committee member, treasurer

[sherritroop103]

Just wondering how other troops deal with Scoutmaster Conferences-- What do you do if scouts going for their rank and arrive to the conference with NOTHING signed off in their book????

 

Do you go ahead and sign it all off for them if you know they completed it at summer camp??? Do you have them work with another scout to get signed off and them come back???

 

We have talked with all scouts and they all know that they need to have their books filled out before coming to the conference. We don't want to discourage scouts but also want them to work towards accountability for their progress.

 

Thanks!!!

[NJCubScouter]

Welcome to the forum. (And don't let my account-name fool you, I am a Troop Committee member also; I have not been a "Cub Scouter" for years, but never changed the account name.)

 

I guess the logical question would be, if the boys "know" what they are supposed to do, why aren't they doing it? And I guess a key to the answer would be, are we just talking about 10 and a half year olds going for Tenderfoot here, or also boys who have been around for awhile? Obviously the youngest boys may need some reinforcement of the procedures before they will "get it."

 

I'd also point out that getting the book signed is not solely the Scout's responsibility -- it is also part of the job of the person (whether adult or older Scout) who sees the boy pass the requirement. Yes, the boys need to learn responsibility and they need to be aware of what they need to do for their own advancement... but they will pick that up as they go along. When they are just starting out, they are entitled to some help. In my son's troop, when someone "passes" a Scout on a requirement, the next words are "please give me your handbook." If the book's not there, that's another issue.

 

As for the particular situation that you seem to be in, the person(s) who saw the boys pass the requirement(s) should sign it off in their handbook. (Although, at the summer camp that our troop usually attends, the first-year campers attend a special program geared to the first three ranks, and the counselors do not actually sign the handbooks; for administrative convenience, they instead give the Scoutmaster a "report card" at the end of the week, showing what requirements were passed by each Scout, and that is then entered in the handbook by someone in the troop.)

[FScouter]

The last camp we went to provided a T-2-1 card with the items checked off that the Scout learned. The testing part is left to the troop.

[gcnphkr]

The things you know they did, camp overnight for example, sign them. If it were me, I would go ahead and test him. It is ultimately my job anyway. If there were things they had problems with I would help him get the hang of the task and then schedule another time for him to demonstrate it. I am becoming reluctant signing off on summer camp T-2-1 classes. They may give them the basics but generally do not do a good job of making sure they have learned the skill.

[evmori]

sherritroop103,

 

Welcome!

 

A Scoutmaster Conference is not a pass/fail requirement. It is a participate requirement. The Scoutmaster Conference would be a great place to talk to a Scout about his advancement! But, there is no requirement a Scout have his rank requirement signed before a Scoutmaster Conference.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Lisabob]

I would expect our Scoutmaster to discuss WHY there are no sign-offs in the book if this were to happen in our troop. There might be a good reason and that reason might differ, depending on the rank of the scout in question. For a scout who is approaching tenderfoot there may be some confusion about how this process works (yes I know it was announced several times but have you noticed that 10-11 year old boys' heads are seemingly not attached to their shoulders on many occasions?). In that case I suppose the SM might very well talk with the scout and then sign off, if the SM is satisfied that requirements were met.

 

For a 2nd/1st Class scout I would expect the bulk of the requirements would be signed off prior to the conference in most cases (unless it is a really small troop and the SM has a fantastic memory). Lack of sign-offs here might be a concern. The boy should certainly understand the process by that point.

 

For a Star or Life scout, the requirements are typically things that the SM him/herself approves or that do not need signatures along the way (like merit badge requirements) and so it might be the case that the boy worked diligently along the way, sought and received verbal approval (for example, for the service hours), and the SM's signature is a mere formality to be handled at the SM Conference. So in this case, no sign-offs wouldn't necessarily worry me, especially if it is a smaller troop.

 

(On a tangent, are we to suppose that you are a committee member and treasurer for your troop? In that case, are you certain of what the details of the SM conference actually were? And how does your SM explain the situation? This is the SM's obligation here, not yours.)

 

Hope this helps, and welcome to the board.

 

 

 

 

 

[sherritroop103]

Thank you all for all of your comments-- Our troop has several assist. scoutmasters that help with scoutmaster conferences when there are a lot to be done or when he can not be at the meetings (he works a strange schedule) We had about 10 or so scouts needing conferences so the assist scout masters helped out. Someone asked if I was the treasurer and committee memeber-- Yes -- I am but my husband is one of the Assist scoutmasters and I told him I would do a post and get others opinions on the matter. It is a very sensitive area for several reasons. Your comments have been very helpful and our committee meeting is on Monday-- The committee and scoutmasters/assist. scoutmasters just want to make sure everyone is on the same page when doing reviews. We are all there for the boys to help them learn, grow and make this a great experience for them.

[CNYScouter]

I would contact your UC or Training Chair and ask them to run the supplemental training module for Scoutmaster Conference Training for the Troop.

 

This module will teach Scoutmasters, assistant Scoutmasters, and other troop leaders about the purposes of the Scoutmaster's conference and will offer suggestions for questions that could be asked at these conferences.

 

The link to the syllabus is:

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/trainingmodules/scoutmaster%20conference%20training.aspx

 

Not only will everyone be on the same page but will hold SMC's per BSA guidelines.

 

[NJCubScouter]

CNYScouter, thanks for that link. It is good information for everybody to have. I have two questions/comments:

 

The document (in particular the PDF) seems to be the "training module" itself, and not just the syllabus. If that is the case, is there any reason why it cannot be "self-taught" or taught within the troop, rather than waiting for an outside trainer to be available?

 

I also found an interesting quote in there. In discussing the different kinds of SM conferences, first it talks about the "nonadvancement" conferences and the reasons for those, then it talks about the "advancement" conferences and in that section, it says:

 

"The Scout must have completed all of his requirements for rank before the conference can take place."

 

So in other words, this says that a conference may take place regardless of whether the boy is ready for a BOR, but that even if it does, another SM conference must take place after all the requirements are completed for that rank, but before the BOR. That is what I thought was the case anyway, although some who have posted in this thread appear to believe otherwise. I think this clears up that question.