Pack 30 Parent Information Sheet
2015
Welcome to Cub Scout Pack 30! We hope you and your son (along with your entire family) enjoy the upcoming year and the event and activities schedule.
Cub scouts is about two things- having fun and growing character. We plan on focusing on both this year.
Please note that Cub Scouts is a FAMILY activity. Parents must be involved in scouting, either in a leadership role or as a partner to their son in advancing through scouts. Siblings are invited and encouraged to attend pack meetings, and are generally allowed at den meetings and events. Simply put, your family, not just your son, is part of Pack 30.
Below you will find information about Pack 30 and what you can expect this year.
Yours in scouting,
Tiffany Shell
Cubmaster, Pack 30.
Contact information:
District Executive Cubmaster Training Liason for New Leaders
Christian Nelms Tiffany Shell Chris Osborn
christian.nelms@scouting.org tiffanyshell@icloud.com osborn.christopher@gmail.com
865-310-5515 865-742-5774 (cell) 865-258-9548 (cell)
Committee Chair Den Leader
Mitzi Johnson ________________
myrickmitzi@gmail.com ________________
865-386-3398 ________________
Uniform Code:
Pack 30 encourages all scouts to purchase a full Class-A uniform. (see below) However, we recognize that the cost of the uniform is significant. Therefore, we require only the Class-A shirt, Neckerchief, and Neckerchief slide. Most scouts will purchase the hat as well. If the scout chooses not to purchase the pants, they should wear properly fitted jeans, shorts or slacks with their uniform. Pack 30 will likely order Class-B t-shirts for the pack as well. If we do this, there will be no charge for the T-shirt.
By November, scouts should be in their Class-A uniform (shirt and neckerchief) for Pack meetings. The Class-B uniforms can be worn for most other activities.
No scout will be denied participation for not having the Class-A uniform. However, a scout must have a Class A uniform to participate in the flag ceremony, an important part of scouting.
Attendance:
Attendance at den and pack meetings are critical for success of your scout. Scouts that do not attend den meetings are at risk of falling behind on their advancement. At the following pack meeting, the scout may have to sit and watch his den mates receive their awards. Scouts that show up sporadically may not be prepared for the den or pack meeting, thus miss out on that meeting’s activities.
While there is no official attendance requirement in scouts, boys can and will miss meetings. Vacations and family obligations can cause a scout to miss a meeting. However,
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It is the responsibility of the scout and parent to inform the den leader of the scouts absence and ensure that the scout makes up the missed activity, so that he can remain at the same advancement as the other scouts.
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If a scout and parent have not attended a meeting in over 4 weeks, and have not contacted the pack leadership to inform them that the scout would not be able to make it to the meetings, it will be assumed they have left the pack. A scout that is assumed to have quit the pack who shows up to a den or pack meeting may not be allowed to participate in the event.
Behavior and Discipline
For Tigers and Wolves:
Parents are responsible for ensuring the discipline of their cub scout during the meeting.
For Bears, Webelos, and Arrow of Light:
Parents are responsible for ensuring the discipline of their cub scout if at the meeting. If the parent is not at the meeting, the den leader will inform the parent of any issues that arise. Repeated behavioral issues can result in dismissal from scouts. Den leaders have the right to remove a scout from a den meeting if the scout is disturbing the meeting.
Please remember, your den leader, assistant den leader, cubmaster and all other leaders in Pack 30 are volunteers.
Understanding the Structure of Cub Scouts
As a parent, it is important that you understand the structure of Cub Scouts, so that you will know who to contact with issues, compliments or concerns. Below is a basic chart.
Boy Scouts of America
This is the national organization. The BSA is broken into Councils that represent geographic areas.
Great Smoky Mountain Council
Serving roughly 9 counties in middle East Tennessee, with the main office located in Knoxville. The GSMC has a small, paid staff that undergo the humongous task of coordinating scouting throughout the area. Most information needed from the Council can be found at www.bsa-gsmc.org. The GSMC is broken into Districts.
Seqouyah District
A GSMC district consisting of Sevier County and South Knox County. Pack 30 is part of this district.
District Chairman- Gregg Vandergriff gregg.gsmc@gmail.com
District Commissioner- Bob Williams hsebob@hotmail.com
District Executive- Christian Nelms christian.nelms@scouting.org
Pack 30 and Troop 30
Pack 30 (cub scouts) and Troop 30 (boy scouts) serve the areas of Strawberry Plains, Holston/Chilhowee Hills, and most of the area in between. The Pack/Troop are under a charter organization- Eastminster Presbyterian Church, who agrees to allow the Pack/Troop to meet at the church.
Communication
Communication is key to a successful scouting experience. It is important that information is readily available and that information is shared.
The pack uses several tools to communicate. One is Scoutlander.com, a free online pack organization tool. Please sign up for scoutlander. It is the primary location of our calendar of events. Facebook is a new way, this year, for leaders and parents to communicate with one another. Since so many people are on Facebook, the hope is that information can be shared easily and without accidental loss of email due to spam overload. The pack has two pages on Facebook. Our closed group, which is strictly for parents and leaders to communicate with each other, is https://www.facebook.com/groups/pack30knoxtn/. We also have a public Facebook page, which, for safety purposes, is not to include photos of the scouts or dates/times/locations of our events ahead of time. You can find this page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/GSMC-Sequoyah-Pack-30/168956559847166?fref=ts.
The cubmaster can be reached through email, text or phone using the contact information listed above. Den leaders will provide a way for parents to contact them.
We hope that you and your son have a wonderful experience with scouting, and look forward to a fun, educational year.