Guidelines for Troop Program Planning Conference

From: Scoutmaster

To: Troop 272

In planning for this year, January, 2004- December, 2004, I believe that we need to take steps to protect us from overextending ourselves as a troop. With this in mind, I would like to suggest some guidelines for our planning.

Our regular monthly events should be as follows:

Troop Meetings Patrol Leaders' Council Meeting Monthly activity/outing

I suggest that we plan for three Troop Meetings, from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m., on Tuesday evenings, occuring in three consecutive weeks at the beginning of each month.

Patrol Leaders' Council Meetings should be scheduled from 7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening in the week immediately following the third Troop Meeting of the month.

In addition to the above regular events, each month we should schedule either an outing or a fundraiser, usually for a weekend. I think that it is advisable to have at least one month during the school year that is devoted to fundraising, rather than an outing. Perhaps, for instance, we could conduct a flower sale on Mother's Day weekend in May.

In choosing activities for our troop meetings and the monthly outings, we need to focus on providing adequate opportunities for advancement for all of our Scouts.

Having regular troop meetings provides opportunity to fulfill a large portion of the advancement requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks:

Tenderfoot 4a, 4b, 5-9, 10a, 10b, 11-13 Second Class 1a, 3, 6a-c, 8-10 First Class 1, 5, 7a-c, 8a-d, 10-11

Other requirements for these ranks can be completed by Scouts at home:

Second Class 5: identify ten kinds of wild animals First Class 6: identify ten kinds of native plants

We provide opportunities at Northwoods Summer Resident Camp for Scouts to fulfill some of the remaining requirements for these ranks:

Second Class 4: approved minimum 1 hour service project Second Class 7a-c: swimming requirements First Class 9a-d: swimming requirements

But there remain some requirements which still need to be fulfilled on troop outings. In planning, we need to make sure that our choice of outings provides opportunities to fulfill these requirements:

Tenderfoot 1: packing for an overnight campout Tenderfoot 2: pitching a tent on an overnight campout Tenderfoot 3: planning a meal and cooking a meal on an overnight campout Second Class 1b: 5 mile hike (or 10 mile bike) Second Class 2a: five activities, two with an overnight campout Second Class 2b-g: camping skills on an overnight campout (tents, firebuilding, cooking) First Class 2: 1 mile orienteering course with measurement First Class 3: ten activities, three with an overnight campout First Class 4a-e: patrol cook for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on one overnight campout

I believe that our plans should provide 6 hours of service project opportunities for Scouts to meet the service project requirements for Star and Life:

Star 4: 6 hours of service projects while at the rank of First Class Life 4: 6 hours of service projects while at the rank of Star

Since the Webelos Crossover occurs at the end of February, and the Boy Scouts of America recommend that each new Scout reach First Class rank in one year, I suggest the following timetable for scheduling opportunities for completing rank requirements:

Tenderfoot: March - July Second Class: March - November First Class: March - March

In order to run a quality Scouting program, we will continue to have a need to conduct fundraising events throughout the year.

Our plans should take our adult leadership into consideration. In addition to providing two-deep leadership for our troop events, the regular events for our adult leadership are as follows:

Troop Committee Meetings Mawanjidiwin District Leaders' Roundtables

The Mawanjidiwin District Leaders' Roundtables are scheduled for the second Thursday almost every month (with the exception of some summer months. I believe that there should be Troop Committee Meetings every month.

Our plans should take into account the following quarterly events:

Quarterly Boards of Review Quarterly Courts of Honor

Courts of Honor should be scheduled either quarterly or every four months.

Our quarterly Boards of Review should be scheduled during Troop Meetings on the months preceding the months during which we have our quarterly Courts of Honor. As the year progresses, we may decide to replace any particular Troop Meeting, other than those on which we have scheduled a Board of Review, by another activity (e.g. Town Council Meeting, YMCA swim, D.A.R.E. presentation, a seminar on Constitutional rights and obligations). These activities could be scheduled on any day during the week of the given Troop Meeting.

We should be careful to include in our plans the following events for our troop:

Junior Leader Training Conference Webelos Welcome Weekend Webelos Crossover Northwoods Summer Resident Camp Orientation Bring a Friend Day Northwoods Summer Resident Camp Annual Troop Program Planning Conference

In preparation for the Webelos Crossover, you should plan on inviting the Webelos to at least one Troop Meeting and one monthly outing before the Crossover. All of these events should be focused on serving the Webelos.

In planning for Northwoods Summer Resident Camp, you should also be considering alternative opportunities for our more experienced Scouts.

In order to continue providing quality junior leadership for our troop, it is important that we conduct an annual Junior Leader Training Conference.

In planning for the entire year, we should not think strictly in terms of months. We should not think that each month is isolated from the other months. We need to consider the overall scheduling of events. For instance, suppose that we decide to conduct a flower sale on Mother's Day weekend. Although this event would occur in the middle of May, we will probably have to do a lot of work on it in April, as this event will require a lot of planning. Hence, we would need to take this event into account when planning for April.

Last Revised 1/8/04

John D. McCarthy