Re: 5 days until 18th Birthday.....Eagle?

Cindy Rocus wrote:

>> We are looking for some opinions on what to do with a Boy Scout who
will be turning 18 in 5 days he is having his Scoutmaster Conference this
evening and we feel he might not be Eagle Scout material. <<

Cindy, I understand your concerns. However, from the brief material given
in your message, it seems to me that the scout in question should not be
held back. The requirements are the requirements, and can't be added to
(see the related thread about eagles just meeting the requirements instead
of doing more). If he fails the EBoR and appeals, he will almost certainly
win.

If a unit in my district came to me with this situation, I would ask the
following questions:

1. Is he aware of the concerns? Has the adult leadership of the troop
discussed these issues with him in advance? Unless he knows that there is
a problem, he can't work to fix it. Five days before he turns 18 is *not*
the time for him to be hearing this.

2. You state that although his performance as SPL is not stellar, he has
held one of the allowable leadership positions for the requisite 6 months
while a life scout sometime in the past 2 years. Therefore, he has met
this requirement. As an aside, I'm an advocate of signing off on this
requirement as soon as it is met and not waiting for the last minute.

3. Who approved the change in his Eagle Project? Who at the district
level approved it in the first place? Did the organization that benefited
from the project "sign off" that it was satisfactorily completed? When was
the project done? If it was last week, I would have no problem with
requiring more. If it was in 1996, it's now too late to go back and say it
could have been better.

4. The actual requirement for Scout Spirit now reads "Show Scout Spirit in
your daily life". This change focuses on much more than what happens in
the scout troop. It is valid to ask the scout how exactly he does this.
Is he under a lot of outside pressure? Is he working or active in sports?
You can't judge this item by only looking at how he functioned as SPL.

5. Scouts should have "regular" BoR's even if they are not required for
advancement. Have these taken place? What was discussed? What was the
outcome?

6. As an aside, the SM and/or the PLC should probably have taken action to
remove this scout as SPL if he clearly has not done the job. While not a
factor in this case, National has ruled that the "quality" of his job
cannot be taken into account when signing off the leadership requirement.
If he held the position for a full six months he must be signed off.
Therefore, if his work is clearly unsatisfactory, he must be removed by the
unit before the six months are completed.

7. Also as an aside, if I were the unit leader I would not have let him
preside at the Court of Honor if he was not in uniform (unless his uniform
was stolen by aliens - but that's another thread).

>> Our concern is just because he is turning 18 in 5 days and has completed
the necessary requirements should he be passed at the EBOR? <<

Since he has completed the necessary requirements, you have no choice but
to pass him.

Often, when these issues come up, they are the result of a lack of
attention to the methods of scouting. Instead of feeling bad and holding
it against this youth, I would suggest that the unit leadership take this
as a "wake-up" call and review exactly how the troop operates. Ideally,
normal troop operations would head off this type of situation before it
became a matter of anguish for the unit.

Yours in Scouting

Joseph A. Alessi in Ozwin 2.12.2
JosephAlessi@Compuserve.com
District Advancement Chair
ASM Troop 313 and Scoutmaster, Jamboree Troop 530
I used to be an Owl

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