News from the Principal

I received word from Mrs. Burke this morning that - if we wish - we can use the school as a base for the Cub Scout Pack. We'll need to schedule with the other school activities to make sure there is availability and a custodian present. If we want to use classrooms, we will have to check with the individual teachers.

We can discuss at the parent meeting(s) whether we want to to so or whether we want to seek an alternate venue. Or, you can add your comments and we can discuss here.

News and Plans So Far

Here is the news and the plan.

I've placed a blurb in the Liberty e-Newsletter asking interested parents to contact me. I would like to augment that with a flyer sent home to all the school boys, to catch folks who don't subscribe to the newsletter. The purpose will be to survey interest and recruit volunteers.

Step 2 will be to have a Parent Meeting, probably at the school. I have been in touch with Martin Koca, the Bluegrass Council District Executive for our area. He is already planning to come to the school the second week of September for a "School Night" meeting. Once we get to the School Night, we'll need to largely follow Martin's advice on chartering and organizing the pack.

I have forwarded several questions folks have already asked me to Martin, and I will post his responses here to share.

A Cub Scout Pack is organized as a group of smaller Dens. Each Den is like a small team of boys (4-8, depending on the pack size), and has a Den MotherParent to lead them. The Dens meet frequently (weekly?) for activities, training and fun, while the larger Pack meets less often (monthly?) for awards and large-group activities. Several times a year there will be Pack outings, Council and District level activites, and the inevitable fundraisers.

We will need Den Parents, Pack Leaders, crafty folks, outdoorsy folks, creative people, a financial genius, and many other volunteers to make this happen. Please consider volunteering!

One final thing. We will need to find a place (or places) and times for the Den and Pack meetings. An obvious choice would be the school itself. I will be contacting Mrs. Burke to discuss this possibility. We may also need to consider one of the area churches or other locations as well. If you have suggestions (Crossroads Christian and Northeast Christian have already been suggested), please post them here.

My Vision for the Pack

A little about me and what I was thinking.

My name is Mark Underwood. When I was young, I was in both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, in Troops 47 and 71 in Charleston, WV. I am an Eagle Scout, and also a member of the Order of the Arrow. I served intermittently as an Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 71 while in college, but have not worked with Scouting since then.

Last year, when Liberty Elementary opened, I volunteered at the PTA table, and met with Kristin Fisher, a PTA officer and a leader in the Girl Scout troop. I asked why the Cub Scouts were not there, and she commented that she had been buried in questions about that, but did not know. I contacted the Bluegrass Council, but due to various issues, well, nothing happened.

This year, my son is turning 9, and he wants to be a Cub Scout. I'm not sure how to do this, but I'm going to make sure he has a Pack to join.

I'd like to see this grow to be a large, active Pack, with lots of activities centered around life skills and enjoying the outdoors. I'll need all the help I can find, though, in nearly every aspect of the pack. I don't necessarily assume I should be the leader - in fact, I'm not sure I'm well suited for the role. My sole interest is in making sure the Pack happens. Since somebody has to get the thing kick started, I will.

Welcome to Liberty

Hello!

This is a new blog I've set up to share news and announcements, and foster discussion as we create a new Cub Scout Pack for Liberty Elementary and the surrounding area.

This is a parent site, and is not officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, the Bluegrass Council, or any other Scouting organization.

However, It is a site that will hopefully keep all of the interested parents up to date on the latest information as we pull the Pack together. After the pack has been created, we may keep this blog rolling as a site for Pack members, parents, and leaders to share information, or we may migrate to a more official site, depending on what is available from and "blessed by" the BSA and the Council.

Since this site is ultimately about the boys, let's of course keep the discussion candid but civil, and work together to make this the best Pack we can.

For now, at least, this site is available to the whole Internet. Comments are allowed and encouraged, but will be moderated by me, in an attempt to keep the spammers and scammers away. I will not "moderate" off any relevant, civil discourse, but I reserve the right to exercise some judgement if anyone, for example, loses their temper or types before they think. I'm sure this won't be an issue, though. If I do receive a rash comment for moderation, I'll most likely kick it back to the author with a polite request to rewrite after counting to ten.

Also, for now, I am the only authorized article author. I'll be glad to add folks who request it to the author list, especially as we appoint officers and other leaders and organizers who will have relevant information to add.

This is a community site, so please participate! Post questions, debate things, and share what we know.

Thank you!