Re: Board of Review
Steven G. Tyler (sgtyler@EROLS.COM)
Tue, 12 Jan 1999 09:39:09 -0500
Michael Bowman wrote:
> Suppose you were called upon to sit on the next board of review for this
> Scout and he had in the last three months since the "high moon BOR"
> continued to be arrogantly difficult of personality, but had tried (not
> always successfully) to work with other Scouts and had also worked hard on a
> service project to benefit the community unrelated to any advancement. What
> questions would you ask this Scout? How would you use the scant information
> you had to give him a growth opportunity? How would you deal with the past
> conduct - of both the accusatory inquisitioners and the errant Scout? How
> would you turn this BOR into a win-win proposition that would spur further
> growth and success? Last, if he got up to leave before you thought the
> review was concluded, would you:
>
> A. Put on your sun glasses?
> B. Let him know that this repeat performance was his own doom
> C. Tell him that he'd better turn-to and sit down
> D. Ask him to take a breather and come back in a few minutes
> E. Thank him for attending and ask him to come back in a week
> F. Ask the SM to have another conference and coaching session
> G. Talk with the boy in a less formal situation to see what went wrong
> H. Give up
> I. Figure I don't know what to do, lets see how others react
> J. Do something else
> K. Some of the above
>
> There are no completely right or wrong answers in many of these situations.
> But take a moment to use this bad review and the hypothetical follow-up to
> reflect on the purposes and process of a BOR. Please share your thoughts
> and answers. Your ideas may help a second chance case somewhere along the
> line.
I suggest there's an intermediate step that's been omitted from the
example. Frankly, before the second BOR, some real intense
negotiation/counselling/training *OF THE BOR/COMMITTEE* was called for.
If I was a member of the first BOR, I would have been tempted to applaud
when the Scout shot the moon at the BOR -- IMHO they richly deserved it!
I am normally mild mannered and soft spoken, but I suspect that I would
have gone ballistic the moment the Scout was out of earshot, and I
suspect I would have requested at least a brief adjournment of the BOR
*before* the Scout's blow-up, once I sensed the direction the BOR was
going. YMMV, but I would not knowingly participate in such a travesty
without making every effort to shield the Scout from such borderline
abuse.
Given the first BOR's blatent disregard for the proper purpose and
procedure of the BOR, I see no hope of salvaging this situation unless
and until the committee is clear on what they're trying to do. As
advancement chair, I'd be sure no committee member sat on a BOR until
they were trained, if I sensed the tendency to act in such a fashion. If
I was not advancement chair, I would do everything I could do to
emphaisize what the committee *should* be doing. I'd rather they were
PO'ed at me, if that would reduce the chances of a repeat grilling.
But, back to your example, I think I'd first focus on the prior BOR,
'reframing' the event as an unfortunate escalation of the BOR's concern
about the Scout's progress. I'd then focus on the improvement the Scout
has made in the intervening time, with due praise. I'd then try to get
the Scout and BOR back on track as a discussion of the Scout's progress
in the program, rather than an inquisition. If he started to leave
anyway, I'd probably pick K (Some of the above, specifically something
in the range of D through G) or, failing that, J (Do something else).
--
YIS, Steve on Cattail Creek (Steven G. Tyler, Esq.) <sgtyler@erols.com>
The Computer Counselor -- Technology Consulting for the Law Office
Advancement Chair and Webmaster, Troop 339, BAC, BSA
(http://members.aol.com/troop339)
