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Scoutmasters Delimma
Joe Marsh (propwash@AIRMAIL.NET)
Sun, 26 Apr 1998 21:09:20 -0600
Woodbadge teaches us to use our resources so that is what I am doing here
on this list. I hope to tap into some of the wisdom and experiece of the
folks here to solve a delimma that I have encountered. I have been a
Scoutmaster for all of six weeks now, even though I have been with our
Troop for about a year. I was Committee Chairman from about September
until my recent acceptance of the Scoutmaster position. I was very active
in Cub Scouts and have been to Cub Leader Woodbadge along with training at
Philmont. I do not have a solution to the problem I encountered last Troop
meeting.
Three Scouts from one patrol were in the bathroom at the Troop meeting.
One is a Star Scout and the other two Life and all three are 14 year olds.
While in the bathroom the Star Scout offered the two Life Scouts a baggie
of marajuana. When the three exited the bathroom two of them went back to
the Troop Meeting. The other Scout called his step mom of a year and
announced the events that had taken place in the bathroom. The Mom called
the police. The first I was allowed to know of the event was when a parent
came to me and told me the Police were outside and wanted to speak with the
Scoutmaster. They attempted to be discreet by having me bring the Scout
who called mom, the Scout who offered the marajauna and his father outside
one by one. The Scout with the marajuana is always accompanied by his dad
as he has been involved in the past in several events, including being sent
home from last summer camp. The police determined that the marajauna was
sage and asked the father to bring the Scout to the station for a stern
talk, which he recieved. He was told if you act like you have been acting
and present yourself the way you did, you will be speaking to the police
again in the future. I have talked to the Minister of our Charter
Organization and he has agreed to provide an appropriate Charter
Organization Service Project for him to do with Adult supervision as this
Scout has been known to be destructive in the past.
This brings us down to the Scout who called Step Mom. Both Dad and Mom
are Woodbadge trained in supposed support of this only son. Neither truley
embraces the Troop or Scouting. This Scout and I went head to head at the
same summer camp where the above mentioned Scout got sent home. The Scout
who called home choose to attempt to object when I came upon him and about
15 other Scouts from our Troop running and playing capture the flag on a
rock outcropping with a drop of about 150 feet. The Scout in question had
jumped off the cliff the night before and dropped about 40 feet and lucky
for him landed on an outcropping, prompting the Senior Patrol Leader to
issue the directive that no Scout was to be on this outcropping for any
reason without Adult supervision. I called all the Scouts together and
told them we were going back to the camp to have a chat with the
Scoutmaster. I was just a Dad at this point. The Scout who called mom did
not think I had the authority to order them back to camp and he could
easily anticipate the chewing they were all in for. I had to pole each of
his five or six buddies who thought they were going to band together
against me and explain that there was no middle ground here. They were
either with me or against me, nothing in between so it's on the trail and
back to camp or sit on the rock there with the Scout who called home. They
each made the wiser decision except him. He thought he would just sit
there and I could not move him. I told him he was without a buddy and I
believe camp policy would require him to at least have a buddy. He finally
got on the trail and we managed to get them all back to camp. The
Scoutmaster went border ballistic. Needless to say this Scout was rather
disappointed when I became Committee Chairman and proably even less
thrilled when I took Scoutmaster. In November he attempted to present his
Eagle project to the Troop Committee. They, with me as Chairman asked him
to do a little more planning which he did. When he presented it again with
a seperate packet of revisions and the original Eagle Packet without the
revisions, I told him, "I as Committee Chairman had to have one packet to
approve. Blend the two together and I would have a signable Packet. The
way they stood I could not sign either. His mother did not like my
decision and Dad was totally silent. I have tried to encourage him to get
it done but he said he thinks he will wait awhile.
My delimma is what to do about the Scout who called Mom. Should I thank
mom and go on or point out that the Troop Adult leadership should in my
opinion be notified before Police are called to a Troop meeting? I feel I
should make an announcement at the Troop meeting that "No Drugs were at
this meeting last week". The two patrol cars were still on the parking lot
when the meeting ended with the Police out of site of the Troop. Proably
half the adults there knew what the Police were doing. What do you folks
think? We have a DARE officer coming this week to do a program just to
reinforce anti drug awareness.
I am looking forward to the knowledge and widom of the folks that attend
this wonderfull place. Thanks in advance.
Yours in Scouting,
Joe Marsh
Scoutmaster Troop 86
Joe Marsh
Roadrunner District
Longhorn Council
Bedford, Land of Texas
(D.F.W. area)
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
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