FScouter

"Of course, you will need to understand what his/her motivation is for wanting to serve." What kinds of motivations should disqualify an adult leader candidate?

"If at some later date he wants to become an avowed homosexual, I'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I believe that is the answer. Unless a person is an "avowed homosexual", I don't believe he can be denied membership on that basis. You might point out to him the various membership requirements, CO requirements, the Sea Scout Promise, the declaration of religious principle, his obligations as a member. Oh, and the fact that an avowed homosexual may not be a member.

"... resign from this position making clear that the reason for doing so is to limit personal liability risk." "... recuse themselves in matters in which they may appear to have a conflict of interest" I'm not a lawyer and don't understand this at all. Or maybe I just can't read between the lines. Would someone please explain this line of thinking? What is the liability risk? Who is going to sue who, and for what damage? What benefit will result from anyone resigning? How does stepping aside help fix this bullying problem?

Shooting a .22 or a shotgun on a fixed range built for the purpose is one thing. I would never consider taking responsibility for a Boy Scout hunting party, if ever there were such a thing.

Boy leaders have plenty to do in their troop with their patrols, their troop meetings, and their patrol leaders' council meetings. They really don't have time to sit through an adult committee meeting, and there really is no purpose. The Scoutmaster attends the adult committee meeting to report on the doings of the troop and to speak for the PLC about the troop needs. If the committee has concerns, comments, or objections with any part of the PLC program plans, they make them known to the Scoutmaster who then brings them back to the boy leaders at the PLC meeting. There is no rule barring boys from attending. But you will find nothing in the SM Handbook, Troop Committee Guidebook, or SPL Handbook that says boys should be attending the meeting of the adult committee.

"I would bet that the adult leaders in the Troop are not BSA trained or not trained well." There is little or nothing in BSA trainings about administering discipline or how to handle a bully. Perhaps there should be.

I'd suggest you ask the SM to give his assistants a copy of the written troop meeting plan that the PLC has prepared. I'm guessing that if there is no advance written plan, the assistant SM feels the need to step in and take charge.

I recently attended our district awards banquet. I went with some Scouting friends and we were all looking forward to a good time. When we arrived, we were dismayed to see that the event committee had decided to assign guests to specific tables of 8 people. There was a chart on the wall listing names and table assignments. The people at the tables were mixed according to the logic of the committee. I wanted to sit with my friends at our own table and invite others to join us. But the adult dinner committee had already decided that a pre-assigned seating arrangement was best, and we all had to sit at our assigned places. I suppose that the committee had very good reasons for doing this, and that we are better for it, but several guests simply did not like being told who they had to sit next to. Is it really much different in Boy Scout patrols? There are lots of persuasive reasons for the adult leaders to assign boys to patrols. But boys dont join a troop to learn skills from older boys, or to observe other boy leaders, or fill an empty slot. They join to be with their friends and do fun things. How can a boy recruit his friend to join Scouting and do stuff together if some adult then assigns the new recruit to a patrol where he has no friends? Sometimes I think we adult leaders try too hard to figure out the best ways.

"Is there documentation stating that the application must be complete and submitted before the 18th birthday? " Turning this around, is there any documentation stating that any Eagle requirements other than the BoR may be completed after 18 ??

The requirements must be completed before age 18. Requirements include writing the workbook, getting signatures, and turning in the application. Only the BoR may be completed after 18.

There once was a very wise and learned medicine man. He had the reputation of being the wisest and most clever of all medicine men the tribe had known. One day a young brave built a trap and captured a young quail. He approached the medicine man, carrying the quail behind his back. The young brave planned to trick the medicine man, and make him a fool. He asked, "Do you know what Im holding behind my back?" Having observed the brave preparing his trap, the medicine man replied, "Youre holding a small bird." The young braves plan was to next ask if the bird was alive or dead. If the medicine man replied dead, he would simply show that the bird was alive. If the medicine man replied alive, he would close his fist and kill the bird. So he asked the medicine man, "Is the bird alive or dead?" The medicine man replied, The answer to that question lies in your heart. You control the future of that which you have imprisoned. You also control your own future, and only you control which direction you will take. Your biggest responsibility in life is to make wise choices. The future lies in your hands. Now, go and make a wise choice.

I consider the new Troop Leadership Training to be only a weak supplement to the former Scoutmaster's Junior Leader Training Kit. Far too much is left to the imagination. What is EDGE?? What is "Servant Leadership"?? What is a "Vision of Success"?? What are the "specific tools from the Scoutmaster Handbook" that should be handed over to the new boy leaders? Expand these topics from 2-3 sentances into 2-3 pages and then we wet-behind-the-ears Scoutmasters might have something to work with.

"There seems to be a misconception that a patrol must have 6 to 8 scouts in it. Patrols are combined to meet this. " That misconception shows a lack of understanding of the purpose of a patrol. 6 to 8 boys is ideal. 5 is less than ideal, 2 or 3 more difficult but doable. "Virtual patrol" is NOT even a patrol at all. It is just a group of random troop boys. 2 boys attending from a patrol is still a patrol. Random boys thrown together is nothing more than random boys thrown together.

"I am looking for a quick way to demonstrate why this is a bad idea beyond just telling 'it's not the way the Patrol Methid works'. " You don't have enough lifetimes to demonstrate why all the bad ideas people dream up don't work. Try turning this around and ask the virtual patrol proponents to demonstrate how the patrol method fails because of fewer boys. Not "enough" boys for the campout? The solution is to find out WHY they don't want to attend and fix that problem. Even still, I've seen patrols of three boys, or even two boys function sucessfully on a campout. If you expect the patrol method to be successful, you cannot toss it out at the first sign of trouble.

If you're concerned about being protected, it might be more productive to avoid doing stuff that would cause a lawsuit. Rather than looking for protection after the fact, you might be better off avoiding things you should't be doing in the first place. Better for the boys, for BSA, and for the adults that you all learn the BSA program, get trained, and follow the rules. That's everybody's best protection.

"Without another adult present, it becomes a he said/he said." It's more than what one boy and one adult says. What are all the other boys that are present saying? It seems unlikely that all the boys are going to gang up on the one adult and accuse him of doing something he did not do.

"We should think long and hard before we choose to deviate from them." Is 2 seconds long enough?

Using the methods of Scouting to achieve the Aims of Scouting pretty much ensures fulfiling the Mission of Scouting.

"... and the deal clincher seems to be the fact that I'm actually bothering to ask permission!!!" The fact that you are going through this tedious process speaks volumes about your personal character.

"I wonder if he is moving a bit too fast and should be encouraged to stop and smell the roses along the way." Rank requirements, merit badges, service projects, leadership positions, campouts, money-earning events; they are all "roses". What other roses is he missing?

The SPL is elected by the boys in the troop. He is SPL for his entire term, including summer camp. If he cannot attend summper camp, the assistant SPL would serve in his place. The ASPL is appointed by the SPL after the election.

BSA provides the Scouting program and Scouting resources for chartered organizations to use as part of their programs for youth and families. There is no license granted to alter or modify the program as the CO or unit leaders see fit. The CO does not have the right to alter the program. The objectives, policies, and guidelines of the CO do not trump the BSA program, nor BSA policies and guidelines. BSA does not interfere with the programs and policies of the CO. Likewise, the CO has no right to modify or otherwise redefine the BSA program.

Of course we all know that if it was "not invented here" it can't possibly be any good. The wheel is inherently a flawed design and I can design it better. God forbid anyone use the wisdom found in the Scoutmaster Handbook, or at Roundtable, or at training. What do they know?

"You know the type I am talking about. " You mean the ones that do their own thing and say they're being flexible with the program because not all boys are the same and standards only work with widgets and the cookie-cutter McDonald's approach won't work?

San Francisco is home to the USS Pampanito submarine which was state of the art when it was retired, the C.A. Thayer sailing schooner, and at least 6 other historic ships. Maybe they didn't feel a need to add a battleship to their collection.