Re: Order of the Arrow Unit Election problem
Fred Heilbrunn (Lilchpn125@AOL.COM)
Sun, 29 Aug 1999 09:49:33 EDT
Calvin,
I sincerely thank you for your lengthy and thoughtful analysis of your own
troop's elections. Also for your insight into the reasoning for the National
OA Committee's decision. I know you gave this issue some serious thought.
I must, however, respectfully disaree with you, and this is why. I am sure
that you must agree that your troop is anything but typical. The number of
candidates you had for each of the past 5 years alone is larger than the
population of most troops.
The size of your troop creates a built-in rationalization for those boys not
elected. That rationalization is simple: "Not enough of the guys know me well
enough." This might not have been expressed to you in those terms because the
size of the troop precludes the possibility of the boys being as close to the
Scoutmaster as they should be.
Granted that you have sufficient ASM's to manage this large troop, but the
reality has to be that you only work closely with your most senior Scouts. By
necessity, it takes you longer to truly know your boys. I'm not saying this
is a bad thing, merely the group dynamic. And it is clear that you are doing
something right to attract this crowd.
But it does skew your perception of my issue. Imagine what the effect of
losing an election would be in a normal size troop of say 20 boys. I have
seen the devastating result! Boys are leaving the program!
Looking at your descriptions of the boys your troop did not elect, I would
say that there are some very serious issues you need to look at. I'm sure you
are dealing with them, but a couple of those boys, at least from your
description, would not have been eligible for election in my troop.
Thanks again for your response. I know your intent is on target.
Fred Heilbrunn,
Scoutmaster, Troop 125
Mount Vernon, WA
Vigil Honor member
Sikhs Mox Lamonti #338
