A letter from Bryan Feather, Scout Executive/CEO, Mayflower Council, BSA

To: Mayflower Council, BSA Scouting Community

Re: Update to Wall Street Journal News Article- December 13, 2018

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal printed a news Article titled:

Boy Scouts of America Considers Bankruptcy Filing Amid Sex-Abuse Lawsuits…. Nonprofit has hired law firm Sidley Austin for assistance in a possible chapter 11 bankruptcy filing

Please note- this article is about the National BSA (BSA) and not the Mayflower Council, Inc.

In a communication released yesterday, BSA reaffirmed its focus on keeping children safe and delivering our nation’s foremost program of character development and values-based leadership training. For a copy of that statement, click here

BSA stated its commitment to the social and moral responsibility to fairly compensate victims who suffered abuse during their time in Scouting, and the deep care and concern for all victims of child sex abuse and the proactive steps to help victims heal and prevent future abuse. BSA stresses that at no time in BSA history has the organization knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with youth and will always seek to act swiftly when alerted to abuse allegations.

In a conference with all Local Council Scout Executives, BSA committed to communicate transparently and stated there are no imminent actions or immediate decisions expected by BSA in light of the Wall Street Journal news story. In other words, the BSA has NOT filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The BSA has hired a law firm to advise and work with the BSA on matters related to litigation amid Sex-Abuse Lawsuits.

I have assembled a few items of information from a Mayflower Council perspective that may be helpful while considering the news story.

• The strength of Scouting for over 100 years has been its local domain. Each Scouting Unit (Troop, Pack, Crew, Post) is owned by its chartered partner which is typically a place of worship, service club, community organization or educational institution. Each local Scout Council is incorporated in the specific state where it operates.
• The Mayflower Council, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) entity incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our Camps, Volunteer Service Center, bank funds and investments are owned or controlled solely by the Mayflower Council, Inc. Contributions and funds provided to the Mayflower Council, Inc. stay in this area and are used to support program delivery in the 62 cities and towns we serve.
• The nature of the relationship for a local Council with the national BSA organization is that our Council is the holder of a charter to conduct the Boy Scouts of America programs in our defined territory.
• The Mayflower Council continues to offer Scouting and Learning for Life programs of the highest caliber to the greatest number of young people possible. We do so in a safe environment with a commitment to background screening of all staff and volunteers as well as a mandatory Youth Protection Training.  https://www.scouting.org/training/youth-protection
• Council’s receive no funding from the national organization; in fact, we pay fees to BSA as a part of our charter agreement and for specific services. We receive value back from the national organization, but we operate as a financially independent not-for-profit organization.
• Areas where we partner with BSA, for business purposes, include several insurance programs, services for IT and expertise related to camping, Youth Protection and so on. Also, important to note is employee benefits such as healthcare and retirement are funded by each Council but through programs controlled and operated by National BSA.
• The Mayflower Council is one of the strongest Councils in the BSA from perspectives of fiscal health, program quality, board and volunteer dedication and staff commitment.

We have great confidence the National BSA can navigate the difficult waters that it, and many other long serving institutions, face with over a century of service to our nation. The Mayflower Council will continue our primary focus of bringing high-quality Boy Scouts of America programs to over 11,000 Scouts in the 62 cities and towns we serve.

Scouting is thriving in this area! This is due in large part to you with your contribution of time, talent and treasure.

You are welcome to call or email with thoughts or questions. Thank you

We hear this question often “Is a medical form required for this activity?”  The answer is yes!  All Council and District activities like Camporees, Klondikes, Chuckwagons, etc are required to collect a medical form for every youth and adult participant.  These forms are filed by unit and returned to the unit leader or designee at the end of the event.

The Boy Scouts of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts require that we retain health forms collected for summer camp up to 36 months.  These forms are maintained in a secure, offsite facility.

As a rule, all units should collect an Annual Health and Medical Record for all youth and adult members as well as parents who are regular participants.  These should accompany the unit on weekend outings and field trips.  These forms should be reviewed and updated on an annual basis.

See the attached for more information regarding this policy as well as the link to determine which form is appropriate based on your activity.

Mayflower Council and BSA National Health and Medical Records

With our first major snow of the 2018-2019 winter the council would like to remind our community about our adverse weather policy.  The council follows the lead of the Canton & Marlborough school systems when setting it’s adverse weather policy.  If Marlborough Public Schools close, so does the Marlborough Service Center and if the Canton Public Schools close, so does the Canton Service Center.  If the Marlborough or Canton Public Schools announce a delay (1 hour delay for example) the respective council service center delays it’s opening by the same time. We encourage everyone to follow the weather and school closure reports of our media partner WCVB Channel 5 in order to stay informed and up to date on school closings and weather alerts.

The Mayflower Council is pleased to announce that Kevin Paicos will be serving as our Nominating Committee Chair for the Council Board. In this role, Kevin will lead a group of volunteers to identify leaders who will serve as the governing body of the Council. We are seeking individuals who are strong leaders and believe in the ideals espoused through the Scout Oath and Law. We are also seeking diversity that reflects the communities that we serve. If you have recommendations, please forward those names, along with contact information to: nominatingcommittee@mayflowerbsa.org

Any background information you can provide on why you feel the nominee would be qualified will be most appreciated.

Thank you to all of our units for participating in the 2018 Scouting For Food initiative.   We ask you to please take a moment to fill  out the google form below.  This data is used for tracking purposes of community service and Scout service hours.

2018 Scouting For Food Tracking

A special Thank You to Channel 5 WCVB TV for serving as this years media sponsor, Cumberland Farms and Consigli Foundation.

Scouts BSA tools and assets are available to help you create awareness and interest among youth and adults.

Starting January 1, 2019, Scoutbook subscriptions will be free to all BSA units! Scoutbook is an online unit management tool that ensures that you never miss a Scouting moment—from tracking advancements to milestone achievements along the Scouting adventure.

When units with Scoutbook accounts need to renew these unit subscriptions this fall, they will not pay any renewal fees effective September 1, 2018. For units currently without a Scoutbook account, they can begin their free Scoutbook unit subscription on January 1, 2019.

Learn More Here

The Mayflower Council Advancement Committee released a revised council-wide process for the submission and review of Eagle Scout Project Proposals and Eagle Scout Applications on Friday, August 31, 2018. Unit leaders and future Eagle Scouts are urged to review these updated processes so they are prepared when they need to submit documents to the advancement committee.

Here are links to the updated documents:

How to Prepare Your Eagle Service Project Proposal and Report

How to Complete Your Eagle Scout Application Form

How to Submit an Eagle Scout Application to Mayflower Council

Eagle Application Review Process

Questions regarding the Eagle Scout Project Proposal or Eagle Scout Application submission process should be directed to your district advancement chairperson.

Updating unit pins on BeAScout is an important step in helping prospective Scouts and their families get in touch with units in your council.

BeAScout is open for units to indicate boy-only (default), family pack, or girl-only AND the date that they will begin accepting female applications.

1. Log in to your My.Scouting account; select Menu at the top left
2. From the drop-down menu, select your unit
3. Select Organization Manager
4. Select the Settings tab
5. Scroll to Family Scouting
6. If remaining boy-only, do nothing (this is the default setting); otherwise, select girls only or boys and girls
7. Enter the date that the unit will be welcoming girls.
8. Click Commit

For a pdf with instructions, click here.