Who's your COR?

[Oak Tree]

We've had the discussion on our committe about whom we should ask to be our COR. Our CO is a church. Should the COR be:

a) Someone in a position of responsibility in the church? This would arguably give our unit more visibility to the church leadership. The downside would be that this person may not have much time to put into actually being a COR.

b) Someone more connected to the Scouting side of things (e.g. a parent)? This person may have more time, but wouldn't know any more about the CO than the rest of us. And to be honest, if I have a parent volunteer available, I have other things I could use them for.

c) Someone from the CO who just lets us use their name? No real participation on either side.

 

I know the district would like us to find

d) someone who would actually fulfill the documented role of the COR by attending troop committee, pack committee, and district committee meetings. This is a pipe dream on their part, as far as I can tell.

 

So, who do you have? And which would you recommend?

 

Oak Tree

[DanKroh]

Our COR is a parent and former scout leader who is a member of the CO church. This guy was Cubmster a couple of years back, although I don't think he was the COR while he was the CM. His son as now moved up to Boy Scouts, and even though he has continued to act as our COR for the past year, has asked that if we can find someone else to serve, we should do so.

 

So we are looking at another parent who is currently our Tiger Den Leader to also be the COR. We like to have the COR attend the pack committee meetings (which is usually the case), but as far as I know, the current one, at least, does not attend District meetings.

 

I think it's a good idea to for the COR to be someone involved in the pack as a parent, preferable even as a leader in another capacity, so that they understand the scouting program and what we are trying to accomplish. I was under the impression that the person with a position of responsibility within the church leadership gets to be the Institutional Head?

[ScoutNut]

According to the BSA, the COR "Is a member of the chartered organization other than the unit leader or assistant unit leader. Is appointed by the chartered organization to serve as its official Scouting representative and is registered as an adult leader of the BSA."

 

Our CO is a men's organization within our local Catholic church. Our COR is one of their board members whose son went through the Pack & Troop many years ago. He will usually attend committee meetings, where he will let us know what is going on with the CO. He will also take back any request from us to the CO. I have no idea if he is active at the district or council level.

 

Since it is the responsibility of your CO to pick it's own representative, I think you should talk with the head of your CO about it.

 

[ScoutNut]

Dan, remember that if your church charters both a Pack & Troop, the same COR will serve both units.

 

Also, in order to be REGISTERED as a COR, they can NOT be registered in any position other than Committee Chair or Committee Member.

[Lisabob]

Our COR is a member of the service club that is our charter partner. None of the current members have children anywhere near scout-age any more. Over the last year I've personally been working to improve our troop's relations with the CO and that starts with getting the COR familiar with our program.

 

As for having an active vs. passive COR, there are advantages to both of course. With a passive COR the unit can go about its business without what may feel like "interference."

 

But my take is that I'd like an active COR. First it will be easier to track them down for signatures. Second, if/when problems do occasionally arise, the COR will already be familiar with the program, the unit, and the people in it. I really dislike the idea of waiting until crisis-stage to introduce the COR to the unit in any real sense. It gives a very negative snapshot of the unit and may cause some CO's to wonder why they bother partnering with scouting at all. Third, sometimes the CO will want the unit to do things that we really can't, by BSA rules. If the COR already understands the program they'll be more receptive to being told "no."

 

Of course having an active COR is easier said than done, in my (admittedly) limited experience. But if you can pull it off I think it is worth it, even though it often requires additional work on your part to bring your COR up to speed.

 

As for convincing your COR to participate in district stuff too...I have yet to meet any CORs who do. They must exist somewhere out there in make-believe-land? I think our district folks would about fall over backward if the CORs started attending!

 

Lisa'bob

 

[DanKroh]

ScoutNut,

 

"Dan, remember that if your church charters both a Pack & Troop, the same COR will serve both units. Also, in order to be REGISTERED as a COR, they can NOT be registered in any position other than Committee Chair or Committee Member."

 

Our CO only charters our pack. For some reason, I thought I remembered from training that the only other positions the COR cannot hold is Cubmaster (or ACM) or Committee Chair. I thought he/she could be a den leader as well. I'll have to go check on that, then.

 

In fact, the reg you quoted said that the COR couldn't be the unit leader (CM) or assistant unit leader (ACM). So can the CC be the COR, then? Interesting that it also says the COR is appointed by the CO, but in my experience, it is more often the committee who ends up saying to the CO, "we'd like this person to be our COR" and the CO says yea or nay.

[GernBlansten]

In the three years I've been involved in the troop (attending every committee meeting), I've seen the COR (Methodist CO) at two meetings, one to coach us on identifying homosexual kids and retraining them to rightious heterosexuality (no kidding), the other time to promote a pet project of his for the CO (fingerprinting kids in the area). Other than that, I couldn't pick him out of a police lineup.

[Beavah]

Yah, Gern's situation is too common, eh? Too often units get "detached" from their CO's. Makes for all kinds of problems.

 

Da best COR's in our area seem to be former scouters who have strong connections as members/volunteers with the CO. So they come with a good understanding of scouting, but also with a good relationship with the "power structure" of the CO. That's ideal, eh? Not much trainin' or relationship-buildin' required. A couple of these CORs also serve as CC's. Most serve as MC's.

 

Failin' that, I think it can work OK if the CO appoints someone who works in that type of outreach. A church youth minister makes a good CO, or the youth service director for a mens' club. This requires da CC to go out of his/her way to keep the COR involved and help understand scouting stuff, but it still keeps a strong CO link, with some perspective.

 

I'd never encourage havin' a parent who was a den leader serve as a COR. Too much confusion, too many potential conflicts of interest, eh? Yeh should never be in a position where a customer (parent) can fire the whole board (committee) and the CEO (unit leader). Very confusin'. That's why the BSA limits CORs to CC or MC positions (and MC as sort of an observer/ex officio role, eh?).

 

Some CO's may also have guidelines for the job, eh? I know Catholic units have NCCS guidelines for CORs. I think LDS units do too, but we don't have many around here, eh?

 

[jr56]

My troop is chartered by a church. The COR is a church member who had been a Scoutmaster of the troop several years previously.

[Jeffrey H]

Our CO is a Baptist church. Our COR is a active member of the church, serves on the District committee, an ASM of an area Troop, and a former Cubmaster of our Pack.

 

Because of his duties in his Troop and our District, he usually does not attend our Pack meetings but he is in regular communication with our Cubmaster. He is active in the background but not visible to most parents and leaders.

 

 

 

 

[EagleInKY]

Our CO is a Baptist Church. Our COR is a member that is former military, very outdoor-oriented guy and works with the youth from their church. I think it's a good fit. He doesn't participate as much as he'd like, mainly because his job requires him to work a lot of evenings.

 

As for the original question, since the COR is the Charter Organization Representative (i.e. a representative of the CO), I believe he has to be part of that organization. It doesn't make sense for the COR to come from the unit's parents (unless they are also a member, then that's a great fit).

[acco40]

Oak Tree - the unit does not choose the COR, the CO does.

 

That said, we do not have a COR! We use the IH for all necessary signatures.

[AwHeck]

Our situation is similar to JR56's - our COR is a former SM of our troop who is a member of the church that charters us. I am aware of at least 3 SMs since he has been in the role. He is on the church council so he is able to be a good liaison between the troop and the church since he is very familiar with both. The church charters both a pack and a troop and, unfortunately, both committes meet on the same day of the month so he only attends committee meetings sporadically. He is, however, very supportive and has "gone to bat" for us with the church when we've had a few requests etc.

[clydesdale115]

We are similar to jr56 and awheck - our COR is a member of the CO (Methodist Church) and former SM of the Troop. Far as I can tell, he's invisible.

[Cigarsquid]

I consider myself very blessed in having the COR we have.

 

He earned his Eagle when I was only 4 years old -- long time ago -- and his son recently earned Eagle in our Troop.

 

Not only is he active as the COR, he is also an active ASM -- and a man I consider to be one of the best mentors a man could ask for.

 

He has also recently taken on the District Training Chair position.

 

The patience and support he has shown me this past year have made it easy for me to learn and grow as an SM.

 

Tim

Troop 99

Albany, OR