PLC Meetings
Patrol Leader Council (PLC) is the team of scouts that are responsible for planning and conducting the troop’s weekly meetings and monthly outings. Contrary to popular belief it is NOT the Scoutmaster!
The Scoutmaster (and assistant Scoutmasters) provide direction, coaching, and training that empowers the scouts with the skills they will need to lead the troop.
Meeting time:
PLC Meetings will be held the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm, a half hour prior to meeting start. Please be prompt so we can begin right at 6:30pm.
Participants:
The following scouts should plan to attend PLC meeting, including:
- Senior Patrol Leader (SPL)
- Asst. Senior Patrol Leader(s) (ASPL)
- Troop Guide(s)
- Patrol Leaders
- Asst. Patrol Leaders
- Troop Scribe
Election Process:
- Elections will be held about 1 month prior to summer camp. All troop members (scouts only) will elect the senior patrol leader.
- The SPL will then select the ASPL and Scribe the following week.
- The patrols will then elect the Patrol Leader the following week.
- The patrol leaders will then select their assistants
- The goal is to accomplish this just before summer camp
- At summer camp the incoming and outgoing leaders will work together to train and transition each member
Term of office:
The scouts will elect leaders for six month terms. Supported by our adult leaders, these scouts are responsible for every aspect of the Troop program and activities during their term of office. The scouts elected as leaders are generally among the more experienced members of the the troop. As a boy led troop we strive to allow these boys the opportunity to demonstrate the leadership skills they have been acquiring since joining Boy Scouts. Being on the PLC is an opportunity to put into practice the vision of Boy Scouting; to build leaders capable of making moral decisions.
Dedicated coaching –
The only parents that are part of the PLC is the scoutmaster or designee. Their role is to sit at the table and listen. They should only be involved when asked or they see a need to intervene and talk.
Communication:
Communication is key. Without constant communication there is a severe lack of progress by this team. This group will use email as the primary tool for planning. They are welcome to continue texting on a last-minute item, but we want to stress to this group that for planning purposes they need to use email.
The thought process behind this is that scouting has the primary mission of preparing young people to become leaders. As they become leaders in the adult world, email is still the primary form of communication they will experience in the working world. As such we want them to get used to this method.
We ask each parent to help educate and encourage their child in the use of checking email on a regular basis as we need parental support to ensure communication is maintained.
Mailing list –
To help facilitate the email exchange of this group, we have single email address that has been created that when sending to this address it will go to everyone in the PLC. The benefit of this process is that scouts do not need to know who is in the PLC and what email addresses each person has.
The other benefit of this process is that we maintain scouting’s two deep leadership policy. This email will go to BOTH the scout and their parents so we do not have to worry about emails going to a single scout without parental knowledge.
The email address is Troop834-PLC@trooptrack.com. This email address can be used by any email system and when sent it will go to all applicable leaders and PLC scouts. We apologize in advance for additional emails to your inbox, but we need the scouts to communicate better while maintaining safe scouting policies.
Plan your work, then Work you plan…
The PLC is responsible for planning at the following levels:
The Troop’s annual planning PLC meeting occurs in late June, early July and is intended to provide a rough schedule for the scouting year, September through the following August.
Follow these links to prepare/plan and execute the annual plannng:
—> The Annual Planning Conference: Step by Step
Each month, typically after the main event weekend, the PLC will meet to review the outing, plan upcoming troop meetings, plan the next outing and discuss any troop or patrol business.
PLC Meeting Agenda / Fillable version on Google Drive / PDF Fillable version
Good article on PLC meeting components
Fillable Project Planning Worksheet
Each meeting should follow a plan that was created by the PLC during the previous month.
Sample of Troop Meeting guides
Good collection of Meeting activity ideas
Download PDF File of Preopening Gathering Period Activities
Good collection of Troop meeting Ceremonies
Fillable Troop Meeting Template – At each PLC meeting, create this form for eaach of the next meetings
The PLC is responsbile for planning the activities of each monthly outing. This should be done at least 1 month prior to the outing. Use the template below to plan the weekend activity.