Re: advancement policy question?
settummanque, or blackeagle (blkeagle@DYNASTY.NET)
Sat, 23 Aug 1997 22:02:53 -0500
Tim Wills asked:
>Can the the Scoutmaster, a scout's Dad, sign his son's Eagle Scout
>Application to be submitted to the District's Eagle BOR?
Sure, the father/Scoutmaster can sign the Eagle Scout Application.
In most Councils, he HAS to sign it because it's the ONLY signature that the
Registrar will accept on the application. Not that the Registrar's going to
"match up" signatures or something; it's that in lots of Councils, the
Registrar certifies that the Scoutmaster is indeed the registered
Scoutmaster of that Scout and of that Scout's Troop.
There has been too many cases of a "neighboring Scoutmaster" signing the
application and the Advancement Report for his friend Scoutmaster.
When the application reaches the National office, there's questions about
which Troop the kid actually belonged to, which begs the question "why did
the other Scoutmaster sign the application"? It causes delays, which can be
resolved earlier by the father/Scoutmaster letting the Council know about
the "other signature" ahead of time.
Why would another Scoutmaster sign the application?? I don't know. A Troop
should have two-deep leadership, so the Assistant Scoutmaster should be
signing the application if anybody within that Troop. In extreme
circumstances, the Troop's Committee Chair or the Troop's Commissioner may
sign it, but those situations will have to be *really extreme* (like for
instance, both Scoutmaster, all Assistants and the Troop Committee Chair are
in Bosnia or Africa together with the military or with a civilian agency).
That's the technical part of your answer; the morally part of the answer is
that the father/Scoutmaster SHOULD NOT SIGN his own son's application and
explain to the Scout Executive the fact that he (or she, if this was a
matter of mother/Scoutmaster) is the father/mother of the Scout involved.
The Scoutmaster should arrange for the First Assistant Scoutmaster to sign
the application and attach a note to the application explaining why the
First Assistant and not the Scoutmaster signed the application.
That's how *I* would handle it, and it's NOT anything official, but it's the
right way that it should be handled.
I would LOVE to have my signature alongside my son's signature on an Eagle
Scout application; but better, I would love to write a personal letter and
attach it to the application as a part of the "official record", and at the
same time, to relay my pride and love to my son through my words before the
Eagle Board of Review. Each application should stand on its own merits and
not on the parents or Scoutmasters (or in this case, both).
The father/Scoutmaster still CANNOT participate in the Eagle Board of
Review. While others here will say otherwise with good reasoning, I do not
even advocate having the father/Scoutmaster anywhere near the Eagle Board of
Review at all. If anything, Dad should be down the hall and around the
corner from the proceedings to avoid any hint of "favoritism".
The reference for what the Scoutmaster and/or parents cannot do is found in
the current BSA Advancement Procedures book.
Settummanque!
(c) 1997 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") (502) 827-9201
(settummanque, the blackeagle) http://dynasty.net/users/blkeagle
241 Fairview Dr., Henderson, KY 42420-4339 blkeagle@dynasty.net
kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@hq.21taacom.army.mil
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