wc153221

I was a assistant scoutmaster. I held rolls in the district and council leadership. Wood badge, silver beaver, etc. It was reported to the SE by a de that I made a statement in front of a group of leaders at a camporee that I "did not like the se". I do not remember making the statement but was not given an opportunity to refute the claims. I was removed from all leadership positions in the district and council except for working with my troop. Last week I got the letter removing me from scouts. No information about an appeal process or details as to why I was removed. Calls to the scout office have not been returned. I sent a letter to the se and the council commissioner requesting information on making an appeal and requesting information on all claims made against me. A scout professional I know stated that the se should be in trouble for not making me aware of the appeals process. I will be sending a letter to BSA national counsel under the whistle blower policy for not following BSA policy on the appeals process. I am most upset in that I have never been told exactly what I did or said or given a chance to disprove claims made against me. The old guilty until proven innocent theme but nor it's guilty because I say you're guilty. Again, any insight or recommendations on how to proceed would be appreciated.

I got a letter from my council exec. Removing me from scouting. Someone complained about me to the council and I was axed after 30 some years as a Scouter. They will not tell me what the complaint was or who made the complaint. I would like to know if there is any appeal process or if I have any rights at all. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Bill

Hi, thanks for all your comments on this issue. I really do appreciate it. For the record, I have not had a problem with our council exec. in the past. There are things he has done that I did not agree with and I have had group discussions with other leasders about things that they felt were being handled by the council. That said, I have never made a public statement against him in front of a group of scout leaders just because I wanted to rant about the guy. Other leaders that have contacted me that were at this leaders meeting can't recall what what I said. Today I was contact by one of my scouting friends that has contacted our council exec. and the exec. says he has no idea this happened to me and that the order to remove me from scouting came from his office. The scouter that contacted our council exec. believes that I have been setup by our DE for some unknown reason and the DE went to the key 3 in our district to make this happen. I know this sounds very strange but you can't make stuff like this up. Again, thank all of you for your comments & insight and I wish you the best in your service to scouting.

I recently had a very troubling incident as an adult leader in scouting. I was the leader in charge of events at a camporee. At the leader meeting that we had on Friday night I apparently made a statement that I did not like our council exec. I do not remember making that statement but anyway, Two weeks or so later I was asked to have a meeting with a fellow scouter in our district. At that meeting I was told that the statement I had made about the council exec. had gotten back to him and that I could no longer no longer have any leadership roll in our council. No roundtable leadership, no leadership at council events. I was also on a NCAPS (National Camp Accredidation Program) camp assesment team that visited camps outside our council to make sure they were meeting national camp standards and I was removed from that. I could no longer serve as a camp host at any of our council camps. I emailed our council commissioner stating that his was kind of a crappy thing to do to a 25+ year leader. As a result of that email the council exec. emailed me to have a meeting. I declined because I truely feel that nothing would change as a result of the meeting. I accepted my fate and wanted to be done with this mess. The council exec. emailed me again threatneing me with being removed from scouting completely if I did not attend. I responded that I did not like being threatened and would not meet with him because what I had been told by the individual about me being booted out because I made a statement that I did not like him was true as the person that contacted me about the decision had no reason to not tell me the truth. I would like your comments on this because I cannot believe this type of thing could happen. I looked into possible legal action but most of the information states that dealing with the BSA is like screaming at a wall. All it does is wear you out and nothing changes. Other individuals that are aware of our council execs. and have had disputes with him have suggested that we all get involved with the board of directors to see if the council exec. can be removed. I can find nothing in Boy Scout literature that outlines the process for filing greivences with national when this type of thing happens. Anyway thanks for reading this and I will continue to serve our troop as much as I am allowed.