SSF

Barry, I'm a Christian and a Conservative and I agree with you on the transgender issue and I could not agree with you more that the BSA has most definitely lost its moral compass and caved in to special interest. There's absolutely no validity and no merit for defending slavery though. Not in any way, shape or form.

That the BSA is a public organization. It's not. It's a private organization that can (unfortunately) pretty much do whatever it wants without any real accountability. Many injustices have been committed under the 'private organization' provision. My favorite quote from a council executive: "Well, as long as they (referring to an SM and CC) haven't done anything illegal, there's nothing we can do about it" Reassuring to know that the BSA's standard for registered leaders is "just don't actually violate the law"...but otherwise it's okay to be as unethical, as unscrupulous and as nasty as they want to be to scouts ans their families

I'm waiting to hear about the troop that has decided to add an additional rank somewhere,...Third Class between TF and 2C, it's probably happened

@bearess just curious as to whether or not there may have been any final resolution to this...if you might be willing to share? Yours is the first case I know of where a council has addressed a report of a non-physical, i.e .verbal or psychological abuse so I'm very curious as to what action (if any) may have been taken

How do you know for sure that either of these two women were the most qualified candidates for their jobs? Do you know who else may have been considered? Do you know what accomplishments and experience the other candidates, who were not chosen, may have had? Would be interesting to find out how many men and how many women were considered for these prominent positions. I agree fully that, sometimes, a woman may be the best candidate for any given position. I have no doubt that there are cases when a woman is the most qualified person for a job. However, the point I'm making is that in this day and age, many companies have begun virtue signaling by choosing to hire or promote the most qualified female candidate, as opposed to the most qualified candidate (who might just happen be male).

The issue is not having an ambiguous name, e.g....Erin, Terry, Pat, etc. The issue is that Christine enjoyed the surprise and embarrassment that men expressed after realizing that she was a she, and not a he. The only reason I know about this is because she made it a point to brag about it.

I would argue that this trend is definitely changing within both tech and the finance industries. On the flip side though, some professions are heavily dominated by women - media and public relations being two. in the wake of the 'women earn 77 cents on the dollar,' (a figure that's been highly contested and disproven) a lot of companies in tech and in other industries are trying to virtue signal by highlighting and publicizing their commitment to advancing opportunities for women at the executive levels; i.e. it's not a question of hiring or promoting the most qualified candidate, but hiring or promoting the most qualified female candidate.

I had a female colleague once who's full name was Christine, but who otherwise always went by Chris (including her e-mail address). She actually said that she did get a kick out of the surprise men got when they finally ended up talking to her on the phone (after previously only having sent e-mails) and then realizing that they had been communicating with a woman, not a man. I personally always thought that was very juvenile, and deceptiive, on her part.

Correction four months, not six

Nine times out of 10, I advocate for the scout in any kind of being "active" advancement dispute situation, however, if he is not attending troop meetings or making any camping trips, then I think even the most flexible SM might be hard pressed to justify him as actively participating. Are there any other troop functions or activities that your son is participating in? i.e. Eagle service projects, troop service projects, fundraisers, etc. Did he attend summer camp? One thing to keep in mind though is that your son's months of active service do not need to be consecutive,. As long as he can piece together six months, even if not consecutive, then each month most definitely counts towards being an active scout. If you have a 'my way or the highway" SM though he may not care and might demand that the months be consecutive.They know that's against the rules, but they also know council will do nothing to stop them.

I get fully that there are genuinely difficult, and even downright nasty and condescending, parents out there, but those type of parents are more the exception than the norm. Most are just looking for some guidance, clarification and certainly acknowledgement of their concerns. Maybe this guy is genuinely difficult or maybe he's just frustrated and looking for some guidance... In my work with youth and parents, both in scouting and outside of scouting, I would never outright ignore an e-mail, text, phone call, or any communication from a parent. That's just going to frustrate the parent and make them feel disrespected. Respect and courtesy are both two way streets... Do acknowledge the parent's concern but let them know that it s the scout who should be reaching out; e.g. "Hi Mr. Smith, I appreciate your concerns. Please do ask Billy to send me an e-mail or to see me at the next meeting so that he and I can sit down to discuss." Then tell Billy that he, and not his Dad, should be driving this discussion and that he should contact the MB counselor himself for clarification on requirements.

This is all too common and widespread in scouting. I too have been through this myself.

All too true

Sadly, I would wager also that this is the case. @Hawkwinin as much as the SM and CC have chosen to be unresponsive to you and your son, I'm sure that the tSM and CC have discussed this issue between themselves and possibly with other committee members who they, most likely, have swayed to their way of thinking. You can report to the District or Council but all that will happen is that the District or Council will remind the SM and the CC of the Guide to Advancement rules. As Fred noted, your son and your family will still have to continue with this troop. It is definitely worth considering if staying with this particular troop is the right thing to do for your son.

It's definitely shameful that some have abused the principle of not adding requirements. The topic had never come up while I was in scouts either.

Having a scout recite the scout oath and law does not constitute adding requirements. Demanding that a scout complete additional nights of camping, serve additional months as active or serve additional months, or redo, a six month stint n a POR constitutes adding requirements. The other factor is the standard used in evaluating requirements, which might be wrongly perceived as "adding requirements" if the leader or MB counselor may be evaluating the scout to an unusually high and unfair standard. Standards should be reasonable, but that's a separate issue from adding requirements.

Father of two Eagle Scouts here. My younger son just completed his Eagle Board of Review in July. I'm also an Eagle myself. Yes, the requirements and application process for Eagle are a bit more involved than the other ranks. Not sure which, if any, required merit badges your son still needs to complete, but do bear in mind that Personal Fitness, Family Life and Personal Management each have a roughly three month record keeping requirement; i.e. your son cannot complete any one of those three badges in less than the roughly three month time frame. Regarding the project, my advice to your son would be to, ideally, do something that's personally meaningful to him and to choose a project large enough in scope that it will meet the leadership demonstration requirement to be approved but not so large that it can't be managed and completed effectively. If he has successfully met all of the requirements, then yes, he can earn Eagle in six months time from the date he had his Life Scout Board of Review. That said though, very few scouts complete Eagle in six months and for those who do, it's generally because they have no other choice because they are about to turn 18. Hopefully that;'s not the case for your son.

I had missed this part about the SM being a non-swimmer. That's a big part of the problem right there. People who, for whatever reason, are unable to swim often pass that fear on to their kids, and in this case the SM has projected his own fears of water/swimming onto the scouts in his troop...disturbing.

It may only be a matter of time before this Scoutmaster and Troop's automatic signing off on swimming requirements comes back to bite them. Our troop has always conducted its own swim test before summer camp. A few years ago though, somehow one scout in our troop, who was an extremely weak swimmer got classified as a "Swimmer." How that happened, I really don't know. although I would venture to guess that the scout or parents said they couldn't make the swim test and then asked the SM to sign off for him claiming that he had passed the year before and/or falsely claiming that he's a good swimmer, when in fact he was anything but that. At summer camp, however, the aquatics staff quickly noticed that this kid was a very poor swimmer and the camp Aquatics Director later told the SM that the entire troop was going to have to be retested - there at summer camp - since the validity of the troop's own swim test was now questionable. In the end, the SM and leaders complained that it wasn't fair to re-test the entire troop and the Aquatics Director chose not to push the issue and the troop as a whole did not have to be retested. The one scout in question was retested though and was reclassified as a Beginner or Non-Swimmer, don't remember which. Swimming is definitely an integral life skill and this Scoutmaster is doing a tremendous disservice to his scouts by not requiring that they actually complete the BSA swim test as outlined.

Would you be willing to share anything related to the background of this? Even a rough sense of the alleged transgression would be helpful

Mich, I can truly and sincerely empathize with what your son and your family are going through and I'm so very sorry that this has happened. I feel your pain and I know that it may be tempting to hire an attorney, but I don't think that's the way to go,; especially if your son may have an interest in maintaining a good rapport with his current troop, and possibly becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster in the near future. Regarding the ECOH, I know that it's not what you want to hear...but it would probably be best to organize one on your own. It can be formal and perhaps rather than focusing on the troop, invite family and friends and those who truly supported your son's advancement. I do hope you can find some resolution to this and if nothing else, your son should be very proud of what he's accomplished.

Bearess, I don't disagree with you at all about most of what you shared. Yes, there are a lot of gaping holes and inconsistencies to this and it does appear (based on what's been shared and the apparent timeline) that the scout's EBOR was held after his 18th birthday...raising question as to whether or not he did actually earn the rank. All of that said though, I thought the response that I responded to was extremely condescending and mean spirited...I mean, seriously, how can anyone say ..."have some burgers and move on with your lives"...completely uncalled for

The OP is seeking guidance. Pretty sure she's not looking for pettiness or your judgment

Triggered? I know common sense and logic may be unique concepts to you but please spare me your semantics Data? It's all around you, you just have to be willing to actually recognize it. Maybe if you take your head out of where ever it's buried you'd actually see that. Not my job to educate you though buddy. Delude yourself if you want to about girls in the BSA. You already know the real answer to how the majority of people in the U.S. feel about that...otherwise you wouldn't be so defensive and triggered

“When I inevitably come back”…? Dude, if you want the last word, just say so. Doesn’t matter to me Still no comments though on your claiming that I made up “The Force is Female”…still nothing on that? No owning up to that? Not surprising. Do enjoy reading your Star Wars articles