Eagle Reference Letters

[CherokeeScouter]

How many districts or councils require these versus districts and councils that don't require them but instead do their own checks with the contact info provided on the Eagle App. 

The reason I ask is that the App doesn't say specifically to provide references. It just says to provide names and info of people who would be willing to talk about the Scouts.

And then an Eagle board member brought up some Scout regulation/provision that says references should be transmitted only via snail mail and not electronically.

Snail mail would be an insane way to do references. No way to track them, ensure they were sent, etc. 

Is he right? Snail mail only? 

[NJCubScouter]

5 minutes ago, CherokeeScouter said:

Is he right? Snail mail only?

I didn't realize it, but section 9.0.1.7 of the Guide to Advancement does say:

"For reasons of privacy and confidentiality, electronic submissions are discouraged."

I have never been quite sure what the BSA means when it says something is "discouraged."  Personally, I think that with most unit Scouters, the effect is the same as if the BSA had said nothing about it at all.  I also think that there are more ways that a physical letter can be waylaid, mislaid, lost, etc. etc. than an email, so if privacy and confidentiality are the key concerns, I am not sure this "discouragement" is a good thing.

[qwazse]

I come from the land where pink-slips were doled out without warning and entire industries were gutted behind closed doors far to many times for anyone's good. I only give open references.

If someone wants me to write them something I don't like about you, I will have said to your face with zero regret and wouldn't mind you reading it again.

For Eagle references, ideally, I will hand-deliver an original and a copy to the scout. If he needs the stamp to snail-mail the original, I'll dredge up a bunch of 2- and 3- cent-ers for him to combine.

But, some circumstances have required E-mail. No E-BoR whom I've written has complained. If an E-BoR doesn't like it, they can call me and take notes.

[T2Eagle]

This is one of those areas where as soon as a scouter finds themselves caught up in this level of minutia they should probably take a step back and realize they're concerned about the wrong types of things and missing the reason they're doing what they're doing.

IIRC, our district gets the scout to submit the Eagle application as written, and then the DAC contacts the references and asks for feedback. A stamped self addressed envelope may be a part of that process,  but I'm pretty certain that I send them back electronically because I'm more likely to do that in a timely manner than I am to send it back snail mail.

I've also had someone from the DAC call me to get a response, I think that was because there were some timing issues on their part; that is, the DAC either got behind in getting the requests out, or was trying to schedule the EBOR very quickly for his own convenience.

[Jameson76]

2 hours ago, CherokeeScouter said:

How many districts or councils require these versus districts and councils that don't require them but instead do their own checks with the contact info provided on the Eagle App. 

The reason I ask is that the App doesn't say specifically to provide references. It just says to provide names and info of people who would be willing to talk about the Scouts.

And then an Eagle board member brought up some Scout regulation/provision that says references should be transmitted only via snail mail and not electronically.

Snail mail would be an insane way to do references. No way to track them, ensure they were sent, etc. 

Is he right? Snail mail only? 

Actually the application does call out that the candidate does need to 

- List the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf.

And from the G2A

Must list all six (five if not employed). If not affiliated with an organized religion, then the parent or guardian provides this reference. There are no restrictions on who the Scout may list for his two other references. He can list anyone he chooses, including parents or guardians not previously listed, other relatives, Scout leaders including those from his unit, or other Scouts and friends. There is no requirement that any of the references be 21 years of age or older.

 

[qwazse]

1 hour ago, Jameson76 said:

... He can list anyone he chooses, including parents or guardians not previously listed, other relatives, Scout leaders including those from his unit, or other Scouts and friends. There is no requirement that any of the references be 21 years of age or older.

One of the better references that I've read was from a scout's older sister!

[DeanRx]

My older son had one of his letter of recommendation written by his younger brother (who just joined the troop from cub scouts 4 months ago).... detailing how his older brother has mentored him, served as den chief for his wolf den, etc... through the younger lad's entire scout career thus far.  Pretty cool that the older boy asked his kid brother to do that.  Even more cool that the 11 year old put together a letter of recommendation that was better than a lot I've seen from references when I've done hiring actions for adults applying for jobs.

[gblotter]

I routinely sit on EBOR panels for our district. To my knowledge, the references listed on the Eagle application are never contacted for further feedback.

[Sentinel947]

In my district we do contact the references. We ask them to write a letter. We give them a reasonable amount of time to respond, and if they don't we move on and conduct the Eagle Board.