Re: A Bad Night at Scouts

Thank you all who responded to my post. The overwhelming opinion was that I
should continue to wait and let the boys figure out how good or bad their
choices were. Actually, the boy who was elected SPL has been through the
Junior Leader training and I think can be quite good if he really wants to.
I'm just concerned about his attendance. I tried to make very sure that the
boys understood that attendance was a requirement for all boys who were
elected. I'm afraid I am prejudging him and will wait and see. The
ineligible boy was elected mostly because of a miscommunication. None of the
boys realized that he hadn't actually turned in his application yet because
he had been attending occasionally for a couple of months. I didn't realize
that he was even in consideration because I let the SPL run the election
while I went to talk to another adult leader. After seeing his
application, I think any problem will resolve itself quickly. His 18th
birthday is in Feb. The SPL will also be 18 in April so I think that we will
be having early elections with a lot better defined rules.

As several people pointed out, probably the best way of dealing with the
"planning meeting" is that I look at the results (if any) and if it is good,
work with it, otherwise have another meeting to further develop the planning
or redo the plan (with the PLC) without making a big deal of it.

At this point, the ASM would not accept my input and I think direct
confrontation would be a no-win situation for all involved. I think that I
will continue to ignore his criticisms and try to counter his negative actions
by working with the boys to develop a good program. I think I do have a good
rapport with the boys in general and have their respect. The dilemma I have
right now is how much I can ignore him without him feeling like I'm afraid of
him and he can safely act like the class bully.

I'll let you know what develops.

Richard Ickler icklerr@delphi.com
Scoutmaster, Troop 14 icklerr@corp.macom.com
Long Beach, CA

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