SM in NJ

Congratulations on your Eagle Horizon. I'm sure you worked very hard for it. The only problem I have with the way that your Troop was run was the MB counselors spoon fed to the boys at every event. Part of the experience (and EDUCATION) of the MB is to get the boys to do their work and then contact the counselor on their own to set up a meeting to review their work. This helps to prepare them to make calls to set up meetings and interviews as adults. By having a staff of councelors sitting in wait for the boys defeats this purpose and takes that learning experience away from them. It was

I'll jump in on this one too ... actually both beavah and Bob White are correct in a sense. Here is a direct quote from the Troop Committee Guidebook as to the Committee's responsibilities "The troop committee does the following: 1) Ensures that quality adult leadership is recruited and trained. In case the Scoutmaster is absent, a qualified assistant Scoutmaster is assigned. 2) Provides adequate meeting facilities. 3) Advises the Scoutmaster on policies related to Boy Scouting the the charter organization. 4) Supports leaders in carrying out the program. 5) Is respo

Excuse me fgoodwin but did I read this correctly??? "I suspect part of the reason is that the SM sits on all BORs and his presence probably discourages the boys from openly criticizing the program" Your Scoutmaster absolutely should NOT be sitting in on BoRs. BSA states so in his training and he should know better. The reason is exactly what you fear. The Scout should be in a position at a BoR to offer his true feelings on whatever topic is raised. With a SM sitting as an apparent judge (even if he doesn't say anything or offer any opinion) his presence alone is enough to intimi

Calico brings up a very valid point ... are there any ACMs? If so, what is there function within the Pack. Also as has been pointed out - the DLs should have been behind this person from the get go. Apparently they were not and for that, they should all be ashamed of themselves. Its all well and good for them to point fingers at the CM and say he's doing a poor job and whine about wanting to go elsewhere ... but what have THEY done to improve a situation to which they have contributed? It sounds like they've done nothing but complain. You as the apparent voice of some reason need

Hi KISMIF - Interesting dilemma you've got. As someone who was an ACM for the 6 yrs my son was in Cubs (and now SM for the better part of 3 yrs), I've had a bit of experience dealing with what appear to be less than qualified individuals. When I was an ACM our CM was beyond less than respected (nor was he respectful of others), however (and unfortunately) no one was willing to ask him to step aside. As a consequence, we were forced to "work around" him. In my case, we were fortunate that we had a solid group of Assistants as well as a solid (and separate) committee. This made "margi

Wasn't quite sure if that was a reference to The Boss or if acco40 had figured out what Troop I am from and actually knows a Bruce from our Troop (I do know of several). Usually you don't get alot of people from Michigan making Springsteen/NJ references. : - ) Besides ... Bruce is spending most of his days now in LA with BonJovi! SMNJ

Acco40, you are correct ... "[T]he Scoutmaster and their assistants do NOT sit on Boards of Review ... f you feel that the Scout should not pass a BOR, due to actions of the Scout himself or the Scoutmaster, you do not have to have the Scout pass the review." This is aboslutely correct - assuming that the individual in question is sitting on the BoR for that Scout. The point that I was making was, that if the Scout had his SMC, the BoR passed him for advancemt and person filing the paperwork did not SIT on the BoR, it is not up to that person to make an individual determination that that Sco

I'll jump in on this one ... I've actually put this question to my Scouts on several occassions. There has been more than once in the 4+ years that I've been a leader in our Troop that we've been at functions where our boys were in uniform (in my opinion you are either in uniform or not - there is no partial uniform) and other units simply had their shirts on. When I asked my boys about this they all said the same thing ... they felt the other Scouts should show more pride in themselves and their unit. As I tell the parents of boys joining our Troop ... Part of the pride of being a me

Will gladly say "hi" to Bruce ____ ? You seem to have me at a disadvantage. Do we know each other? SMNJ acco40 Senior Forum Member * Registered: 7/5/2002 Location: Southeast Michigan Posts: 2386 RE: Greetings from NJ Posted: Friday, 2/15/2008: 1:59:44 PM-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome - say high to Bruce for me.

Interesting article. Your point in posting it without commentary??? SMNJ

Uhhhh.... nope. We only use our bridge for the "Bridging Ceremony" when the boys cross over from Webelos. I think the Boy Scouts might look at it as childish. But I will certainly ask their opinions - just to see what they say. SMNJ

Greetings Joni - I certainly do empathize. I do not feel that your expectations are out of line. Unfortunately your expectations seem to far exceed the individual with whose responsibility most of your issues lie ... the Scoutmaster. As someone who has been around Scouting my entire life ... I can tell you that which you already know ... the ones suffering most in your Troop are the boys. Unfortunately, I do have to concurr with Calico. As the Advancement Chair, as with all board positions, your roll is mainly adminstrative. The responsibility for supervising and ensuring the compl

Interestingly, I actually did my first SM Minute at my very first CoH on just this topic. There was a question from on of the "helicopter moms" (you know ... the ones that hover over everything little Johnny does) as to why her son's friends were advancing faster than he was. I explained to her (though she didn't want to hear it) that her son's advancement (a 14 yr old 1st Class Scout) was HIS responsibility. I reminded her that Boy Scouts is not Cub Scouts and that her son does not automatically advance when his friends do. I've give you a quick quote from my SMM that got caused the

Interesting dilemma you've created for yourself. I say you've created for yourself because, unless I read your initial post wrong, the decision to switch from 1yr to 6mos SPL term, and the implementation of that decision, was yours alone. No offense, but you're decision to place the loser in the SPL position for the 2nd half of the year was your first mistake (and we all make 'em!). Clearly just because only 2 boys were interested in September your thought that it wouldn't change in 6 months was short sited at best. Now it looks to me like you're asking your PLC to clean up your mess. If

The statement: "The point is that Scouting is not the place for sex education. When a leader makes an issue of another's sexual preference, it makes it impossible to remove sexual conduct from the Scouting realm." is a quote from statements from Gov. Perry. If you read the article, I believe his point really has more to do with what he sees as the ACLU's agenda to impose the beliefs of the minority on everyone else and less to do with anyone individually making an issue of sexual orientation. SMNJ