Council-wide July Roundtable

Thank you for joining us at the Council-wide roundtable held on Wednesday, July 15. Below are a few slides presented at this meeting as well as videos from our Council Commissioner and the national announcement on the bar date.

A message from the Council Commissioner

Explanation of the Bar Date

Headwaters June 4th Roundtable Follow up

Hello Headwaters

Thank you to the Pack and Troop leaders that joined our Roundtable team on Thursday for a conversation about the recent changes and announcements to Scouting. We appreciate everyone that shared their thoughts, questions, concerns and comments through our anonymous Google Survey (link below). These concerns will be analyzed by our District Leadership and brought to the conversation with the Council Key 3 and other District Key 3s.

The Council is planning to hold two Council-wide Roundtables so that we can collaborate and answer questions as Scouting and the state of Massachusetts start to reopen and update safety measures. They are scheduled for July 15th and August 19th.

At our Roundtable we showed a few items on our screen that everyone asked to have sent to them, so we have attached the documents below:

1 – Troop 14 Bellingham shared a Super Cub Summer Passport – 2012SuperCubSummerPassportEDIT

2 – they also shared a Summertime Passport for Cubs to check off the activities they complete on their own – SummertimePassport2014

3 – Scoutmaster from Troop 22 Whitman has shared their April Virtual Campout agenda – April_Virtual_Campout

Take a look at these resources and make edits for what works best for your Pack, Troop or Crew!

Our message from last night: The only limit to what we can still do as Scouting Units is our own imagination. Let’s get creative and find the new way to provide an excellent Scouting program!

Additional links:

– Trainings – https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/program/adult/training/

– Popcorn Kickoff Meetings:

June 10th – https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/event/2020-popcorn-kickoff/2020-06-10/
June 15th – https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/event/2020-popcorn-kickoff/2020-06-15/
June 23rd – https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/event/2020-popcorn-kickoff/2020-06-23/

– Summer Camp Resident camp FAQ – https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/scouts-bsa-summer-camp-faq/

– Adventure Day Camp – https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/cub-scout-summer-camp-update/

April Roundtable: Remote Programming Ideas

Hello Headwaters,

Below are some of the notes and topics that were discussed at our Virtual District Roundtable at the start of the month. We had a long conversation about remote programming ideas and what both Troops and Packs can be doing to keep their Scouts engaged and connected.

Headwaters District is also here to help your Unit! We can help you host meetings for your Unit or for your Committee. Get in touch with Headwaters@mayflowerbsa.org to talk with our Key 3 (listed on our District Webpage) and we can help set up a Google Hangout meeting.

Resources for Units:

Check out our Webpage on Scouting From Home: https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/scouting-at-home/
Check out our Webpage on Covid-19 updates: https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/covid-19
Share your cool ideas for Scouting from Home on our Facebook Page!
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/167191867249406/?ref=bookmarks
Share what your Unit does on social media and tag #MayflowerScoutsinAction
Troops: Life Scouts can petition extensions to work on Eagle Scout – see this link HERE: https://www.mayflowerbsa.org/petitioning-advancement-extensions/

Ideas for Remote Programming from April Roundtable:
(These ideas were suggested by those in attendance in the chat)

April is Child Abuse Prevention month, some Units are going to try presenting the Learning For Life videos to the troop via Zoom. https://www.youtube.com/user/lfldigitalvideo/playlists
Are people talking with their Unit about the current COVID19 situation? If so, how deep into it do you go
- Asking people in the Health care field to join a virtual meeting is a Win-Win! They
  get to tell young people and families about health safety and your Scouts get
  informative programming
Scavenger Hunt idea, have Dens, Patrols or Scouts attend a Zoom call and tell them common household items that they need to go and get and return to the screen – patrols or dens earn points for who gets them the quickest
Kahoot is a great way that you can create trivia games that all your Scouts can join with a personalized room code: https://kahoot.it/
A good website for Merit Badge Requirements and workbooks: http://usscouts.org/mb/worksheets/list.asp
Drawful 2 is free from Microsoft right now https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/drawful-2/c1mp1qhqfvj5?SilentAuth=1&wa=wsignin1.0&activetab=pivot:overviewtab
Multiplayer .io games at https://poki.com/en/online-worlds – we tried skribbl.io with uno as a backup
One ScoutMaster set up a Minecraft server the Scouts use but adults manage
Another online virtual play space that kids are used to is Roblox
Houseparty: https://houseparty.com/ has a drawing feature, also trivia – we’re going to try Houseparty for patrol meetings
- Watch Parties with Facebook and Netflix too! You can host a virtual “Campout” with a communal movie night
Jackbox games is a party pack of different games that people can join with a personalized room code – Drawful is a fun game for all ages – be aware that some games can be more mature – https://jackboxgames.com/drawful-two/utm_source=social&utm_medium=d2free&utm_campaign=d2free&utm_content=d2free

Does your Unit have ideas of how to continue doing some Community Service?
- “We were talking, the adults of Troop 100, about doing separate days of trail cleanup, 1 family at a time kind of thing”
- “At our Committee Meeting, recognizing that we will be socially distant for Earth Day and that many are out walking, to encourage our scouts to take a trash bag and do their own clean up – perhaps a prize for the most trash collected at month’s end.”

Share your ideas with us!

We’ll be hosting another Virtual Roundtable on May 7th. Check our Council Calendar for a link and more information. Check your emails from our Roundtable Commissioner Nick Keyes –

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy.

April Roundtable

April Training Newsletter

2021 National Jamboree

2020 Tread Lightly Trainer Course

2020 Summer Camp Staff

March Roundtable – Headwaters District

Below are the event flyers, training newsletter and other information from the March Roundtable.

HW Pinewood 2020 event flyer

Headwaters District Dinner

Chuckwagon Derby – Camp Resolute

BALOO – spring 2020

2021 National Jamboree

2020 Staff Flyer Camp Resolute and Squanto

Providence Bruins Games – March

Mayflower training news Mar 20

IOLS – spring 2020

Questions answered from January Roundtable

Hello Headwaters,

A lot of questions were asked at our January Roundtable! Below are the answers to the questions we had.

How long can an unregistered youth attend unit events without registering? Are they covered by BSA insurance? – A Scout may attend a trip, meeting or overnight to see if joining the unit is the right fit for them. For these occasional events, the prospective youth is covered by the BSA’s liability insurance. Unit leaders should use their discretion and good judgement to avoid a youth from creating a pattern for participation without being registered.
What is the difference between a “Near Miss Incident” and an “Incident”
1. A near miss is an incident that did not result in injury, illness, or damage by definition but that had the potential to have done so. Reporting these is important in order to track dangerous conditions or situations that arise during your unit’s program.
2. Here is the link to the BSA’s incident reporting website: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/incident-report/
Does a Charter Organization’s insurance become involved when an incident occurs? – This depends on the incident. At our Roundtable we talked about approved and not-approved Scouting activities that units can look up in the Guide to Safe Scouting (Link here). If a unit is intentionally not following the GSS, a Charter Organization could be liable for damages or injuries that occur. Charter Organization Representatives should communicate with Committee Chairs and Unit Leaders to ensure that Safe Scouting practices are being followed on trips and at meetings. (Link to Age Appropriate Guidelines for Scouting Activities and Link to Age Appropriate Camping Guidelines)
How many Scouts can share a tent at summer camp? What about when there is an odd number of Scouts? – The troop should use their best judgement in this situation. There is no reason why a youth can not be alone in a tent if the Troop leaders expect them to be responsible. Troops probably shouldn’t have a first year Scout alone in a tent if it can be avoided.

Make sure to sign up for Mayflower Today, the Council’s weekly newsletter, at the bottom of the website! It has launched a new, biweekly segment called “You Ask, We Answer” where your questions will be answered and shared. Submit your questions at this link!

Please join us the first Thursday of the month at Milford High School at 7:00 pm for more news, training, information and Scouting connections!