BOR - question

[OldGreyEagle]

There is no requirement that a scout wear a uniform at a BOR. much less the rank the scout has not yet received from the Troop. There is no reason to wait till a Court of Honor to award the rank patch, we award the patch when earned, or very soon thereafter and then at the Court of Honor we give the rank card. As the date of advancement is the dates of the Board of Review, why wait to award the rank patch?

[evmori]

OGE is right on the money! I concur!

[ScoutNut]

DS, you stated - "He was turned down for second class because he was not wearing the tenderfoot patch that the troop failed to give him."

 

I take it this happened at his BOR for 2nd Class? Did they give this young man something in writing stating why he failed his BOR? Did they give him, in writing, things he should do in order to pass his next BOR? Did they set a date for his next BOR?

 

My bet would be that this BOR did not follow corect BSA procedure in any way, shape or form & you will answer "no" to all of the above questions, except for the first.

 

"Is there an acceptable way to force the troop to proceed with the board of review for second class"

 

Yes. Have the family give the District Advancement Chair a call & file a request to have the BOR result reveiwed & overturned. Maybe that will wake up some of your leaders.

 

Always interesting to see that I am not the only one dealing with a Troop it it's own little strange universe!

[Hunt]

Hearing about boys who "fail" BORs for things like this is one of my pet peeves. The Committee members who sit on these Boards need to be educated about the proper role of the BOR. In this case, why isn't the SM, who signed off the SM Conference sticking up for the Scout? Also, if the boy has earned his Tenderfoot rank, he doesn't have to wait for a Court of Honor to advance to the next rank. He IS a Tenderfoot as soon as the BOR is completed. In fact, since the requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class can be worked on at the same time, he might be ready for his Second Class BOR immediately after the Tenderfoot BOR.

[barrythebluebear]

The only failure I see is by the troop advancement chair. Failure to present the award in a timely fashion (like, by the next troop meeting.) Since he is penalizing a youth for an adult's failure, it may be time for this particular adult to be assigned a different job they could do well.

[NeilLup]

A suggestion for a couple of the Troop situations mentioned. Have you involved your Unit Commissioner if you have one? Addressing situations like this is one of the things that the UC is supposed to be trained to do. Of course, addressing the "His Majesty" type Scoutmaster is something that no one, not a Commissioner, DE or any other person can do well.

 

As far as the boy turned down for 2nd class, most unfortunate. As other leaders have suggested, contact the District Advancement Chairman or else your Commissioner. The one good thing is that there is no tenure requirement for First Class. The boy can just keep working toward First Class requirements. If the boy is done, there is no reason not to have Second Class and First Class BOR on the same evening. (I know, I know, Scoutmaster's Conference required. However, that does NOT need to happen after the 2nd class BOR. Also, I know if Troops which had the boy pass 2nd class early in the BOR, then go out and have the 1st Class Scoutmaster's Conference, then go back in for his First Class BOR.)