BSA Rules and Regulations

[rmiessler]

I really appreciate all the responses. I have read the Guide to safe scouting, but apparently need to read it again.

 

One more question then on the way policies are ingrained into the materials.

 

In Fast Start, it says the Scoutmaster is a member of the Committee Meeting. Does this mean the Scoutmaster is required to attend Committee meetings?

[OldGreyEagle]

Why wouldnt the Scoutmaster be at the committee meetings?

[Bob White]

While not a member of the committee, the scoutmaster attends as the representative of the program. Since the role of the Troop committee is to support the program and the Scoutmaster is the leader of the program it would make sense that the Scoutmaster attend the meeting to share the needs and wishes of the program leaders both youth and adult.

 

Which is why in the basic training they say the scoutmaster attends the committee meeting.

[rmiessler]

We hold the committee meeting at the same time as one of the troop meetings. He sends an assistant scoutmaster and says he does not have time to attend?

Definitely is a friction within the committee.

Previous scoutmaster always attended.

[Gold Winger]

"We hold the committee meeting at the same time as one of the troop meetings."

 

Why?

[Bob White]

Scoutmaster and committee chairman need to communicate better and the Committee chair is wrong for holding the committee meeting during the troop meeting.

 

The adult leaders primary role during troop meetings is to be there to observe, evaluate, coach and mentor. Why on earth would the committee purosely drag him away form his duties.

 

The Committee chair has another 26 days a month during which to hold committee meetings, he or she has no need to use one of the 4 or 5 nights a month that the scoutmaster has to hold troop meetings.

 

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[Gold Winger]

As strange as it may seem, I concur with Bob.

[rmiessler]

Well, never thought of it that way. Been with this troop for 9 years and it has always done it that way so that there would be good attendance at the meeting. WIll look in to it.

[evmori]

If you think that you need to have the entire contents of the rules and regs of the BSA in order to correctly and safely deliver the scouting program at the unit level then you greatly mislead.

 

By signing the application, we are agreeing to

 

b. In signing this application, I have read the attached information and apply for

registration with the Boy Scouts of America. I agree to comply with the Charter and

Bylaws, and the Rules and Regulations of the Boy Scouts of America and the local council.

I affirm that the information I have given on this form is true and correct. I will follow the

Youth Protection guidelines.

 

So if we don't know what those rules & regs are, aren't we in violation of what we signed?

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[FScouter]

It is important to have good meeting attendance. I think you best get that by having committee members that are committed to serving in their role in the best manner possible. Their unwillingness to meet at a different time is telling. If they were trained in their role and following what they learned they would expect the Scoutmaster (not a proxy) to attend the meeting and report on how the program is running and to discuss how they can best support the program.

 

I'm always wary when adults sacrifice content for expediency and efficiency. They're likely also to want to determine the troop annual program, assign boy leader positions, dispense with the patrol leaders' council, cook for the troop on campouts, use troop meetings primarily for merit badge classes, and go to the same summer camp year after year. They do all this because it is more "efficient" and never learned that efficiency is not one of the aims of Scouting.

 

If your troop is looking to avoid friction between adults, the best way to do that is for them attend the training for their respective positions and use the BSA publications for additional knowledge and insight. The formal regulations dont have a section with any statement about when to hold the troop committee meeting or who should attend.

[Bob White]

"it has always done it that way"

 

In all my years in commissioning I do not think there was any excuse for not following the scouting program which was used more often than this one.

[acco40]

In our unit, our committee meeting meets the same time and place (same building, different room) as the troop meeting. As Scoutmaster, I don't like it and have made my desires known to the CC and advancement chair. They cite the same argument - if their kids didn't have to be there, they in all probability would not be there. Yes, I do think it reflects negatively to their commitment to the program. I don't like to beat a dead horse so I usually only bring up my desires on this topic about once a year.

[Beavah]

Yah, I have to concur completely with BobWhite and FScouter here, eh?

 

Holdin' Committee meetings simultaneously with troop meetings is an awful idea. Seems to come out of cub programs where the parents have to be there for the meetin'. IMO it shows a lot of disrespect for the unit leader and the program. Worse, it really compromises the communication between the key supporters of the program - the youth leaders, the unit leader, and the committee.

 

If for some reason yeh can't get a committee to meet any other night, I'd say cancel a troop meetin' one night every other month and put the committee meetin' on the "off" night. On the alternate months the committee can show up at the regular meetin' to hold Boards of Review, and a small amount of critical business could be conducted right after. So yeh have regular committee meetings on the last Monday of odd numbered months and BOR's with a bit of committee business on the last Monday of even numbered months.

 

Alternately, try meetin' somewhere with food . Sometimes if yeh make a committee meetin' a bit more social it helps.

 

Beavah

 

[acco40]

While I like your idea for trying to move the committee meeting I don't like, nor do we have, standing times for BORs. They are all Scout initiated and then the Advancement Chair sets them up.

[Bob White]

I feel your pain Acco. When the committee's job is to support the program and their actions actually interfere with it, that is an awful dilemna. One which cannot be resolved through the application of BSA rules and regulations being discussed here, but certainly a problem worthy of discussion in its own thread on the topic.