I want to share an incident at my troop (I'm SM) that occurred over the last month. I think we could have handled it better, but now I have a very upset parent sending very angry and insulting emails to the entire Troop committee and District Adv Chair.
At summer camp, the scout at the center of this issue (whose father is a recent ASM, but parent in the troop for 5 years) had 3 separate disciplinary issues. The last resulted in another Troop informing their SM about his un-scouting behavior then I heard of it. It was a messy incident where each Troops witnesses defended their Troop member. The other SM told our scout he would be thrown out of his Troop and "we build jails for kids like you". This happened in my presence and in front of the scout's father. This was really bad from the other SM because even his own scouts said our scout didn't steal anything, but was in a position where he appeared about to take something.
Because we were in a large public group, I decided not to press the issue in public with the other SM. I told our scout that I was not going to decide anything at that time, let everyone cool down, and we would gather later. After a hour, at our charter org, the father and son got on me in a heated way. I told them I didn't think he tried to steal anything but he showed very poor judgement in getting to a place where those scouts though he was about to steal. I told them I would make no decision at that time and our rules say scouts can be brought before a disciplinary PLC for the boys to decide if any action should be taken. I talked with the SPL and we agreed the scout should have a disciplinary PLC meeting with adults that attended summer camp. The scout failed to show up for the PLC. At the PLC the boys decided the scout should plan a set of scout skills events at our next camp out (in 3 weeks) to work his way back into showing good Scout Spirit. The PLC was before a regular meeting and the scout appeared at regular meeting time. He was informed of this penance and agreed to it.
Now for the advancement issue. The same night as the PLC, the scout asked an ASM for a SM conference for Life Scout. We do this a lot because we have ~80 scouts in the troop. The ASM asked me permission to do the conference. I was busy doing other conferences so I said yes. This ASM attended camp and the PLC. I reminded the ASM he couldn't fail the scout on the conference, but he could deny signing off on living the scout oath and law. The ASM decided to sign off all his requirements.
The next week the scout wanted a BoR. A parent assigned to the BoR asked the CC and I if the BoR should occur given the upcoming penance. I said that it should and I would speak to the BoR beforehand. I told the BoR I thought it would be good for the parents in the Troop to tell the scout what they thought of his behavior and make a judgement. I did inform the BoR of the disciplinary issues we had. After meeting with the scout, they decided to postpone a decision until he completes his work in 3 weeks. As a result, he may not be recognized at the next CoH.
So I put myself in a bad place by not agreeing with the ASM that signed off on his advancement. I should have been more clear with the ASM to postpone it. The scout's father sent a huge, nasty email about me blocking his son's advancement to the entire committee and District staff.
If I had told the ASM to avoid signing off, the father likely would have still accused me of blocking his son's advancement. If I hadn't informed the BoR of the disciplinary issues, then we would have advanced a scout who didnt meet the standards of the troop. We should have made it clear to the scout that having a BoR while he was under penance was not likely to succeed.
This is definitely not a common outcome in our Troop. In the past (under prior SMs), infractions like this have been dealt with by suspensions. Suspended scouts cannot get a BoR or SM conference. However, I felt it was better to keep the scout involved and work to understand what his commitments to Scouting should be.
Our District Advancement Chair told me we could have not held the BoR. I felt that would be adding requirements to his advancement, or delaying the scouts request. I also felt that having the BoR would remove me as the sole opinion about his living the Oath and Law.
Any advice on what else we can do to avoid this in the future?
Thanks
