News
How does scouts compare to sports?
Bobwhite Blather talks about sports and scouts. He talks about how the programs work and highlights differences.
A great resource to have on hand in recruiting season. Any scout recruiter should be able to recite this simple article well. It shows why scouting outperforms sports in developing good citizens.
YPT Status: 175 expiring or expired in next 90 days
As rechartering approaches, we enter the season when many scouters have their YPT status expire. As we all know, no scouter can be renewed for membership unless their YPT status is current through March 1, 2017.
We have 31 expired scouters.
We have 144 scouters who will expire their YPT status in the next 90 days.
We have 50 of those in the next 30 days.
Please log in to your my.scouting.org account today and review your training status under “My Dashboard.”
Review your unit’s training status under the “Training Manager.” Access is limited to Unit Key 3 and training authorized personnel. (Please note persons authorized for access in 2015 will need to be renewed by the Unit Key 3 through the “Organization Security Manager” in 2016.)
8 Days and Counting: Back to School Night
While your Cub Scout Pack is free to hold back to school nights at your convenience, don’t forget that every Pack is also expected to help meet the Council’s promise for August 25th.
While mass media has been pared down this year due to the exorbitant cost of advertising during a presidential campaign, Council is still pushing a common sign up night for all units. It is scheduled for August 25th. That means that your pack needs to have a table somewhere at its elementary schools to accept applications for 90 minutes that night.
Make sure you have your person or persons assigned and ready to take applications. Let Con or Sharla know if you need help covering your schools.
The person at your table should have some knowledge about the new Lion Cub Program, so make sure they are trained.
Upcoming Cub Leader Trainings
Part of Journey to Excellence emphasizes that Cub leaders are trained. North Star District requires that all leaders with greater than 90-days tenure be trained in their position by November 30, 2016 in order to be renewed in that position. In order to serve that requirement, the District making sure that training is widely available and publicized to facilitate leaders meeting this requirement.
To qualify for Bronze level of training (the 20th to 50th percentile of units), one person, whether Cubmaster, Den Leader, or Pack Trainer, needs to be trained in position specific training.
To qualify for Silver level of training (the 51st to 80th percentile of units nationwide), all scouters leading youth, whether Cubmaster or Den Leader, needs to be trained.
To qualify for Gold level of training (the 81st to 100th percentile of units nationwide), all scouters leading youth and 2/3rds of the committee members need to be trained for their positions.
While BSA’s e-training makes getting the de minimis training easier, the best training in scouting is face-to-face. The trainer may not be as articulate as the paid actors on the BSA’s website, live trainers are able to adapt the message for local needs and to reflect more information about local scouting. They are able to answer specific questions or direct to local council or district resources.
Because North Star District strongly prefers face-to-face training, the District is offering the most important Cub Scout training repeatedly the week of Labor Day. Each night from Tuesday, September 6, 2016 through Friday, September 9, 2016 a combination of these course are being offered. Currently these trainings are scheduled to be held at St Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46260 (Meridian St and 86th St).
We are asking each pack committee chair to emphasize the importance for all pack leaders to have their respective training done by September 9th.
If this creates scheduling conflicts for the leader, other districts are offering these trainings in the following 45 days. Del-Mi (Carmel/Fishers’ District) will be offering these trainings on October 1, 2016. Other trainings at the various scout service centers in the Council are being offered throughout September and October. A link to the council calendar is here.
If your unit has more than 3 adults who can participate in a class, district will send a trainer to your unit to provide the training. You just need to give us 14 days notice, beginning after August 26, 2016. 
Voyageur: new format for fall
Voyageur Canoe Training is unique in the BSA. Our council has been teaching how to lead canoe trips of all types for over 40 years. Our safety record is impeccable.
Traditionally the course has been taught over two intense weekends. This has created many scheduling problems.
This fall Voyageur will be offered in a 3-day, one-weekend format for the first time.
Come be a part of this compact and efficient Voyageur offering so that you are ready to lead your scouts next fall. Make your reservation and payment here.
Voyageur flyer for more information.
REMINDER: Roundtable tomorrow night
Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 6:30 pm, we will hold one of the most important roundtables of the year. It is our District Kick-off Roundtable.
We will have rockets to distribute for Cub Scout Pack recruitment. We will have an overview of Back to School Night and Boy Talk efforts. We will discuss the web resources to be used in support of your recruitment effort. We will talk about the new Online Registration and how it works with the BeAScout.org website and why those are critically important to recruitment.
We will also have a session for boy scouts and scouters on upcoming activities in Order of the Arrow, Firecrafter, Voyageur training, Marlinspike and many other events to put on your calendar.
We will have a very busy night, so prepare to listen fast! Come with you own announcements and flyers.
Recruiting Help Needed
District Executive Con Sullivan and Membership Chair Sharla Merrick have put out a request for help on recruiting efforts for all sorts of needs. Please contact Con if you are able to help this month.
OA Chapter Tepee report
YPT Status: need immediate attention
As October 1st approaches, the District Commissioner’s staff is ever more concerned about training, especially Youth Protection Training.
As previously published, your YPT should be renewed each year between March 1st and October 1st. This eliminates many problems at recharter time. Please help by logging into your my.scouting.org account and double checking your YPT expiration date.
As of this writing, the District has 29 scouters who are now expired on their YPT. A total of 168 scouters are or will be expired before November 10, 2016. There are probably another 50 or s0 (unverified) who expire before March 1, 2017. All of these 218 or so people can cause their units to be unable to renew, if the person expired is a required office to recharter such as committee chair, or maybe dropped from membership in order to allow their units to recharter.
Three units have 3 or more scouters whose YPT is expired at this moment. Several units will have more than 25% of their scouters YPT expire before November 10, 2016.
Please begin an aggressive campaign in your unit to bring these numbers down now.
Online Eagle Resources
This website has over 400 articles or so. In the wealth of information, there are sometimes some nuggets that get buried.
Don’t forget to take a look at some of the past articles for Eagle candidates. A key article is on the Eagle Board of Review.
You can always use the topics list on the right hand side of the webpage to look for other topics, too.
CAC North Star Unofficial Website 
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