two-deep leadership for outings

Dear Scouters,

The Boy Scouts of America have a number of requirements for adult leadership for troop activities.

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/gss/gss01.html

One of these requirements is known as "two-deep leadership":

Two-deep leadership:

Two registered adult leaders, or one registered adult and a parent of a participating Scout, one of whom must be at least 21 years of age or older, are required for all trips or outings. There are a few instances, such as patrol activities, when no adult leadership is required. Coed overnight activities require male and female adult leaders, both of whom must be 21 years of age or older, and one of whom must be a registered member of the BSA.

In order to properly plan for our troop's activities throughout the year, we need to have a commitment of two adult leaders for each one of our troop's activities, to satisfy this "two-deep leadership" requirement.

Since one of these two adult leaders is required to be registered with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), it would be helpful if we had a few adults from our troop, parents of Scouts or other interested adults, registered as adult leaders in our troop. That way we could call upon a larger pool of candidates to satisfy this part of the two-deep leadership requirement. This makes it more likely that we won't have to cancel an outing due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts.

I have provided half of the two-deep leadership requirement for many of our troop outings in the past. As I am going abroad for the months of March, April, May, June, and July, I will not be able to do this until August. Hence, our troop's need for volunteers for two-deep leadership has increased for the next few months.

The dates for the activities which we have planned for these months can be found on the troop web site:

http://www.math.msu.edu/~mccarthy/troop272/plan.2006/calendar.2006.html

The following outings are of particular concern:

Fri-Sun, April 21-23, 2006

Nate's Lot - Eaton Rapids Rifle Range

Fri-Sun, May 19-21, 2006

Council-wide Spring Camporee

Sun-Sat, July 16-22, 2006

Northwoods Summer Resident Camp

The most difficult of these outings for which to provide two-deep leadership is the week-long summer resident camp at Northwoods Scout Reservation in Lupton, MI.

If we need to share "two-deep leadership" among more than two adults, who may each cover only part of the duration of an activity, but who, by sharing the load, provide two-deep leadership at all times during the activity, then such an arrangement should certainly be considered.

As they say, "outing" is three quarters of "scouting". I understand that all of us have very busy lives. But I hope that "two-deep leadership" will not be an obstacle to providing a vibrant program of outings for our Scouts. Such a program is an essential part of delivering the promise of Scouting to our Scouts.

If you have any questions about helping to provide two-deep leadership for our troop activities, feel free to contact our Assistant Scoutmaster Gary Cunningham, our Troop Committee Chair Cathy McCarthy, or our Advancement Chair Donna Cunningham.

http://www.math.msu.edu/~mccarthy/troop272/troop.organization/scouters.html 

Gary Cunningham

517.484.1149

Garygodskid@aol.com

Donna Cunningham

517.484.1149

BoyzRgreat3@aol.com

Cathy McCarthy

517.699.8179

mccarthy@math.msu.edu

Sincerely,

John D. McCarthy