Re: AOL/Crossover
Bruce E. Cobern (bec@PIPELINE.COM)
Sun, 6 Jul 1997 12:46:31 -0400
At 08:04 AM 7/6/97 +0100, Hushing-Kline Family wrote:
>The Webelos book (1991 edition), for requirement #1 for AOL, reads: "Be
>active in your Webelos den for at least 6 months since completing the
>fourth grade (or for at least six months since becoming 10 years old), and
>earn the Webelos badge."
>
>Maybe I'm way off base, but I read it that they don't have to be 10 1/2;
>they only have to have been a Webelos for 6 months since completing fourth
>grade. The item in parenthesis says "or", not "and".
You are correct. Except that in the context of the particular question, all
of the boys just graduated from the fourth grade, in spite of their age,
because they started school a year LATER than normal. So, in this context,
the only part of the age/grade discussion that is relevant is the 10.5
portion. Come November or December (6 months after they finished 4th grade)
all of them will be eligible to bridge.
Rather than write a second note to reply to the original question and some
of the replies, allow me to put them here.
First of all, it is NOT the Pack or the Den or the Troop who decides when a
boy is ready to cross over from Cubbing to Boy Scouting. It is the PARENTS.
Thus, come September, ANY of these boys who are already 11 are free to join
Boy Scouting, if that is where their parents want them. True, the
particular troop has a choice of whether to accept them or not, but they are
certainly free to find a troop that will accept them, and the pack really
cannot stand in their way.
As to those who will not yet be 11 (because, for example, they did not start
school a year late), they should, of course, follow all the NORMAL rules for
crossing over. Thus, any who are 10.5 (or whenever they are 10.5) who have
completed all of the other requirements for the AoL are free to cross over
at their will. As to whether any of this will happen in September or not,
that depends on the ages of the particular Scouts. It also, of course,
depends on whether they have met all of the other requirements. I don't
believe the pack can, or should, refuse to award the AoL to any Cub who has
earned it, WHEN he earns it. Thus, I don't believe in holding the awards
until everyone in a Den has earned it, nor do I believe in delaying the
crossing over for the whole den or until a certain point in time, because
that is what the pack has always done, or because that is what is better for
the pack.
Now, as to the parents' demands that the AoL be awarded to those who haven't
yet earned it, so that they can cross over with the rest of the den, my
answer is a categorical NO. If they haven't earned it (because they are not
10.5 years old, even if they have met ALL of the other requirements) then
they don't get it. If they choose to leave Cub Scouting, then that is the
parents' decision. They will NOT (or at least SHOULD NOT) be able to join
the troop with the rest of their graduating den because they will not have
met the Boy Scout minimum joining requirements and NO troop should accept
them. (I know, troops violate rules like this, just like packs award badges
not earned and hold Webelos to graduate later, but we're talking about the
rules here.) Thus, regardless of what these parents do, the boys WILL NOT
all graduate into the troop together, at least not in SEPTEMBER.
Which leads to the final alternative. All of them will certainly be
eligible to bridge in November or December (6 months after the end of the
4th grade). There is nothing that REQUIRES the Scouts to bridge in
September since they are still in 5th grade, even though most of them are
already 11. Thus, the parents are free to delay the graduation, as others
have said, until the whole den is ready to graduate, but it is NOT the
Pack's choice, it is the PARENTS'.
Sorry for the length of this post.
Bruce E. Cobern
Advancement Chairman
Founders District
Queens Council, NY
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