Adult Leader Drama, Integrity and Ethics Very Long

[ScoutNut]

I am a bit curious about your issues with them as Day Camp staff.

 

If they are doing/saying anything wrong to youth during Day Camp, why was it not immediately addressed then and there?

 

You can bet your last Cub Buck that if I was a volunteer walker in charge of a den of boys at Day Camp, and someone swore at one of my boys, or called them names, I would have been all over it right then. I would have stopped the offending adult immediately, and taken my entire den to visit the Day Camp Director, and the resident attending Council professional. I would have also made a point of notifying the Council Inspection Team when they came thru.

 

Letting an issue like that stew for months with out doing anything does no one any good, especially the boys.

[moosetracker]

Hmmm.. I & my husband are on the district committee and are voting members. The terminology "members at large" or some such they use. Once a year they go through the list of "member at large" and the committee who have voting rights gets to vote the list in or out. Before hand you may vote to strike members who have not been attending. (seems kindof weird if you think you are voting yourself in or out.)

 

We have voting and non-voting members, and it is based on this list, and really anyone that is active at the district level can be on it.. You get a number of how many by the number of people you serve.. So it may be tight for some districts if you are tiny or if you have an over abundance of district level volunteers. Our committee does have that problem to date..

 

Sad, but I don't think their is a single COR that ever comes to the district meeting. This was not the case with our old COR who was a regular at the meeting and really swung some power..

 

Now, there is some meeting that the Key 3 have that the others of the district committee always attend.. I have no idea what that is, I always thought that was the meeting where the COR's went, since no COR's attend our district committee meeting.

[Twocubdad]

MEANWHILE....

 

Don't cut off your nose to spite you face. Or more directly, don't cut off your Scouts' noses to spite their face.

 

I'm in a similar situation with my council and district, but for different reasons. A couple years back I got tired of the politics and favoritism in the district and council and completely withdrew my personal involvement and support at that level.

 

However that does not mean that I've forced that upon the troop. If there are council or district events in which the troop wants/needs to participate, we do. If there is an activity of which I want to take advantage, I do. We/I pay our dues and file our charter. The unit participates in both FOS and popcorn sales (although I personally don't support either). We are entitled to take advantage of those programs offered by the district and council.

 

So take your scouts to the district PWD and day camp, and any other dang thing you want. Sure, do what you think is necessary to protect your boys from these people, but don't let these clowns short change your boys from the programs they're entitled to.

[Hawkrod]

ScoutNut, I mentioned statements from other COR's as they were not allowed to attend but wanted to be heard. I can assure you they will be happy to go to speak directly to the issue. They were pretty upset at being told they could not attend as were board members from our CO. Cub Day Camp was where these issues originally came to a head due to complaints and problems. One of these people is an RSO who volunteered to run the range but after the DE spoke with her about some of the problems, "got a headache" and had to leave and did not come back for the next two days. They also did not tell anybody they were leaving and we did not find out about the "headache" until much later and that was also when we found out that the DE had pulled them aside over the complaints. As I said before, I did not really want to air this and I would rather we drop the discussion unless there is specific direction about reporting. I could do this all day and I would really rather not. It is taxing and, yes, I know, I am burning a lot of bridges. Unfortunately I see no alternative as the behaviors have not been limited to single events or instances and exhibit a significant pattern accross many units. I believe it was said earlier and I concur, these people are toxic, for them it is not about Scouting, they just want to be Scouts (did I mention that as Cub Leaders they nominated each other for OA? Yeah, really.). Hawkrod(This message has been edited by Hawkrod)

[ScoutNut]

>>"did I mention that as Cub Leaders they nominated each other for OA? Yeah, really"

[Eagle92]

did I mention that as Cub Leaders they nominated each other for OA? Yeah, really

 

ROTFLMAO

 

Seriously though, only once have I seen a Cub Scout Leader nominated for OA. Her registered position was a CM, and she was nominated b/c she was also the ranger's wife and worked at camp almost every weekend.

[Hawkrod]

These two not only nominated each other but because they are registerd as District Staff they were accepted. At least now both have sons in Boy Scouts although both are lone wolves (due to issues, the parents say the boys were picked on in both my unit and the units they were in before) and neither are OA. They have never done anything since Ordeal but wear their sashes at every opportunity. I was a resident camp program director this past summer and they showed up in full uniform with sashes to pick the boys up after camp was over! You should have seen the reaction from the youth staff (most are Eagles and OA). Hawkrod

[gcnphkr]

Moostracker.

 

Yes, elected members-at-large are voting members. Different districts will handle that differently. That is why Hawkrod needs to know who is a voting member. If the district is one that all the commissioners and various chairs are elected then it will be much harder than in a district where there are few at-large members.

 

Even then, a group of angry CORs should put fear into any key three.

[Mama Lope]

Hawkrod and I are from the same council and I know all about this particular situation.

It is completely bogus! He is not being honest as he completely slanders two very decent hard working Volunteers. Volunteers that he begged to be a part of his unit when they first joined. but has since changed his tune when they decided to leave due to some shady practices of the unit especially regarding registration fees. see my other post to a thread called" Scouting as a Program for Adults" in the Open Discussions forum

MAMA LOPE

[Eamonn]

It is always a shame when, for whatever reason adults who have taken the Scout Oath don't live by it and sometimes end up setting a very poor example to the youth that they are supposed to be serving.

 

I don't think I'm that very different from most other Scouter's? I have some very close Scouting friends who I enjoy working with and don't mind going the extra mile for, in order to help them as much as I can

Sadly there are a few Scouter's who just get up my nose.

I know and am aware that a good deal of who is at fault is me.

I'm the only person who can allow people to get up my nose or rub me the wrong way.

Still no one ever said that being an adult leader in Scouting was ever easy.

Working with and going the extra mile for people you get along with and like is easy. Trying to get along with the people who get up your nose? Takes a lot more effort and really tests your commitment o the Scout Law and Oath.

 

Having served as District Commissioner and District Chairman, I have had the misfortune of having to try and sort out situations where adults just can't play nicely together.

In most cases everyone thinks that they are free from fault and any sort of blame.

All too often the "Real" Issue whatever it might have been gets lost in a lot of unnecessary history. -Stuff that happened in the past has been either dealt with or long forgotten is brought up and rehashed.

As a rule my first question when dealing with situations like this and when dealing with difficult people is:

"What Do You Want And What Are You Willing To Do To Get It?"

Most times the person doesn't know what it is they want and without that also have no idea of what to do to get it.

Sure there are some who want to try and ensure that they get their pound of flesh.

This sometimes happens when the situation is within the unit.

One person or one group of people end up leaving the unit.

Rarely if ever does anyone have their membership in the BSA revoked, just because someone or maybe the person is unable to get along with someone from another unit. -It just don't happen.

What more often than not happens is that the two parties are brought together and with the help of a unbiased person, they are asked to deal with the real situation, trying to iron out any misunderstandings and everyone is reminded of the Scout Oath.

Sometimes this works!

Sometimes the best that can be reached is an understanding that they don't have to work together or be friends, but they do need to not go out of their way to harm or hurt the other.

Of course sometimes, someone gets so upset that they quit and we lose a volunteer who could have made a difference in the life of a kid. -That's always a shame.

Ea.