Re: ASM father signing off on rank advancement?
Bruce E. Cobern (bec@PIPELINE.COM)
Wed, 9 Jun 1999 10:11:22 -0400
From: Jim Peterson <kupete@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, June 09, 1999 10:06 AM
>I agree with Robert's method. In our troop no parent can sign off a
>requirement for his/her son whether a committee member, ASM. The
exception
>to this is if the adult happens to be a MB counselor and the scout
takes
>that MB....and even then, we try to have another adult co-sign. In the
>case of SM conferences, we try to be sure that the SM's son confers
with
>another leader.
Okay, hornets' nest time. We haven't gone through this in a few months.
:-)
IF your troop doesn't want parents to sign off advancement for their
sons, then you need not allow it. And this extends to Merit Badges.
The Scout cannot work on a merit badge without the prior approval of the
SM, and it is the SM (or his designee) who assigns the counselor. The
Scout does not get to pick his counselor, although he can certainly
express a preference which I would think would normally be respected.
So if the SM feels it is better for the Scout to NOT have his parent as
his counselor he just doesn't assign the parent as the counselor for
that merit badge for that Scout. Conversely, if the SM feels having the
parent as the counselor is appropriate he assigns the parent as the
counselor and nobody else can second guess his decision.
Once again, while I personally agree with Jim that a parent should not
sign off advancement for his son, including merit badges, that is not my
point. My point is that this decision is firmly within the control of
the SM.
--
Bruce E. Cobern
mailto:bec@pipeline.com
