Re: Can a scout fail a Board of Review?

>>Two things concern me here: First, How did the boy get to the
BOR in the first place if he didn't do a requirement? Second, and what
concerns me most is, How is it that an individual who is the DISTRICT
ADVANCEMENT CHAIR does not KNOW what should be done, only has a personal
opinion which he "thinks" is correct?<<

First, a boy could get to the BOR if someone signed something off by
mistake.
It is wrong to retest, since the requirements don't say that you have to
learn
something for life; only demonstrate it once. However, it does need to b=
e
demonstrated once. If a scout admits that he never completed a
requirement,
the BOR has no choice but to decline to pass him. You are correct in tha=
t
the
SM should never have let the boy go to the BOR in the first place, but
these
things happen.

BSA has spelled out the purpose of the BOR's in the advancement policy
and procedures. The difficulty arises because the BOR is not really a
review of
the boy, but a review of the troop and the uniformed leaders by the troop=

committee.
This is why only committee members can sit on BOR's. Their job is to tal=
k
to the
scout and explore his experiences in the troop. The BOR is, in effect, t=
he
quality
review program for the troop. If the boys are not having fun or really
using the
methods of scouting, it should come out here in the discussion.

The rules are very clear in that the board should not retest. However,
they do
have the final responsibility in ensuring that the requirements have been=

met.

It's not that I do not know what should be done. It's just that I've
learned that
we need to be flexible and remember what our real objectives are. For
example, a =

strict following of the rules would require us to reject that eagle
candidate who
admitted that he knew he didn't complete an earlier rank requirement but
kept silent.
I think that we would all agree that doing this isn't in either the boy's=

or scouting's
best interest.

Also, if I take a super hard line as district advancement chair, how do I=

enforce it?
If I hear of a troop that is retesting at BOR's, I will talk to the
committee and try
to educate them on the proper procedure. If they refuse to change, what =
do
I do then?
Try to get their charter revoked? Get council to lift the registrations =
of
the leaders?

YIS

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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