Hello. My sons Boy Scout troop has some drama going on and I (and some of the parents) dont know what to do. Our SM (who is extremely unorganized) and one of the ASMs are buddies. SM brought ASM to the troop when he came along. They immediately appointed their boys in leadership positions without a vote, etc. The boys fool around during meetings, use their electrical devices when they should be cleaning, etc. and arent really leading the younger boys.
We had an awesome committee chair and troop committee until a couple of weeks ago. The ASM, SM and charter rep came to the troop committee meeting and announced that the chair was stepping down and the ASM was going to be the new chair. We think the ASM and SM have been bad-mouthing the chair and he believes them. The chair is a great person-calm, diligent and an all around great guy. Hes actually a minister at a church. At the meeting, they didnt allow any ASMs (even though they are parents) in the meeting. It was all done very underhanded. One of them commented to another that now the troop committee wont tell them what to do with troop money anymore. They waited until a long-time troop member (and ex SM) had gone out of town to do this.
Now, the ASM is sending out many SM-sounding emails about trips, plans, meeting stuff. They rarely attend hikes, etc. but its like he has just taken over as SM and the real SM is allowing him to do it (maybe hes relieved since hes so unorganized).
The ASM is not very ethical. He happily told the troop committee how, in his old cub scout group, he had them open up popcorn packages, re-packaged them and sold them for more. Im not sure if this is allowed but it seemed like cheating to me. He was asked to leave his old troop but I dont know why.
He also told another parent, who was saying how intense the fishing badge was, that all she needed to do was go buy a couple of different fish, put them in a kiddie pool in the backyard and have the boy catch them. She said that was cheating and he told her that nobody follows the rules to get badges.
Maybe Im nave but I want my son to really earn his badges.
Some in the troop committee have now resigned (and the SM and ASM wives are being put in their place) but I think thats exactly what they want.
We have some great ASMs but the SM doesnt give them assignments /direction, etc. They mostly stand around and try to help the boys.
We are looking at another troop but it makes me sad that our son wont be around his friends.
I know I sound like a huge tattle-tale but I wanted to see what you all suggest we do? I was thinking of talking to the charter rep but I dont know if itll do any good.
Im so sorry this is so incredibly long!
Signed,
Sad and frustrated Boy Scout mom
