Teleconference BoR?

[diogenes]

Can a Board of Review be conducted by teleconference? I know face to face with the scouts is the norm, but I'm not exactly in a "normal" situation.

 

I have a (LDS) troop scattered out all over west Texas. Our troop is based in Monahans, but we have patrols in Pecos and Alpine because those two branches of the church are just now starting up their troops and our church district wanted our troop to provide most of the leadership until they can get their own and up to speed to stand alone.

 

It kinda works on paper, but the logistics side is crazy. Pecos is about an hour's drive from Monahans, and Alpine is two hour's drive away (yes, in Texas we measure distance by time, not miles).

 

Between the three branches/patrols, we're taking 10 or so boys to Summer Camp, at least 8 of whom are new and have been signed up for Trail to Eagle. Meaning we'll need to Boards of Review for all these boys to do a troop level Court of Honor at the most central location (our Fort Stockton branch of the church, which ironically currently does not have any youth) shortly after camp. All but one of our committee members are in the Monahans area (we have about 4-5 active committee members at the moment), so driving at least 3 members to the other locations is really not an attractive option.

 

So back to the original question: if we hold our Board of Review in one location and interview the youths from the other locations over the phone, will that suffice? Each location has an ASM assigned to help facilitate the calls.

[epalmer84]

Never heard of this being done before, but I don't see why not. As long as everything else is by the book. Sounds like the ASM is just there as a facilitator, not a member of the committee.

 

Video would be really neat and is relatively inexpensive. Skype is free, just throw in webcams on each end and you are saving on long distance calls.

 

Ed

[John-in-KC]

I'd have a discussion with your District Advancement Chair, but I personally think Ed has a good pragmatic idea.

 

Webcams aren't expensive. Skype is free. You're scattered because your Chartered Partner has spread you out from Heaven to breakfast.

 

Go for it.

[troutmaster]

John-in-KC;

 

Never heard that one, "heaven to breakfast". Does it have definition; and do you know the derivitive? Just curious.

 

YIS

[Gunny2862]

I don't know John's answer, but if you'd ever had my sister-in-laws cooking you'd understand the phrase.

Teleconferencing (with video) over Skype would work but given not paying for gas you might consider looking at local universities and asking their fees for renting a videoconferencing room. A much higher quality connection, video and sound if it's in the budget.

[John-in-KC]

Alternate option is to see if K-12 schools have similar to what Gunny described. Another alternate is to see what US Dept of Ag extension service facilities are available. They sometimes have the capability now.

 

(Gunny... where they are in West Texas maybe the home troop might have a .edu juco, the out-towns from what I remember almost certainly won't).

[diogenes]

Thanks for the input. I was planning to just do a 3 way call on my cell phone (I have way more minutes than I use, so no problem there). I'll look into using the videoconference stuff from local schools/governments if the current troop situation continues beyond the end of our current charter year (December). Our budget is pretty much wiped out now for a variety of reasons, so we wouldn't be able to do much of anything beyond free or cash on the barrel until next year. Maybe I can drop it as a suggestion for the church leaders to install in the meetinghouses to save traveling for the district leader meetings, with the side benefit that the Scouts and other programs in the church district could also use them for similar reasons.

 

Scattered/spread out from Heaven to breakfast? Sounds like a new motto for our troop. It definately describes us. Do you mind if we adopt it on our troop flag at summer camp?

[John-in-KC]

There's another H word that is more customary with the colloquialism of "h to breakfast."

 

Subsituting Heaven for the other H is just me being me.

 

Diogenes, I'd be honored if you permanently borrowed the idea

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

I ma be showing my age, but does anyone do "chat rooms" anymore?

[emb021]

"Can a Board of Review be conducted by teleconference?"

 

Well, I can give you an example.

 

A young lady in my council had her Board of Review for Quartermaster (highest Sea Scout award, only about 15 a year are awarded) several years ago done via conference call. This was due to the fact she had to be out of the area for college or something. The then Council Commodore did it this way and didn't see an issue.

 

Unless its forbidden by the Advancement Guidelines, what is the issue?

 

[FScouter]

Surely there are adults in the outlying area that serve these patrols / troops? They do have troop meetings? Outings and campouts? Somebody must be signing their books for rank advancement. They have moms and dads, and church members and former Scouts. There you have the folks to serve as board members for the board of review.

 

It's not rocket science; all they need to do is read over the BSA material on the BOR and go through the BSA on-line material.

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/trainingmodules/board%20of%20review%20training.aspx

 

 

 

[Trevorum]

I'm not fond of this solution. Teleconferencing may would well for busy executives, and I can see it as an occasional last resort for a BoR (as is suggested by emb021), but I'd not be in favor of it as a normal troop routine. No matter how spread out your troop may be. Speaking from experience, I think a LOT on communication falls between the cracks during a tele/video-conference. The venue is far too opaque to permit the open two-way dialogue and feedback that should occur during a good BoR. I agree with FScouter here and I'd recommend other solutions first. Talk to your UC. Are there other Scouters in these towns who can participate, even if they're not with your unit? Or, why not the one troop member who lives in the community and several other non-scouting members of your congregation. That's an option, also.

[epalmer84]

The virtual board of review should not be the norm, but there are going to be the times when it is the only way to get the job done.

 

And to quote our new Chief Scout Executive:

 

"I see a lot of positive things and not much that needs fixing. However, I think theres lots we need to learn about the high-tech world and our ability to communicate internally and externally.

 

I spend time looking at YouTube and MySpace, and its fascinating. I think we have a place in that environment.

 

We should be creating venues in electronic forms for our own people to talk to each other, to get good ideas, to share ideas, and to share frustrations."

http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0710/a-chief.html

 

Ed

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Trev,

 

I understand your concern, but we're talking about:

- Far West Texas...

- An LDS Troop

- Scattered across multiple towns

 

1-2 hours drive time between Patrols of the Troop. Depending on roads, that's 50-80 miles distance.

 

I like FScouter's idea about if there are traditional BSA units available to take up the burden. That said, I think ACP&P #33088 now proscribes non-Scouters from BORs other than the EBOR. (Can someone check that??). That sort of forecloses his second path.

 

I think part of the unit development process for this Troop, which will spin off multiple Troops in turn, is to get Scouters enrolled in each town. Again, though, we encounter the variants of how an LDS parish sets up its Scouting organizations.

 

Normally, I'd want in-person BORs as well. I think in this circumstance, coupled with the current dear price of driving, we need to look at this Troop more as a scattering of Lone Scouts than as a traditional 15-50 young people on Monday night.

[Gunny2862]

Trevorum, I might understand the dropped communication issues if we were talking the relatively low bandwidth connections and poor video and audio of your typical webcam and computer setup. But with the videoconferencing (videoteleconferencing: VTC) codecs used by most universities/ colleges today I find that most poor comunication is the result of, well, poor communication skills of the participants rather than limitations of the systems. So just like in real life poor skills may be exhibited, but a breakdown in VTC communications shouldn't as quickly be blamed on the VTC systems as in the past.