Committee Members for BORs

[FaithfulScouter]

Our Troop Committee has approximately 20 members, not all active.  Our Advancement Coordinator has been in the role for at least a year.  When it is time for a BOR, it is always the Advancement Coordinator, the CC, and one other member who do them.  I had expressed concern because I thought we should rotate Committee members for training purposes, and to enrich the experience for all.  However, when the emails are sent to request Committee participants the very same people always respond first.  Hmmmm... 

Our AC is not very knowledgeable, and our CC is very new and inexperienced.  Our CC has relayed incorrect information during a BOR, threatening to add requirements.  At a recent Committee Meeting the AC made sure to mention that the boys coming up for review had to have their Cyber Chip, but she had no idea how they were to do it, or that she was responsible for the renewals.  

How do your Troops usually handle choosing or requesting Committee Members for BORs?

[RememberSchiff]

@FaithfulScouter , welcome to scouter.com.

 

[ItsBrian]

Well, seems like you’re in a decent sized troop. I don’t have that issue due to the fact we only have 4 committee members and a new member coordinator.

If a committee members does not to sit in on BORs, then why should they have to if they attend meetings, etc? I mean, they are volunteering. Tell your CC and committee members to go on my.scouting.org and take the committee member module. I believe it’s either around or over a hour. My mom took that and it helped her a lot.

[scoutldr]

Not sure why you need 20 people on the Committee, but that's a different discussion.  I agree with you...BOR should be rotated amongst all the committee members, so that all get experience.  With that many members, there should never be a delay in getting a scout a BOR when he needs one...you could even have several going at the same time.

[ItsBrian]

3 minutes ago, scoutldr said:

Not sure why you need 20 people on the Committee, but that's a different discussion.  I agree with you...BOR should be rotated amongst all the committee members, so that all get experience.  With that many members, there should never be a delay in getting a scout a BOR when he needs one...you could even have several going at the same time.

I completely ignored the fact they have 20 as well, that is a whole different problem. Only reason I can think of is that parents want to be involved but not actually camp. Meanwhile... I’m struggling with 4 here.

[FaithfulScouter]

We have 20+ registered Committee Members, but there is a core group of 6-8 people who attend all monthly meetings, make decisions, etc.

[ItsBrian]

Then get rid of the other 12-14?? No need to have extra people if they don’t do anything. Just say you don’t need that many you that they’re not active.

[RememberSchiff]

Agree with rotation. Having different adult reviewers as a scout advances through the ranks goes hand in hand with adult association method.  Mix it up, keep everyone sharp.

If you decide to downsize your Troop Committee, you might start with CC. 

My $0.02

   

Edited April 13, 2018 by RememberSchiff

[FaithfulScouter]

Unfortunately it is not my responsibility as a Committee member to decide the size of the overall Committee.  It is clear that we have a knowledge gap with these two individuals, and yet they are the ones reviewing our boys (and providing inaccurate information).

[Jameson76]

We try to rotate the members on the BOR, gives the Scouts a new face to speak with.  Also good to have the BOR members they may not know.  Additionally there are some on the committee that are more forward facing in the troop (outdoor and events) that try to limit their number of BOR's to give scouts a different experience.  We have a large troop and at times may have 2 - 3 BOR's rolling along during a meeting.

Remind your CC and AC that the BOR is just that,  a review.  The time should be a review of their time in the troop, maybe some specifics on what they did, what they got from that, but nothing added.  If it is a good BOR the CC members should get as much as the scout from the time

[DuctTape]

see if your district (or council) training chair is willing to do the Troop Committee training in person with all of you. Much better experience than the computer modules, at least in my experience.

[David CO]

9 hours ago, FaithfulScouter said:

How do your Troops usually handle choosing or requesting Committee Members for BORs?

Our committee is chosen by the COR. The committee doesn't choose itself.

We try to keep the number of registered adults as small as possible, as we don't like to pay any unnecessary registration fees. The committee usually has 4 or 5 members. We also have a lot of parent volunteers who are not registered leaders.

I don't actually know how they put together a BOR. I would imagine that the committee chooses and schedules them at their committee meetings.

 

[qwazse]

1 hour ago, FaithfulScouter said:

We have 20+ registered Committee Members, but there is a core group of 6-8 people who attend all monthly meetings, make decisions, etc.

That's a good thing. Not all MC's need to be decision makers. Some just want to be contributors to the troop in a special way (e.g. giving free access to their club/business for fundraisers, service projects, and MB instruction). Six MCs + four SM/ASMs makes for a very reasonable working group of adults. You might want to ask if some of those 20 haven't met training requirements (https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/idg/Position_Trained_Courses.pdf) , you might suggest that they take on the role unit scouter reserve.

I would definitely want those "core 6-8" to be trained in their position. At least one of them should have read the advancement guide cover to cover, and be subscribing to advancement news. Another should have read the Guide to Safe Scouting and subscribe to the safety updates. The treasurer should stay up-do-date about non-profit financial stuff and BSA's fundraising policies. It's nice when a couple of them are pillars of the community because, they often can suggest really meaningful opportunities for the boys.

Our BoRs work best when they can be offered at the boys' convenience. That means we have at least two MC's (preferably the CC being one of them) available to run them during or just after meetings. In addition, they invite one parent or a guest from another troop or crew  (not related to the scout) to join them. This is usually feasible at most meetings because several adults other than the SM/ASM like to stick around and actually seem to enjoy watching the boys in action.

As far as making sure boards proceed fairly, that's a function of getting leaders to roundtables regularly. And your RT commissioner making sure that there is time for discussion about questions MC's may have.

[CalicoPenn]

Did anyone else notice that while the CC is said to have been threatening to add to the requirements, it appears that the Troop has already added to the requirements which the Advancement Chair is trying to enforce? 

Cyber Chip is an optional tool - it is not a requirement for any rank and should not be a requirement to schedule a BOR. 

Instead of worrying about how many of the 20 committee members make themselves available as a first step, I would suggest figuring out who the core group of BOR volunteers are and getting them trained on how advancement works and how to run a BOR - then once that core group is cooking with gas, figure out how to bring more people to the table.

[qwazse]

28 minutes ago, CalicoPenn said:

Did anyone else notice that while the CC is said to have been threatening to add to the requirements, it appears that the Troop has already added to the requirements which the Advancement Chair is trying to enforce? 

Cyber Chip is an optional tool - it is not a requirement for any rank and should not be a requirement to schedule a BOR. 

Instead of worrying about how many of the 20 committee members make themselves available as a first step, I would suggest figuring out who the core group of BOR volunteers are and getting them trained on how advancement works and how to run a BOR - then once that core group is cooking with gas, figure out how to bring more people to the table.

Star Rank, Req 6

Quote

With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the pamphlet How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse: A Parent’s Guide and earn the Cyber Chip Award for your grade.

Footnote: If your family does not have Internet access at home AND you do not have ready Internet access at school or another public place or via a mobile device, the Cyber Chip portion of this requirement may be waived by your Scoutmaster or Varsity Scout Coach in consultation with your parent or guardian.

So, Luddites get a pass. Anyone reading this, not so much.