Greg78

Greetings All, I see renewed interest in this topic. Here's an update. We formed a new troop. About half the boys from the old troop came with us. We have been fundraising like crazy for equipment. We have been pretty successful at it. We have a very active committee and we are determined to make it work. Our boys are learning their positions and responsibilities. We have held JLT with them all and are providing scholarships to 2 for the Council's weeklong JLT. All of this years Webelos from the previous CO joined our troop. We have two more committee members a

Hi everyone, Working at a lone outpost for a year while in the military I came up with this one: What's really important is not what comes before you - It's what you leave behind! Thanks for all the sayings - so true!

Hey Bob, You said: You say you are trained in the program yet you talk about parents and scouts asking the SM to step down. Where in the BSA program did you learn that? Whoever gave you the idea that the boys choose the Scoutmaster, or the parents for that matter? There are no published instructions for removing a scoutmaster. There is no BSA training for dealing with inadequate leaders. The COR and COIH are supposed to form a selection committee and recruit a suitable leader. Which if selected properly would be that exceptional person who is looked up to and respected by the youth t

Bob - Sorry I seem to contridict myself. When I refer to the committee early on it was just us ASM's. When I refer to the committee from 4/9 on it was with the new committee members we signed up from our group of parents that wanted a change. (Yes, we tried to load up the committee to have more votes than the SM's family members) It didn't seem right for us to do that so we brought as many parents as we could to the meeting and had them all decide. As I stated before - we never really had a proper committee, there has never been a chairman. There was on paper but the g

Greetings FScouter! Please keep in mind there was no committee and the SM was the link to the CO. Most of the time period the CO board was not exactly interested in their Scout Program. Now there is a new CO board (president) that wants to take care of things. The SM always painted a rosy picture for the COR. And of course hind sight is 20-20. We could have and should have. The SM should have done something after the first set of boys asked her to step down. SM has never followed up with the boys that have left. Doing exit interviews just makes sense to make improveme

The Board (COIH) voted to keep the current SM as Scoutmaster. I came away from the vote feeling admonished for taking up the cause for our boys and our parents, that the decision was based on process and desires of the adults instead of the boys wish for a leader that they can look up to. This is the worst outcome for this group of boys that wanted to take control of their troop. We will lose our momentum. The troop will be paralyzed until we come up with a new plan. Probably to start another troop... It saddens me that a CO wouldn't work with the majority of parents of the

The CO called a meeting Tuesday night. It got Ugly. Mind you he has only had dealings with the troop through the SM up to this point. He totally disregarded the Parents recommendation to have the SM step down. He began his meeting by saying we should all work together and assist the SM to the correct path. A noble thought but we passed that point 18 months ago. The CO set him self up like we were the ignorant masses and only through his leadership could we be saved from ourselves. He stated he wanted to take a few months to have more adult meetings and then begin bringing th

Update: We had a meeting last night with over 30 parents representing 18 of our 23 scouts. Every one had a chance to stand up and relate their experience and in the end we sent a letter of recommendation to the CO to have the current SM stand down and a nomination of a new scoutmaster. The committee and ASM's are meeting with the CO tonight.

Eamonn, Dude you have a ton of experience in Scouts and International at that! I commend you for devoting your life to Scouting! It is a noble way to give back to your community. As for your reply - we are at the committee action stage now. We have talked with the SM about her behaviour and she has summarily dismissed all charges. Our two eagle scouts are not involved with the troop because of the SM. We have already lost three boys and a ASM that is running the training for the District Roundtable. All because of this SM. We are not trying to make our own rules here. We hav

KoreaScouter! from Oahu! Man, we're on the next plane! Your description of egos was right on! Oh but wait. After the ASM asked that she stepped down we offered the CC position. Promptly turned down. That is when i saw the feathers ruffle up and new her ego would never let her take a lessor position. Lessor? CC is lessor? I guess so in some peoples eyes... Davej745 you said: "How can Scoutmaster slide thru training to become a Scoutmaster and have been with these boys all this time prior to becoming Scoutmaster not be discovered as the individual driving Scouts out of

Eamonn, The bottom line here is that the Troop will be losing the older scouts if something isn't done about SM. Is your solution to let the SM continue in this leadership role and drive the older scouts out of the troop? I am an adult scouter because I had a blast being a Boy Scout! I feel an obligation to honor the time adults spent with me by providing the same or better experience than I had! If you are an SM and you have scouts leaving the troop and hear of scouts threatening to quit (and its about you) then you have to step back and evaluate your methods. Maybe eve

OldGrayEagle Thank you for your input We will go as far as we can with the committee and approach the CO with the results. As a committee we will have done what we think is right for the boys and leave it up to the CO. I have asked the advice of roundtable members. and they wish us luck and encouragement, They seem to understand the SM we are dealing with. We have also approached our DE and he's seems to want to be the impartial observer. I understand your view that it may be the boys don't like being harped on. That the SM is only providing proper direction. I thought

Hi and Welcome to the forum. ++ Thank You ++ It seems that things have changed a bit from when you first posted. Or maybe I just read it wrong? When I first read this it seemed that the PLC was trying to get rid of the Scoutmaster. Now it seems that there is a group of adults meddling in the back ground and behind all of this. The fact that they have tried to involve the PLC in their shenanigans is more shame on them. ++Sorry, Heres more to clarify: ASM hears 5 boys want to quit, calls other ASM's, Finds out more kids complain after EVERY campout. ASM's agree we have to do so

Trail Pounder, It sounds like you have some problems of your own. This is about an SM that is cuasing the boys who provide the senior leadership to want to leave scouts. This is the second group of senior leaders that have had problems with here. If we are to run a Boy-lead organization, we have to have the older boys to lead. If the older boys that want to lead all walk out it destroys the quality of the troop. To assume that any one that steps up to a leadership position (i.e. the SM) should be allowed to continue when the SM's style causes kids and other qualit

Sorry Greg, but to say she runs by the book but doesn't let the scouts lead is contradictory and doesn't tell us anything. As the ASM what have you seen? Give us examples please. ++Well, She cites the Patrol Method as she brow beats the SPL into doing what she wants. But as I said in an earlier post we have a couple ASM's that don't see a problem with her leadership style. (Maybe they treat their kids the same way) The majority of our Scouts are 1st class and under. The SPL is going on 14. We have two Eagle Scouts that are around sometimes. I'm sorry, Bob - I am not one to