Re: [Philmont]: New Reservation System

> I
> personally feel this is still the way to go - perhaps because I have a
> nagging sense that Philmont is using a straight up, unweighted, and
> purely random selection that treats every applicant identically,
> regardless of how long they've been trying to win a slot, or how large
> they are. But I have no proof, so doubtless it's just paranoia or sour
> grapes on my part, take your pick.
>

That is my understanding as to how the the system works.

> Councils are not given priority per se. Philmont sets aside a certain
> percentage of the availble slots for Council Contingents. The number of
> slots per Council is based on many years of negotiations and actual
> attendance figures. Here in National Cap, for example, we have been
> sending Council Contingents to Philmont for over 50 years, and have
> settled (I believe) on 12 Crews per year, down from 16. If the Council
> had to keep returning unused Crew slots, Philmont would eventually ask
> us to cut back to 8 Crews. If we were instead constantly sitting on a
> large waiting list, the Council would try to get back up to 16 Crews.
> That might take years to do, especially nowadays.
>

I believe Philmont's goal is 60% unit contingents and 40% council
contingents. Putting together a council contingent is a lot of work so it
is important to have a volunteer willing to put a considerable amount of
effort into doing that. That's a primary reason some councils don't have
council contingents.

> Many Councils (a surprisingly large percentage, actually) never ask for
> a Council Contingent. Others request only small numbers of slots,
> commensurate with the level of interest. Off the top of my head, maybe
> two dozen Councils have either one mega-Contingent (12 - 20 Crews all on
> one date), or multiple small Contingents (8 - 16 Crews spread over
> several dates). Other Councils combine to form Contingents (for
> example, when I came as a Scout, both times it was one Contingent made
> up from three neighboring Councils).
>
> Anyway, it is important to realize that Councils are not competing
> directly against Units, except in general terms. Rather, they are more
> competing against each other, and changes are slow coming.
>
> Finally, the every other year restriction. This pertains ONLY to
> individual Units going on their own. It does not pertain to Units going
> with their Council Contingents. HOWEVER (and I believe with Philmont's
> encouragement), *most* Councils have instituted the same restrictions
> within their own Contingents. But not all. In addition, there are no
> restrictions on Scouts or adults going provisionally, either with their
> own Council or with whoever else they can find, literally nationwide.
> So it is indeed possible for people to go to Philmont year after year in
> "apparent" violation of the every other year restriction. They are
> within the letter of the law, if not the spirit. That is yet another
> issue for Philmont to address some day, if they so choose.
>
> The final answer, of course, hasn't changed in the ten years since
> getting into Philmont became an issue - as has been discussed at some
> point almost every year, we need another Philmont. Another night's
> (repeat) topic, perhaps....
>

Of course, the Double H Ranch is suppose to be the "other" Philmont but it
will take several years of development, etc. for this to happen.

YiS,

-- 
Calvin H. Gray
Scoutmaster, Troop 405
Associate Advisor, Venturing Crew 405
Georgetown, Texas
I used to be an Owl (WM-62-2-98 @ Philmont)
http://www.troop405.org/
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