Election to OA

[Scouter&mom]

First let me start with the fact that I have little knowledge of OA. I am trying to find out how the election process should work, because I don't think it is working in our area. Our SM contacted Lodge election person about possibility of a having an election in our troop. The Lodge person said he would have to check with Lodge Advisior if it was too late for fall ordeal. When the answer came back to our SM, it was that the Lodge Advisor said there were to be NO more elections this year and that the spring ordeal would be only for boys that were elected earlier and couldn't make the fall weekend. As troop leaders, we have seen nothing from Lodge with dates or time frames for elections. We have a very small struggling troop. Last spring we were down to about 5-6 boys and the boys and adults are working hard to bring it back. We did not attend summer camp for the last two years, because we didn't have the boys to attend. Our only boy who is Eligible for OA, has attended NYLT (out of council, since ours didn't get enough boys registered) and Jambo. He has worked at CS Day Camp and is really interested in getting involved with OA as well as his troop. So is our Lodge Advisor just being arbitrary about elections or is there some guidelines/precedent we don't know about? Our Lodge Advisor is also our Council Camping Chair and we wonder if he is using our not attending camp as a reason to ignore us. I sure hate to tell the young man who is really interested in working hard that he can't get elected to OA until he goes to summer camp (he will be 15 next summer and will not be happy at a camp that has a program oriented to young scouts). So do I push this issue with council/OA or just let it go?

[hunting wolf]

I would ask for a copy of the Lodge's Bylaws. The election process should be spelled out in that document.

[TheScout]

In our lodge elections are only held January through March.

[FScouter]

15 days of camping is required; it doesn't have to include summer camp.

 

(I've never heard of a minimum number of boys required to atttend summer camp.)

[emb021]

OA Elections are set down in the official OA manuals, I think specifically in the Guide for Officers and Advisors. The Lodge Rules (aka Bylaws), would only specify when they occur.

 

To be eligible, a boy must have earned First Class Scout, have completed 15 days/nights of camping, 6-7 of which must be in a long term BSA camp (this can be summer camp, high adventure program, jambo, etc), and scoutmaster approval.

 

Regardless of WHEN the Lodge holds their elections (some go to the units, some do it at a summer camp or camporee), the LODGE (more specifically the election team), should be contacting the troops to arrange this. If your unit was never contacted by the Lodge, something is wrong! There should be no deadline for conducting the elections, so long as its prior to when the lodge holds their Ordeal. The Lodge adviser should have corrected this issue and got an election team at your unit. Something sounds wrong here. Most Lodge advisers I know (and I know several) would not allow this to happen. Sounds like there is something more going on. If you're not getting a good response, go to the Scout Executive. He has the final say.

 

[nldscout]

In our lodge and is standard practice in most lodges, elections take place only during the spring time. Ours must be Jan-May timeframe.

 

I would say if thats the Lodge policy then you need to wait till after the new year.

[EagleInKY]

Like "Thescout", ours are held in the first part of the year (I believe Jan-Apr).

[wWw_Dan]

Ours are held in october-November. When I was SPL, I had to contact the elections team and make an appointment. I don't believe it is the election team's responsibility to come to you. I believe there was a cutoff date for elections, and rightfully so. They need time to get everything organized and don't need the stress of getting more results coming in.

 

Anyways, if you are elected in October/November you have the option of going to the May, June, or September ordeals in my Lodge.

[scoutldr]

In this area, the Leaders are notified at Roundtable and Chapter meetings by the Lodge Election team, and they are urged to "sign up" for an election date. If they choose not to, they don't get an election. The Election team will usually bend over backwards to ensure that the unit gets it done.

[hunting wolf]

I think the question was in reference to timing. Again, check your Bylaws. Our Lodge's elections are held at summer camp. In our Lodge if a unit is going out of Council for camp, they have a May deadline to hold what we call "elsewhere elections".A Chapter election team goes to the unit's meeting to conduct the election when they are asked to. Pre-Ordeal is held on Thursday night at Summer camp except for those that go to camp "out of Council". Their Pre-Ordeal is held on the Friday night that begins either the Fall Reunion or the Spring Conclave. Our main Ordeal is held at our Fall Reunion which is always the weekend after Labor Day. The Spring Conclave is always the second weekend of April.

They have it pretty much down to a science, probably because our Lodge is so large (4000+ brothers). Fall reunion was this past weekend and we inducted around 1100 into Ordeal membership.

Qualifications for OA membership are set by National, but the "how" is left up to the local lodge and is covered in the Lodge Bylaws.(This message has been edited by hunting wolf)(This message has been edited by hunting wolf)

[sst3rd]

I don't know where you folks are getting your info, and don't ask me to produce documentation, but elections are done by the "Chapter" Election Committee, and can be and should be done at any time of the calendar year. Our Lodge has Ordeals in September, March, and May/June (depending on local school calendar). One election per Troop per calendar year, are allowed.

I have never heard of a Lodge Election Committee. It all happens on the Chapter level. Call your Chapter Advisor, and/or call your Chapter Election Committee Advisor, or somehow get in touch with the youth OA Chapter Election Committee Chairman, and schedule an election at your Troop's convenience year round.

Please keep in mind, that from the date of your Troop's annual OA Election, is when your Scouts and/or Scouters have a year's worth of Ordeals to complete their one.

 

WWW

 

sst3rd

 

 

[hunting wolf]

I don't know where you're getting your information from. Read Chapter 2 from National OA's Guide to Inductions...

It clearly states that the Lodge is responsible for conducting Unit elections. The Lodge Elections Committee is responsible for ensuring that each Chapter has a youth to manage elections in that Chapter. It also states that one of the functions of the Lodge Election Committee is to "set a time period for elections, beginning by determining the time of year when unit elections will be held". It is the Lodge Unit Election Committee that is charged with notifying every unit in the Council of the election procedures, calendar, and contacts to schedule an election.

Pretty clear. In black & white. If you need a link to the Induction Guide just pm me and I'll send it to you. It is accessible from the National OA site and is password protected.(This message has been edited by hunting wolf)

[emb021]

"Ours are held in october-November. When I was SPL, I had to contact the elections team and make an appointment. I don't believe it is the election team's responsibility to come to you."

 

That may be how it works in your council/lodge. In most of the lodges I've worked with, that doesn't work. You have new troops that know nothing about the OA and wouldn't know who or how to contact for an election (OA election, what's that??), or troops that are 'out of touch' with the OA for various reasons (few if any youth involved, few if any adults involved, or adults who don't care about the OA). THUS, the Chapter Election Committee is charged with making the effort to contact each troop in their Chapter. If its found that they've missed some, I would think both the chapter and lodge leadership would see this as a problem and deal with it. Heck, some lodges have an issue that some troops don't want them to come do elections (we're stealing their boys...), so leaving it up to the troops to contact the lodge isn't the way to go.

 

However, I do have to agree with some of the previous posters. The lodges I work with don't do elections all year round. they have one formal Ordeal (usually summer or early Fall), so elections are held in spring. Any other ordeals are 'make up' Ordeals for a handful of people conducted at a subsequent lodge event for those few people who for some reason missed the first ordeal.

 

But as they say, 'your mileage may vary'.

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

Actually, your Troop OA Representative is the one who should be bird-dogging this at the unit level. It is a Position of Responsibility, and they should be responsible for it.

[hunting wolf]

Again - - - just read our "bible" - - - the OA Guide to Inductions. It clearly states that it is the Lodge Unit Election Committee that is charged with notifying every unit in the Council of the election procedures, calendar, and contacts to schedule an election. Whether this is done through letter, the Chapter, or Team/Troop OA Rep is left up to the Lodge. The entire procedure is in this 1 publication from the National Lodge.