Any hope for a dysfunctional committee & troop?

[mls1]

Yes, our DE has been a Scouting professional for over 30 years. He is very good. He would be a great legal mediator.

[fleetfootedfox]

mls1, glad things worked out for your son, but sounds like your troop still has lots of problems that started long before the current crisis. Training can't hurt, but it won't fix an issue with a person who is just plain hard to get along with.

 

I am sort of shocked to hear an instance of a troop where the advancement coordinator is acting like the boss of the troop. Maybe she should be reminded that the first two words in her job description are "Encourage Scouts". It is the CC's job to "Interpret national and local policies to the troop", not the advancement coordinator.

[highcountry]

I know the COR has to be the one to remove a CC but can a troop "vote out" an Advancement chair ? If a parent willing to do the job was willing to "run" for the position and the CC held an election for the position, the troop would have the opportunity to replace the problem volunteer who is currently in the position. Once out of the position, they become just noise with no power at all and could be ignored. At recharter they could be told that your troop is not accepting their application and that you all feel theri needs are probably better served by otehr troops, thanks and good bye. You will loose their son but you may get back some scouts and may prevent losing other scouts and volunteers which is a win for the troop.

By the way, in my story about our CC that had to be booted on another thread, I had mentioned this person was previously booted from the cub pack a few years prior. At the time she was booted from teh pack, she was a committee member but was doing the same types of things you described of your Advancement Coordinator....trying to run the pack, Bully through decisons etc. People were leaving and others threatening to leave when she got voted out. She took her son and left in a huff not to be heard from again (In the PACK that is).

[onehouraweekmy]

As a CC who had to clean up a messy, disfunctional Troop by removing a SM and his wife, the treasurer, against their will (not a pleasant scene), I can tell you the CC in this situation should be the one to inform the "Advancement chair" that she's welcome to serve on the committee, but advancement responsibilities will now be handled by Mr or Mrs X... and if she doesn't like it, she can be left off the recharter next time around.

 

Seriously, it's a disservice to every kid in the program to allow adults to "do their own thing" to the detriment of the program.

 

I'm only sad it took me a year to go get trained to learn about what my responsibilities are as CC... maybe this troop's CC needs to be encouraged/persuaded to take the training.

 

 

[mls1]

It is definitely difficult.....this person has been involved in Scouting lcoally for a long time, so most people assume she knows what she's talking about. And most people also figure if she'll take on the work, then they don't need to worry about it, they should just be grateful.

 

She has said that when her youngest son reaches Eagle she'll "retire" from Scouting. He has finished his project and is ready to submit his book for EBOR, so we'll see if she makes good on this. Those of us who've been in this town for a while (this isn't the only organization who's had to deal with her) have to secretly wonder if she can really go without someone/something to control, but we'll see.

 

The CC doesn't really feel a need to get any more training, so far as we can tell. I think the DE has figured this out and will be gently nudging the CC and the SM to attend some more training. Also, I think having several parents alternate at the Roundtables might increase the pressure for more training, not to mention more participation in Council- and District-level activities.

[emb021]

"I know the COR has to be the one to remove a CC but can a troop "vote out" an Advancement chair ? If a parent willing to do the job was willing to "run" for the position and the CC held an election for the position, the troop would have the opportunity to replace the problem volunteer who is currently in the position."

 

thing is, there are no elections within the troop committee.

 

The CC is picked by the COR. The CC then picks the members of the committee and their role. And the CC can thus remove anyone from their role as well.

 

[UpstateNY]

What happends when you have a real arrogant CC? COR an UC won't do anything about it. What is a SM to do?

[UpstateNY]

What happends when you have a real arrogant CC? COR an UC won't do anything about it. What is a SM to do?

[John-in-KC]

If the CC and the SM are not on the same page, life gets very difficult for the kids.

 

You don't say what your position in the unit is, or what the actual problems are.

 

I hope both are fully trained for their positions. If not, well, once this challenge is fixed, training is a tool to help folks be on the same page, so you don't get in the mess again.

 

You start things, even at this hour, with the proverbial friendly cup of coffee. SM/CC go someplace, offsite, away from the kids, and both actively listen as each other airs the challenges.

 

If friendly, active listening doesn't work, and you have a do-nothing COR, SM tells CC he's going to make a business appointment with the IH. On prerogative of a SM is he/she has same level of access, in matters of program, as the CC.

 

If your UC is a no-show, SM can call the District Commissioner and ask for assistance.

 

There's also the big trump card, which gets the DE's attention: SM asks him for help, as the unit is at risk of closing. DE's do not like to lose units, and if the Commmissioner Service hasn't been spurred to action until now, that may well do it.

 

The Scouting "charter" (license, franchise) model works well when all the parts work together. That said, it's obvious something here isn't working.

 

Can you give us some more info, please? Otherwise, the generics we give you are as far as we can go...

[mls1]

An interesting update - the bossy advancement chair resigend her position quite abruptly last week. No explanation given. My husband thinks it's because she was essentially aced out of our son's discipline process. However, I reminded him that she had, after all, said she would not continue once her youngest reached Eagle; his project book is at Council and in the lineup for review prior to Eagle BOR so maybe she's just making good on her earlier promise.

 

Thankfully, we heard this evening that the wife of the travel coordinator has volunteered to take over advancements. She is a very nice person, organized, friendly, etc. - and she has a disability that makes it difficult for her to participate in anything but family camp, so this is a great opportunity for her to help out. I am really glad to hear she is stepping forward. Hopefully this will help things take a turn for the better!