Boards of Review???
Beaver (xl23795@SWBELL.NET)
Sun, 18 Jul 1999 07:38:00 -0500
Ian N Ford wrote:
> One solution would be to re-register one or more ASMs as Committee
Members . . . they
> can still attend camping trips, troop meetings etc. as Committee
Members. The only
> difference is the SM may delegate SM Conference to an ASM. Yes, it is
bureaucratic, but
> BSA's advancement procedures . . (are) . . . bureaucratic, and failure
to follow the
> rules can lead to Scouts being denied advancement later if . .
irregularities . . .
> come to light.
Bruce Cobern pointed out that leaders should not be re-registered for
the convenience of
BOR's ". . . because there IS a reason why SA's cannot sit
on a board which is equally applicable to MC's who serve as SA's."
Bruce is absolutely
correct.
One of the primary purposes of the Board of Review is serving as a
"check" on the
Scoutmaster and his assistants. That is, to see if the Troop is
furnishing a quality
program consistent with the policies of the B.S.A. Allowing someone who
functions as an
ASM, with or without the title, to sit on a Board is somewhat akin to
giving Willie Sutton
the combination to the bank vault. It defeats the primary purpose of
the Board.
A quality Troop program provides, at a minimum, a "safe haven" for every
youth no matter
what problems he may encounter at home, school or in the community.
This "safe haven" is
essential and provides the foundation for all B.S.A. youth protection
policies. One of
the most effective barometers of this "safe haven" is the Board of
Review, an open
exchange between Scouts and leaders who do not regularly camp or
participate in Troop
activities.
If a young man feels uncomfortable, for any reason, at Troop meetings or
Troop outings, it
is essential that the Committee know about it. Having an adult (who
functions as an ASM)
serve on a Board of Review will have a "chilling effect" on the Scout's
exchanges with the
Board. In other words, no Scout in his right mind is going to criticize
me or one of my
Assistants if one of my Assistants, no matter what his title, is serving
on his Board.
Further, no Scout is going to criticize me if my wife is sitting on the
Board. (Little do
the Scouts know that my wife would probably be the best recipient of
this criticism and
the one most likely to do something about it.)
As John Fox and others have suggested, recruit others to be on your
Committee to avoid the
conflicts of interest in conducting Boards of Review. Serving on a
Board of Review is one
of the most pleasurable aspects of Scouting leadership. It is a way
others in the
community can look upon your Troop through the eyes of a young man
discovering himself. A
side benefit of this recruitment is that resources developed for the
purpose of Boards of
Review turn in to great program resources, e.g. ministers to religious
awards, fire chiefs
to emergency preparedness, police chiefs to fingerprinting. The
benefits and
possibilities are almost endless.
Bureaucracy sometimes has a purpose. We just have to find it around the
bend.
YIS,
Dave Beaver
Scoutmaster
Mud Dogs 54
DeSoto, Kansas
