committee members

[fighterpilot]

Are adult uniformed leaders aloud to serve on the troop committee?

[John-in-KC]

If your unit reads and follows the Scoutmaster's Handbook and the Troop Committee Handbook, the Scoutmaster ex officio is a member of the committee. He reports out the program to the committee and lays out resource needs. The Committee's task is then to support the PLCs requiremens as spoken by Mr SM.

 

The ASMs oberservations, comments, and such are carried to the committee by Mr SM.

 

I truly wonder how many units there are where the Committee is not "the committee of the whole of all registered Scouters in Troop 123."

 

Sorry the answer isn't quite as straight as you wanted. Can you give us more of the background on your question?

[NE-IV-88-Beaver]

"Adult uniformed leaders" is not a very descriptive term. As Committee Chairman, I'm often in uniform. Scoutmasters and Assistant Scoutmasters can not serve on the Troop Committee. They may attend the meetings but can not vote.

[ntrog8r]

Welcome to the forums, fighterpilot!

 

All commitee members are allowed to wear the uniform so the easy answer to your question is yes. The Scoutmaster, as John mentions, IS a (non-voting) member of the commitee. If a Scouter is ASM then they are not a member of the commitee, but can attend. Of course you may have an ASM that is also the "outdoor activies chair" or something on the commitee as well.

 

If this is a CS Pack, just sub CM for the SM and Den Leaders for the ASMs above.

[fighterpilot]

Thank for the welcome.

"if a Scouter is ASM then they are not a member of the commitee, but can attend"

 

How can an ASM be the "outdoor activies chair" and not be a member of the commitee?

(This message has been edited by fighterpilot)(This message has been edited by fighterpilot)

[NE-IV-88-Beaver]

They can only be registered in one position in the troop, even though they could in fact fill two roles. Registration would determine whether or not they are actually committee members. ASM's are tricky at this point because as an ASM they can't serve on a Board of Review whereas they could as a committee member. An important point to remember so an advancement report doesn't get rejected.

[fighterpilot]

Thank you NE-IV-88 Beaver

 

An ASM (or any registered adult leader) can only be registered in one position in the troop. - Got it

 

But if the troop happens, for what ever reason, to be lacking at the committee level, an ASM could fill that role in an effort to keep the troop going forward, but cannot participate in a board of review? Is this correct?

 

[NE-IV-88-Beaver]

I think that you got the gist of my message correctly, fighterpilot. That is an important distinction that some units miss.

 

And a belated wecome to the forum as well!

[John-in-KC]

That is correct. ANY program side person in Troop 123 SHOULD NOT participate in a BOR within that Troop. Now, if you're a DL in Pack 123, and a Committeeman in Troop 123, all is well.

 

Now, your comment about the Outdoor Activities Chair needs to be laid at your Chairman's feet. One of his key tasks is fill the chairs of his committee.

 

Of course, the need for an outdoor activities keyperson, on either program or support side, depends on how strong your PLC and its operating people are. If they're strong enough, perhaps the only thing adults need to do are the inherhently adult in nature items: Tour Permit planning and Coordination, Safety Afloat "adult in charge" stuff (even there, a well qualified youth in aquatics might be better than some adults I've seen), and range management for rifle/shotgun ranges.(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[Basementdweller]

Here is a link to a document that does a nice job of describing the board of review.

 

http://www.boyscouting.com/forms/BoardofReviewConcepts.pdf

 

If you are short staffed do not hesitate to ask you DE or neighboring SM's to help out. If my son was involved in the BOR I would stay as far away as possible from it.

 

 

[eghiglie]

In our Troop if the SM or ASM is a parent of a boy in the troop they are allowed to vote. This was a lesson learned from a troop in our area.

 

The problem faced in the old troop is that the committee had one set of views and the SM staff another, after the committee spent quite a bit of money. All but one member of the SM staff quit the troop and took their kids with them.

[John-in-KC]

eghiglie,

 

That's why I keep saying the CC and the SM have to have each others' back. Their vision and goals for the unit should support the "big picture" vision and goals of the Chartered Partner, the licensee of Scouting from the Council. They should be at the level of kinship where neither has to ask about raiding the fridge for an adult beverage as they mull the unit on off nights.

 

If CC and SM do not have each others' back, life gets exciting for the youth and families of the unit very, very fast, and very, very badly.

[Eamonn]

" the CC and the SM have to have each others' back. Their vision and goals for the unit should support the "big picture"

I don't have a problem with this. (Wait for it.....)

But!

We also need to remember the COR.

 

All this talk about Voting?? Has me a little worried.

I have over the years been part of and Chaired a good many Scouting Committees, rarely if ever has there been a vote.

The agenda is set up in such a way that a committee member or a group of committee members are tasked to do something or a specific job. The Chairperson is tasked with checking that this is being done. At the meeting these people give their reports.

I'm not in favor of the people who deliver the program sitting on the committee. Especially if they have a son in the Troop.

The role of a ASM is just that -Assist the Scoutmaster.

If there are problems with the committee? Then it is up to the Committee Chair, working closely with the COR to fix these problems. This would include selecting the right people to serve on the committee.

Eamonn

[Beavah]

Yah, I'm with Eamonn, eh? All this notion of votin' and such makes me squirm a bit.

 

In most troops, both da committee members and the scouters are parents of boys in the program. It makes no sense and will cause nothin' but hard feelings and ill will if yeh only let some parents "vote" on issues, and exclude other parents from havin' a say just because they're doin' more work (as SM or ASM). So if that's your setup, yeh have to let da SM and da ASMs participate fully in Committee deliberations and votes, out of fundamental fairness. This kind of committee usually proceeds by consensus, until a few parents get somethin' stuck in their craw or just make a nuisance of themselves, then yeh get a bunch of emotional voting.

 

In some troops, da Chartered Org. is more involved, and the committee functions more closely to the BSA model as a board of directors representin' the chartered org's influence. In that kind of setup, da SM is ex officio and reports to the committee without havin' a vote. But that kind of committee isn't votin' on what time the backpack outing is leaving, eh? They stay out of the program side completely. Their job is to approve da annual plan and budget, secure and pay for big equipment items, recruit and select leaders, set trainin' requirements and stuff like that. This kind of committee votes on their stuff.

 

In still other troops, the Chartered Org. is involved only through da COR, and the committee functions more like a Cub Scout committee, where committee members work on program support stuff like Eamonn describes. They stay out of program decisions which are left to da SM, and instead get tasked support jobs by the CC or SM. Bigger picture stuff like budgets and leader selection are handled by the COR/CC/SM triumverate (or one of 'em as "king"). This kind of committee never votes.

 

So fighterpilot, da real answer to your question just depends, eh? How is your unit set up?

 

Beavah

 

[Mafaking]

 

Beavah

 

That is about as efficient an explanation of the current committee / scoutmaster arrangement that can be said.

 

It would be nice if the program were to catch up to the typical arrangement you described, instead of pretending that troop committees are made up of the town's chamber of commerce people.