National Council
IYOS website rebuild
What is “IYOS”? It is the “Ideal Year in Scouting.” It is the way for the Crossroads of America Council to tell you what the Best Practices for units will be in the next 12-18 months. What camping opportunities and activities are coming up. When deadlines for summer camp are. When rechartering will take place. When popcorn sales will begin and end. How unit budgets should be developed. How big summer events can be paid for.
Council is in the process of rebuilding the website dedicated to IYOS. Make sure to stop in regularly and monitor the progress. Hopefully you will learn something every time you stop in. We expect the 2018-2019 district calendars to be added in the next couple of weeks.
National Commissioner to Speak at Commissioner College
Crossroads of America Council Dean of the Commissioner’s College (November 2-3, 2018) announced that National Commissioner Charles Dahlquist will be the keynote speaker at a reception at the Friday, November 2, 2018 opening ceremonies. The reception is open to all scouters across the council.
Accompanying Mr. Dahlquist will be Fred Wallace, Central Region Director, and a return visit from Kandra Dickenson, the Central Region Commissioner.
The college will begin the next morning.
For more information see the flyer.
NORTH STAR DISTRICT 2018 OBJECTIVES & 2017 AWARDS
Setting the Stage for Continued Growth
[INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, February 8] District Leaders, mentors, family and friends assembled at the 2017 North Star District Awards ceremony to offer well-deserved congratulations to the Leadership team and to recognize members of the District for their commitment to service. Included in these honors was the highlight of the Journey to Excellence Gold Award status earned by North Star with the overall highest score in the Council and an announcement that North Star’s contribution led to the Crossroads of America Council being the highest scoring council nationally, too. A highlighted list of honored outgoing leadership and 2017 Award Winners can be found below.
2018 District Objectives
As 2018 North Star District Committee Chair Mark Maucere outlined in his keynote address, there are four pillars on which the upcoming leadership team will be focused in order to build on the success of this past year, which are:
Membership Growth. This includes development of strategies to communicate with Charters and Schools as well as in assisting our Units with Leadership Outreach and Program Awareness. This work will help keep up the interest with new/prospective Cub Scouts and their parents in the competition for time and attention with other extracurricular activities. Our new Membership Chair is soon to be named.
Increased Unit Commissioner Involvement. Stephen Heath is the 2018 District Commissioner, and he is looking forward to building the Unit Commissioner team and for these Unit Commissioners to create stronger and more cohesive working relationships with each of our District Units as “one team.”
Program Offering. Mark Pishon as 2018 District Program Chair will bring a passion and energy to this critical pillar to enhance our current program offering as well as expand in areas that will further encourage greater recruitment, participation and retention.
Communication. Cheryl Bilsland will be serving as 2018 Communication Chair and brings corporate digital marketing and Toastmasters communications mentorship experiences to the role. We look forward to building upon and expanding our communication and outreach presence in a way that best meets the needs of the District.
Mark emphasized his “open door policy” and is humbly looking forward to meeting and working with each of you, thanking you for your service, insight, talent, energy and involvement in order to grow our District in 2018.
2017 North Star District
Leadership and Award Winners
We want to thank our 2017 District Key 3 team for their dedicated servant leadership:
John Wiebke District Chair
Con Sullivan District Executive
Jeffrey Heck District Commissioner
Hearty congratulations and gratitude for your service, goes to the following 2017 District Award Winners:
| Alec Damer | T514 | Merle H. Miller Eagle Scout Project of the Year Award |
| Austin Damer | T514 | Judge John Price Outstanding Eagle Scout of the Year Award |
| Agrayan Gupta | T56 | Dr. Bernard Harris SUPERNOVA Award (the first awarded in North Star District, based on our information) |
| John Wiebke | T358 | District Award of Merit |
| Mike Yates | T56 | District Award of Merit |
| David Sperry | T514 | Unit Leader Award of Merit |
| Michael Faulk | T56 | Arrowman of the Year |
| Bill Buchalter | P83 | Cubmaster of the Year |
| Ron Wells | T343 | Scoutmaster of the Year |
| Denise Purdie-Andrews | T69 | Firecrafter of the Year |
| Katherine Ritchie | T343 | Boy Scout Committee Chair Person of the Year |
| Todd Sanger | P514 | Cub Scout Committee Chair Person of the Year |
| Nick Griffith | T56 | Hooked on Scouting |
| Jason Chamness | T358 | Hooked on Scouting |
| Laura Gunderman | T358 | Hooked on Scouting |
| James Stiles | T358 | Hooked on Scouting |
| Amanda Walsh | T358 | Hooked on Scouting |
| Jill Williams | T358 | Hooked on Scouting |
| Mary Fenchak | T514 | Hooked on Scouting |
| Jill Carson | T343 | Spark Plug Award |
| Mark Carson | T343 | Spark Plug Award |
| Brendan Cavanaugh | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Joe Forler | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Brad Gibson | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Kathryn Gibson | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Bob Jalaie | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Dawn Pasquale | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Chris Pishon | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Chris Strachan | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Jane Sullivan | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Valerie Swack | T358 | Spark Plug Award |
| Matthew Glaze | T514 | Spark Plug Award |
| Marilyn Mathioudakis | T514 | Spark Plug Award |
| Ken Savin | T514 | Spark Plug Award |
| Lisa Savin | T514 | Spark Plug Award |
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If you would like more information about this topic, please call Cheryl Bilsland, 2018 North Star Communications Chair, at 317-225-6102, or email c.bilsland@yahoo.com.
New Adult Applications
From Council’s Registrar Sharon Cone:
Hello all! We just received new applications from National, and I wanted to make you aware of the changes in the adult application. Some of it looks similar, some of it looks completely different. Here’s what to look for:
- Only 2 sets of initials required by signature line (was 4);
- Approval signature needed from Chartered Org Rep or Institutional Head only (no Committee Chair approval needed);
- Criminal Background Check Authorization page is very last page of the application (page 9).
I’ve attached a PDF of the new adult application, as well as the updated youth application previously released. The adult application is a scanned copy that I made, because the Scouting Forms page on Scouting.org does not have an updated version of the adult application, nor does it have updated versions in Spanish. I ordered Spanish apps but did not receive any.
You can find these versions in Field Service/District Executive Resources/Forms, etc. We will put the new versions out on the shelf and lose the old ones.
Any questions, let me know. Thanks.
Sharon Cone | Registrar
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
Crossroads of America Council #160
Application – Adult (English) 524-501 (rev’d 2/2018) (no word if older versions are still acceptable or not).
Roundtable Thursday (CORRECTED)
Just a quick reminder that we will hold the first Roundtable of the year on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 7:00 pm at Luke’s Lodge, the outbuilding on the campus of St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46260.
The Scout Roundtable will focus on different advancement softwares including Scoutbook.com, TroopWebHost, and TroopMaster (PackMaster). These three will have specific presentations and opportunities to see the software live. Others will be discussed. If your unit uses a different software that you like, please contact Jeff Heck to provide more information for presentation purposes. This open to all packs, troops, and crews. Please suggest that your unit chair and advancement chair attend.
The Cub Scout Roundtable, led by Roundtable Commissioner Bill Buchalter, will focus on Blue and Gold Banquet planning and preparation for use in the next 30-90 days. Come learn how to make this memorable and valuable to your Cubs and Webelos!
Correction h/t on date to Mark Pishon.
Incident Reporting Video
The video is only about 8 minutes, so it is worth a brief review from committee members and unit leaders (e.g., Scoutmasters, Cubmasters, and Venturing Advisors).
Farewell to Patrick Sterrett
This is the last week for Patrick as our Council Scout Executive before he becomes the Assistant Chief Scout Executive for Operations.
Check out the Facebook feed on this page for more about Patrick in the news.
We wish Patrick many years of joyful scouting in Dallas.
JTE Changes for 2018
As we are wrapping up our 2017 Journey to Excellence scorecards with rechartering. Now is a good time to become familiar with next year’s scorecards.
Units
For the most part, at the unit level, there are few changes. On line 10, the consistent change is from requiring the minimum adult leadership for rechartering plus an assistant unit leader (i.e., assistant Cubmaster, Assistant Scoutmaster, or Associate Venturing Advisor). Now the requirement for Bronze on line 10 is simply to have an assistant unit leader. This makes sense, since the others are required to recharter. Even units that do not qualify for bronze need a unit leader and committee members. This is less of a change than a simplification of the scoring method.
I have omitted other wording changes that do not change the underlying scoring mechanism for the criterion.
District
The significant changes are at the District level. While most unit leaders have little interest in what district qualifies for, it does impact units. The impact is on what commissioners and committee members do to support the units. In their efforts, they need the cooperation of unit leaders to be able to meet BSA JTE requirements.
On line 4, membership growth, the focus is shifting from the district-at-large to Cub Scouts. So lower overall growth is sought but actual growth in Cub Scouts is the minimum level. The logic is that if we grow Cub Scout membership, we will grow overall membership. With co-ed taking effect in 2018 for Cub Scouts, ideally this is an easy requirement to meet.
On line 7, the target percentage of scouts with advancement is reduced between 2-3% on all levels.
On line 9, the target percentage of Cub Scouts camping is increased 2-3 % on all levels.
On line 12, unit retention is increased for bronze but reduced for silver and gold. All now seek 90% retention.
On line 13, unit commissioners are expected to have more detailed and more frequent information about the health of the units in their charge. That means the unit commissioners are expected to ask better questions so that they better understand the units. They are then accountable for summarizing that information in the reporting
system.
Line 15 requires one less committee member to qualify for gold.
Conclusion
So for planning purposes, very little is shocking to units. The amount of requests for assistance from district may go up. It seems the goal is to have better overall scouting experiences available to boys and girls without putting more pressure on any one unit to fulfill that goal.
Please look at the scorecards for 2018 and build improving into your monthly unit committee meetingsto insure a great 2018.
Chief Scout Executive on co-ed choice
Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh, Patrick Sterrett’s new boss, made these remarks the day after the vote to go co-ed. Surbaugh is a good speaker and worth a listen.
It is too bad these types of posts did not precede the vote.
BSA rolls out 100% co-ed
You may have heard, but all programs will be co-ed by January 1, 2019. Cub Scouts start, as I read it, June 1, 2018.
Here is the announcement from CAC Council Commissioner Ron Penczek:
Team,
I wanted to take a moment to forward on to you official communications from our National Council regarding girls in Cub and Boy Scouting. While it is too late for my girls to stand beside their brother in earning Eagle Scout, I am very excited to bring our program of citizenship, leadership and fitness to girls around the country, I hope you are as excited as me. I know for some Scouters, this change will be concerning and their concerns are not without merit, but as a Commissioner Corps, I am sure we can help deliver a positive message. We can be the agent of change that helps everyone to see the benefits of such a change and help implement such change in a positive way.
Please cascade this to your District and Unit Commissioners and begin talking with your units about this change.
I look forward to talking with you next week.
Kind regards,
Ron
BSA Expands Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts Programs to Welcome Girls
The BSA’s board of directors has unanimously approved welcoming girls into our Cub Scouts program and delivering a Scouting program for older girls that will enable them to advance and earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout.
The historic decision comes after years of receiving requests from families and girls. The BSA evaluated the results of numerous research efforts, gaining input from current members and leaders — as well as parents and girls who have never been involved in Scouting — to understand how to offer families an important additional choice in meeting the character development needs of all their children.
Linked below (or attached) are a few resources to help you learn more about today’s decision, as well as respond to any inquiries you may receive. As always, please direct all media queries to pr@scouting.org:
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CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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