evmori

Wonder if Albania will take him?

I think the self imposed rule is a good one. Did the same thing with my son. But a SM Conference is nothing more than a chat. It's not pass/fail.

John, Congress using their heads? Ha! Never gonna happen!

Since all the problems are solved, who wants pie?

I was a SM for 7 years! It was kinda tough to step down & turn the reigns over to someone else. Good luck!

Sounds like control issues! Did the boys enjoy themselves? That's the key! Remember you can't cure stupid. Keep doing what you are doing for the boys.(This message has been edited by evmori)

Great idea! After all, it is his advancement.

I always loved that Kinks song!(This message has been edited by evmori)

Well, the 4th quarter is almost over. Any news?

Why? Could be the younger Scouts might not understand the principles wording.

Same thing just worded differently.

This whole thing flies in the face of First Class First Year that the BSA is pushing,

Until National makes it a policy, it's not.

In the 1st place, how would the DAC even know? This is all done at the unit level. In the 2nd place, I feel it is adding to the requirements.

PLCs decide all kinds of dumb things. When they decide that the next meeting will be to shoot hoops, they're off track. Same as if they decide the next series of meetings will be a lecture class on some merit badge or other. That's why we have a Scoutmaster, to help the PLC focus on their purpose. So deciding that a few meeting will be dedicated to working on a merit badge is dumb? Interesting perspective.

I will respectfully disagree with at least one point of evmori's claim. The Scoutmaster has to sign off on the Eagle application. One thing that this indicates is that the Scoutmaster believes that all the requirements are complete. One of the requirements is to attach a statement of your ambition and life purpose. I think it's fair for a Scoutmaster to decide that the statement the Scout has given does not actually meet that requirement, and ask him to rewrite it. Once the statement is above the minimum, then yes, I agree that the Scout can decide for himself how good it is and whether it should be made better. But Scouts by and large want people to actually listen to them and give them feedback and sometimes hold them to a better standard than "whatever you write down is fine." And I do agree that it does not affect the question of the Scoutmaster conference. I would agree that by the Scoutmaster putting his signature on the Eagle application he indicates all the requirements have been met. That signature doesn't mean he likes what the Scout wrote. Nor does he have to. And yup packsaddle, you read correctly.

While the statement may not be part of the SMC, if the SM reads the statement and can't make heads or tails of it, he should point that out to the Scout and suggest a rewrite. I would agree but it is up to the Scout, not the Scoutmaster to decide if it should be rewritten. And this in NO WAY should have anything impact on a Scoutmaster signing off a Scoutmaster Conference.

I've seen three of these statements, the first one was about 5 pages and led to more questions than it answered, the SM didn't sign off the conference until the statement made sense. The boy described his plan on how he would complete each year of college. The next version was about one page and it was very nice. It isn't up to the SM to decide if the Scout's statement makes sense. And a SM conference has nothing to do with the Scout's statement and is not a pass/fail requirement. If the Scout had a SM conference, the requirement is completed.

Ahh well what if the PLC decides to work on a merit badge during a meeting or two and wants to bring in an outside presenter?

So the backpeddling by the union on their web site was a CYA move!

Working on merit badges is not forbidden during Troop meetings.

Snow_White, This seems unusually long for National on this. And this is the 1st time I ever heard of National only reviewing these things quarterly. Something seems fishy & I have a feeling it is at the Council level.

I'm beginning to wonder if your council ever sent this to National!

And the good guys win another one!

From a news article. Allentown union official Nick Balzano has been a political punching bag all week because he threatened to file a grievance against the city for allowing a Boy Scout to clear a walking path in a city park. Three days of taking body blows nationally from conservative pundits, a rebuke from the Lehigh Valley's congressman and even a lashing from his own union led Balzano to voluntarily resign his position Thursday as head of the local Service Employees International Union. Balzano said he and seven other executive officers of the local SEIU stepped down. Apparently when the union web site stated Nick Balzano is with the Allentown chapter of SEIU Local 32BJ and is NOT the president of the local or the International. he had apparently already resigned! Smooth timing!