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Are Roundtables Dead
On the Scouts-L discussion group a member raised the question of whether Roundtables were dead (see italisized text). Mike Walton's responded as follows:
Our district "roundtable" was held last night and I was quickly
(emphatically) informed that it is no longer to be refered to as "Scout
Roundtable" but as "Leaders' Meeting". Similarly, the Commissioners'
meeting and district commitee meetings have been renamed (I seem to >recall
the terms "facilitators" and "operations").
My question to the wisdom of the list: Did I miss something? Are
"Roundtables" a thing of the past?
No more than we are calling our District Executives "Unit-Serving Executives".
A year and some months back, the BSA *suggested* that "the field" change
some of the titles and working groups that have since the start of Scouting,
has been a fixture. Some of it is reflect what exactly goes on during those
activities; and others have been suggested as a way of "updating the program."
Don't count on those new "titles" to catch on....there is a LOT of
resistance from our professional counterparts to part with the "District
Executive" and "Senior District Executive" titles!
And don't count on "Leaders' Meeting" to take the place of "Roundtable" and
"District Operations Meeting" to take the place of "District Committee
meetings". I haven't heard the "faciliator" title used anywhere....
This is all coming from the same people whom want our Council Scout
Executives known as "Council Presidents" and our Council Presidents known as
"Chief Executive Officers".
These are ALL SUGGESTIONS. The BSA hasn't officially change ANY of our
official titles, the names of our program elements, nor the names of those
supporting programs to benefit the Council, District and unit operation.
There are several field tests going on now, and your District may be
included in one such field test to see how well (or not) those proposed
changes may work before implementation.
As a former Boy Scout "Roundtable" Commissioner of fairly successful
monthly meeting (>50% of units in attendance regularly), I'm somewhat
familiar with the objectives of this meeting and the "training" that is to
be carried out there. My impression (from last night's "encounter") is
that these "leaders' meetings" are to be more information transfer
oppertunities than anything with the majority of the activities directed
toward the Cub Scout program.
The scope of the meetings will continue to be as it is presently done; just
the NAME of the meeting will change. Note that Exploring has long had held
"Leaders' Exchanges" which describes closer what Roundtables do in the
"Exploring scheme" of things....
Because I am also serving as the newsletter editor, using the correct
terms is important.
For right now, I would suggest that you use the suggested titles and place
the "traditional" titles in parentheses so that "old-timers" reading the
articles continue to associate the "event" with "what it is called today."
As in "Leaders' Meeting (Roundtable)."
Settummanque! (Settummanque!)
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