News
Winter Camporee Report
Last Sunday, the Winter Camporee committee met. Our former District Executive Con Sullivan is co-chairing the event and presided over the meeting.
The theme will be the Winter Olympics with Willie’s Chills and Thrills! The event will be at Camp Krichtenstein from Friday, January 19, 2018 to Sunday, January 21, 2018.
Con emailed the following afterward:
Thank you to those who attended our Camporee Meeting last night. I have attached the most recent version of the Leader’s Guide for the ’18 Winter Camporee.
To do’s from meeting due on/before Jan 10th
- Estimated # of Patrols attending
- Patrol competition summary for Leader’s Guide
- Online registration link is https://scoutingevent.com/160-NSWC18
If you have any questions, please contact Co-Chair Thomas Jacoby of Troop 174 (thomasjacoby@gmail.com) or me.
Thank you!
Con
JTE Report from District
It’s that time of year 🎼 🎶 . . . no, no, no, not that. The JTE report time of year.
As we are wrapping up Rechartering, we have a better idea of what the year’s end 2017 Journey to Excellence report will look like.
First a refresher on definitions. Gold level means that a unit, district, or council has scored in the 80th percentile or better. For those of you who are not currently in my son’s statistics class, that means the unit, district, or council has scored as well as or better than 80% of the units, districts, or councils, respectively, out there. Silver is the 51st to 79th percentile. Bronze is 20th to 49th percentile.
So with those definitions in mind, the drum roll, please! 🥁🥁
As of the report this morning, North Star District has 33 of 40 units scoring Gold:
- Packs 18, 35, 105, 171, 174, 175, 358 (all five tribes), 514, 625, and 830 (total packs: 14);
- Troops 18, 35, 56, 69, 72, 73, 174, 180, 269, 343, 358, 512, 514, and 804 (total troops: 14); and
- Crew 358 and 408.
North Star has 2 units scoring Silver, Pack 180 and Crew 56 (chartered in December 2016).
The District has one unit scoring Bronze, Pack 64.
Three units reported but did not qualify for any JTE award. One unit has tendered no report yet. Pack 73 is too new to have any historical data yet on which to generate a report. Consequently, this looks like the final results.
So what does this mean for the District? With the November End of Month report (preliminary data, subject to revision), North Star has 2250 points, qualifying for District Gold again for the third year straight. Unfortunately, Del-Mi has slipped into a 25 point lead with 2275. This would break a streak of North Star wins.
Right now, we do not have all the results of Unit JTE Reports entered. Based on the information above, the categories that we can still improve on before year’s end are as follows:
- Cub Scout Camping: Worth an additional 50 points for us. This will come out the JTE reports, so we expect this to increase. We are 25 Cub Scouts short of necessary, but some of the JTE reports have not been processed yet. If you think that you have additional reports that could help (like October or November family camps that were not included), email Jessica Hofman to clarify where your pack stands.
- Boy Scout Camping. Worth 25-75 more points, depending on the reports made. For the mechanics, it is nearly identical to the Cub Scout Camping described above. If your unit did summer camp out-of-council or did high adventure but not on high national council base, we need your numbers. We need 73 boy scouts reported camping from outside local council or national council camps or high adventures or specialty camps (like STEM). Email Jessica if you think your boys were not reported as having done long-term camping.
- Additional Service Man-Hours: We need 3,274 more man-hours reported. That works out to about 80 man-hours per unit. Please make sure to login to http://servicehours.scouting.org with your Internet Advancement login and password to make sure your unit’s records are up to date through December 2017.
- Unit JTE Gold: We have met this criteria, but it is not scoring yet. That will be worth an additional 150 points.
Your outgoing Key 3 is working on a few tasks to boosts these numbers a bit more yet from the administrative. Let’s keeping working to put Del-Mi behind us.
Even so this is all very good news. You should be proud of the efforts that you are making on behalf of your youth!
New District Leadership for 2018
District Chair John Wiebke and District Commissioner Jeff Heck are pleased to announce that the nominees for District Chair and Commissioner for 2018 have accepted the nominations.
Mark Maucere has accepted the Nominating Committee’s proposed nomination as the District Committee Chair for 2018. Mark has served as the Chartered Organization Representative at St Alphonsius Catholic Church, serving Troop 358 and Crew 358.
Stephen Heath has accepted the Nominating Committee’s proposed nomination as the District Commissioner for 2018. Stephen has served as the Troop and Crew Chair for the same units at St Alphonsius. In his time as Chair, Troop 358 grew from being a large troop of under 100 scouts to now serving nearly 150 scouts. Stephen’s sons both are Silver Palm Eagles.
These nominees will be presented at the District Elections on Thursday, January 4, 2018 at 7:00 pm. Upon ratification by the Chartered Organization Representatives, District Committee Members-at-Large and the Council Committee Members-at-Large resident in North Star, their recommended election will be forwarded to the Council Committee for inclusion on the Council Elections at the next Annual Meeting of the Council in early February. They will begin service January 1, 2018 under a temporary appointment, pending final Council ratification.
John Wiebke and Jeff Heck have agreed to remain involved in the District after stepping down from their respective positions. John’s final assignment is yet to be determined. Council Commissioner Ron Penczek has asked Jeff to also serve as the Assistant Council Commissioner for Communications 2018, which Jeff has accepted.
We look forward to seeing the team that Mark and Stephen build to support their efforts in North Star.
Keep Pushing Membership
Remember that we are on the verge of growing membership in North Star District for the first time in years. Please make sure to try to recruit another scout to your unit before year’s end to help us reach this momentous goal!
REMINDER: December District Meetings
Normally, we would have district elections in December. We are a bit delayed in slating the candidates, so that will be postponed to the first District Committee Meeting of January 4, 2018 at 7:00 pm at Second Presbyterian.
Instead we will hold the last District Committee Meeting of the year at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N Meridian St, Rm 401, Indianapois, IN 46260., Thursday, December 7, 2017 at 7:00 pm.
The Commissioner Meeting will be held on the same day at 6:00 pm in Room 405.
This Sunday, December 10, 2017, the Winter Camporee Planning meeting will meet at 6:00 pm at St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W 86th St, Room C115, Indianapolis, IN 46260. It will be chaired by co-chairs Con Sullivan and Thomas Jacoby of Troop 174. The location is to be determined. Please send a scoutmaster or proxy to participate in the planning process. The camporee will be January 19-21, 2018.
The following week on Thursday, December 14, 2017, we hold the last Roundtable of the year.
Our district elections will be Thursday, January 4, 2018. More information to follow. Please have your Chartered Organization Representatives and District Members-at-Large (that is district committee members) and Council Members-at-Large who live in North Star District attend. They are all eligible to vote.
Recharter Update: 9 Days Left
As of today, we have only 9 days left to complete rechartering electronically. That means that any unit that has not started the rechartering process electronically, submitted an electronic roster, and sent in supporting paperwork by December 15, 2017 can have major problems.
What are “major problems”? Your rechartering application process may have to start all over again, but this time be on paper and all members submit new applications for membership.
This is a major change in time schedule for previous years.
At this time, we have 25 units whose paperwork has been approved by the District Executive and District Commissioner and has been submitted to the Council Registrar. We have seen little progress on these packages moving through the Registrar’s stack, because there 700 packages to be processed. This is the slowest part of the process.
Of the 15 remaining units, 12 units have submitted most of their paperwork. We are waiting on various problems to be resolved from these 13 units. These units are
- Packs 18, 72, 84, 174, 179, 180, and 747;
- Troops 35, 69, 179, and 180; and
- Crew 69.
If you believe that your unit is incorrectly on this list, please do not hesitate to contact District Executive Jessica Hofman, Assistant District Commissioner for Rechartering Mat Gerdenich, your Unit Commissioner, or District Executive Jeff Heck. We want to help you expedite matters.
What are the typical problems?
Some units are missing entire applications for new youth or new adults. Some units are missing necessary initials or signatures on adult applications (the biggest problem is the failure to sign the Criminal Background Check release on the page facing the Adult Applcation). If these applications are not required to recharter, you can choose to drop these applicants from the recharter roster, then add them after rechartering. NOTE: For youth pursuing advancement, this is not a good option.
Other units have adults who do not have the required training. The ideal solution is to complete training online. If that is not possible or preferred, there are several options:
- we will accept a receipt for University of Scouting.
- If the adults are not required to recharter, they can be moved to Unit Scouter Reserve. This classification does not require training other than YPT. To move back to the previous position, before the next recharter season, this person would have to fill out a new Adult Application to change their position.
- Another option is to move Assistant Scoutmasters to Committee Members. Assistant Scoutmasters have to take the one in-person class that does not have an equivalent online class: Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills. (IOLS at University of Scouting is an all-day course, so you would not be able to take other classes that day.)
- New Assistant Scoutmasters who have made Eagle Scout since the 2003 curriculum changes are automatically qualified as having achieved Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills. Your Unit Key 3 can enter the training in my.scouting.org’s Trainng Manager as complete as of the date of their Eagle Board of Review.
Some units are missing dues payments. Those are best handled one by one.
Help us close out rechartering as quickly as possible!
Dates Added to Calendar
I have been working this morning to add dates for 2018 to the blog calendar.
Remember that this is not the official calendar of the district. That is still maintained at the CrossroadsBSA.org website. The distinction is that they can take reservations for paid events and this website cannot.
The problem is that the calendar on this website is often more responsive and complete as to a unit’s needs, so it can create confusion. We will work on improving that in the coming year.
New Foundation Fitting the Scouting Mission
A new foundation that fits the scouting mission. Lenore Skenazy is an Eagle Scout mom from New York City. Her 2012 interview on ScoutmasterCG.com is fascinating. The website Free Range Kids is very interesting. Her book is interesting, too.
Pinewood Derby Pitfalls
Great article from last year. Take a look as you prepare for 2018.
Council Announces New Scout Executive
From the Crossroads of America website:
Crossroads of America Council is exited to welcome JOE WILTROUT as our new Scout Executive.
Joe will be coming to us from Three Fires Council in St. Charles, IL where he currently serves as Scout Executive.
He will begin this new role in early January. Please help us give Joe, his wife Sara, their 3 children a warm Hoosier Welcome!
Here is an excerpt from the Three Fires Council’s biography on Mr. Wiltrout:
On Nov. 3, 2014, Joseph (Joe) Wiltrout became the third Scout Executive for Three Fires Council, Boy Scouts of America. Located in St. Charles, IL, the Council serves 14,000 youth in Chicago’s western suburbs.
Joe came to Three Fires Council as an experienced, professional Scouter. Most recently, he spent three years as Deputy Scout Executive / Chief Operating Officer in the 43,000 Scout-strong Northern Star Council in Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN.
Before that, Joe spent three years as Director of Development / Chief Financial Officer at Daniel Webster Council in Manchester, NH. There, he managed a $5.2 million budget and provided leadership to several innovative special events.
Joe spent 10 years as Senior Finance Director, Field Director, and District Executive at the Atlanta Area Council, GA. He also served as Camp Director for Woodruff Scout Reservation in Blairsville, GA.
An Eagle Scout with a Bronze Palm, Joe completed Wood Badge training. He is a Vigil Order of the Arrow member. As a youth, Joe was an International Scout.
Educated at the University of Florida, Joe has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture. Married to his wife, Sara, for 23 years, they have three school-age children.
In his spare time, Joe enjoys hunting, college and professional sports, and coaching youth football.
Welcome to the Crossroads of America Council, Joe!
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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