stood.
If you want to encourage advancement, find a way to put advancement before the boys in writing. They will tend to think about advancement more often.
Troop Committee and All Pack Training Now Online
Remember the old days (like last month), where Pack Committee Chairs had to tell new parents that to be “Trained” as a scout leader, they needed to go to a class to obtain their Position-Specific Training? Isn’t it nice that we don’t have to do that anymore?
What you didn’t know that?
Yeah, at the end of June 2015, MyScouting.Scouting.org now offers online Position-Specific Training. This isn’t just limited to Fast Start Training anymore (which is still available).
Now your Pack can be fully entitled to wear the “Trained” patch from online training. All major positions are included: Cubmaster, Committee Members, Pack Trainer, and Den Leaders of all types. They are even available in Spanish.
District will be asking all Chartered Organization to make a special emphasis on having newly recruited leaders attend training during the first week of September. However, this online offering will have nearly identical content.
Consequently, when your Unit Commissioners coming visiting in August, they will want to be sure that your current leaders have their training done, online if most convenient. Otherwise, they will ask that the existing leaders set a good example and attend the live training when it is scheduled for the first week of September.
All Packs should have a Pack Trainer. This person is responsible for doing live training (if necessary) and making sure that all Pack Leaders at all levels are properly trained and reported to the District Training Committee and the Council Registrar. When reporting live training, the Pack Trainer should use these Training reports.
For our Boy Scout Troop Leaders, only one position has the equivalent online training available at this time: Troop Committee Challenge. All other Troop Leaders must still do their training live with an instructor or make arrangements with an instructor to do self-study. Self-study consists of reviewing the material alone, then speaking to a qualified instructor to insure that the material was learned. The instructor still issues the certificate. Troop Leaders are discouraged from self-study except in the most dire of situations. The value of conversations and interactions are deemed to be an important part of the regular training practice. Leadership Training Committee Guide (#34169) pg. 12 (2010). Personal coaching with a qualified trainer is preferred over self-study.
This training is important for Rechartering.
Cub Dens Need Denners
As I have talked to a few Cub Scout leaders, I have begun asking, “Do you or your Pack use the Denner system?” Most of the time, the only reply I receive is a scrunched up face of puzzlement. I could have just asked them how their mother was doing in Polish or Russian. They would have understood the question about as well.
What is a “Denner”?
The Denner and Assistant Denner.
The denner is a den member selected to be a boy leader for a short period of time— anywhere from one week to several months. It is a good practice for the den leader to rotate the position of denner throughout the den so that all boys have the opportunity to experience the leadership position. The den leader and den chief determine his
responsibilities, which might include helping to set up and clean up the den meeting place; helping with games, ceremonies, tricks, and puzzles; leading a song; or acting as den cheerleader. The denner should be given meaningful responsibilities and recognition to help him learn how to be a leader. The denner wears a shoulder cord on the left shoulder. Some dens also have assistant denners who assist the denner and may move up to the denner position after his rotation.
Boy Scouts of America. Cub Scout Leader Book, Kindle Locations 855-862 (2015-05-10).
One of the biggest drawbacks of Denners for the novice Den Leader is the feeling of loss of control. Focusing the Den Leader’s attention on the Denner while the rest of the Cubs are at risk of running amock seems dangerously close to inviting chaos. These new Den Leaders believe the most important part of their job is control. For elementary school teachers turned Den Leaders this loss of control may be a life-threatening condition.
New Cub Requirements for 2015-16
If you are not aware, BSA has issued new requirements, handbooks, and leader guides for Cub Scouts. This is a major overhaul of the program.
This new set of requirements will affect everyone in scouting. The surprising part is how it affects Boy Scout Troops.
As we have linked before, BSA through Scouter magazine and Bryan on Scouting has given us some summaries of the changes. We, as leaders, need an overview that tells us more.
Service Hours Reporting to Council
UPDATE 7/21/15: In July BSA open direct access to this reporting from within my.scouting.org. Now there are two ways to access the national database: my.scouting.org and servicehours.scouting.org. There is one way to access the local database, described below.
Like any business, Crossroads of America Council wants to be able to understand what is happening in its territory. Since the Council cannot have a person at every Pack, Troop, or Crew activity, Council seeks to learn what is happening by asking its units to report their various activities. We are all familiar with recharter reports, JTE reports, advancement reports and summer camp reports.
What we are not as familiar with is Service Hours Reports.
Council seeks to learn information about unit service hours for many reasons. One is to be able to better market scouting in our Central Indiana territory. When scouting was in its infancy, newspapers such as the Indianapolis Star ran reports about the activities of Boy Scout Troops all over the Indianapolis area. For nearly 20 years, these newspapers ran a column entitled, “Star’s Column for Boy Scouts.” It was the blog of its day.
During World War I and the Liberty Bond Drive, reports about the troops’ bond sales and other service activities took greater prominence in the columns.
In addition the newspapers general News Department would run stand-alone stories about the scout troops service to others.
Today, newspapers do not spend any time running regular columns about scouting. There are too many competing youth organization that would want equal time.
The current generation needs to rely on newer technology than a newspaper beat reporter to get the word out about what the scouts are doing every day.
We troop leaders need to be our own newspaper reporters. We need to gather information about the story. We need to write reports. We need to publish the reports. We need to make sure our reports get into the hands of prospective scouting families.
Service hours are an important part of Journey to Excellence reporting, which will be required with this year’s Rechartering.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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