Who announces a scout is ready for BOR?

[Buffalo Skipper]

When a scout has completed all his requirements for a rank (excluding Eagle, for this discussion) and has finished his Scoutmaster Conference, what do you do next? I know all troops are different, but does the SM inform the Advancement chair? Who tells who what?

 

Additionally, and especially for those with Troopmaster, at what point and by what process does this get recorded?

[Stosh]

In our unit, the PL arranges the BOR with the CC for his boys when it's needed. Our BOR's are available every other week and it's scheduled one week and that gives the CC two weeks to get it organized for the boy. At the BOR the boy is introduced by the PL who can then stay if the boy wishes or leaves the process with the CC and adults.

 

When the CC turns in the signed BOR report to the advancement chair, it is recorded in TM software.

Stosh

(This message has been edited by jblake47)

[gcnphkr]

We have a committee member who coordinates the BORs. He is told a scout is ready and makes sure that we have enough people available for the number of boards that are needed. After the BOR the scout comes to me and I sign his advancement application. He returns that with his handbook to his board chair who then submits them to the Advancement Chair. The AC then records the advancement in Troopmaster along with any requirement completion dates that have not already been logged. He then submits the paperwork to council.

 

There is no set method for any of this. Go with what works for your unit.

[Bob White]

If your goal is to follow the BSA program...There is no specified person that arranges for the board of review. Keep in mind that you do not have to wait for a scout to be ready to advance for him to go before a board. Since the Scotmaster is in charge of the advancement program in a troop it is common for the Scoutmaster and the advancement chair to arrange for boards.

 

The recommended method is that boards meet regularly and frequently throught the year.

 

There is no requirement that the Committee Chair sit on a board. It must be 3 to 5 unit committee members from that unit, but they are not frequired to be any specific committee person. It is not uncommon for the Advancement Chair to chair the board of review,

 

The procedures given in the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures manual is that the Scoutmaster, Advisor, or Skipper introduce the scout, and then only the Scoutmaster, Advisor, or Skipper can observe the board. They cannot ask questions but can clarify points for the board if asked a question.

 

(This process is totally different in a Sea Scout Ship when working on Sea Scout Ranks)

 

The board is recorded once the scout is approved for advancement to the rank.

 

Again, all this is only relevant if your goal is to follow the BSA program.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[Horizon]

In our troop the boy requests a BOR by going to the Advancement Chair (personally, phone call, email or using the Troop's website). She then contacts members of the committee so that they can hold a BOR at the earliest possible time (during campouts and at most meetings). BORs are also held during other times when needed.

 

 

[Trevorum]

"Who announces a scout is ready for BOR?"

 

Simple: the scout. He requests (or arranges for scheduling of) the BoR.

[Twocubdad]

In our troop, the Scouts are responsible for going to the Advancement Committee chairman and requesting a board.

 

The troop scribe keeps a stack of "Board of Review Request" forms pinned to the bulletin board which the Scout completes and gives to the Advancement chairman. Especially with younger boys, the last step of a Scoutmaster's Conference is for the Scout and I to go get a form, fill it out and make sure the Scout knows who he is to give the form to. (Again, with the younger guys who may not know the committee members, I'll usually send a back door email the the AC just to be sure.)

 

Honestly, the form is more for the benefit of AC chairman.

 

[NJCubScouter]

In our troop, when the SM conference is completed, the SM will advise the Scout to ask the Advancement Chair, or in his absence, the past AC (who is still on the advancement committee and is sort of transitioning out) to schedule a BOR. One of these two committee members is present virtually every week so there is generally no delay. There may be occasions (probably for the 10 and 11 y.o. Scouts) where the SM may just tell the AC himself. The Scout is almost always offered an appointment the following week. I have seen boys offered a BOR on the spot after the SM conference is completed, especially in unusual cases such as an imminent deadline for an advancement report before a COH. (I am sure the same would happen for a Scout who is in danger of timing out on Eagle if he does not get a Life, Star or First Class BOR right away, although I have never seen a case where that was needed.)

 

I do like Twocubdad's troop's approach of using a BOR request form, as it seems like a good communications tool that can help avoid errors and delays, but the way we do it, it isn't really necessary. Admittedly, our approach is dependent on the fact that we almost always have at least three committee members (including the AC and/or past AC) sitting around and chatting, doing "homework" or whatever in the adult room during troop meetings, so communications and scheduling are not really an issue. Troops that are not that fortunate would need to do it a different way.

[Buffalo Skipper]

NJCubScouter,

With the communications flow you offered, can you give me a sense of your troop dynamic, like size, number of patrols and general age breakdown?

 

BW,

Our BoR runs smoothly and quite by the book. And, though years ago we used to have BoRs once a month, our troop has "shrunk" since then, and BoRs are now generally conducted as needed. We are expecting to have a big growth spurt this year, and I am working to ensure that troop and administrative processes are running smoothly now, in preperation. And as a Sea Scout trainer, I am very familiar with the differences with Venturing vs Troop BoRs, but that is another topic.

 

It seems fairly widespread that it is the scout's responsibility to contact the Advancement Chair to arrange the meeting. To be honest, I had never really considered this, but with some thought, I do like the idea and what is implies (scouts taking responsibility for thir own advancement). We have a fairly new and inexperienced Advancement Chair, but she is eager and active; once scheduled, she makes things happen. We have a committee meeting tonight and I will bring it up with her and then the committee.

 

My next question is when and how is scout advancement recorded? Obviously, and most importantly, the Scouts handbook is paramount. We are using Troopmaster (Dotnet), but we have no interenet access at our meeting place. I don't want to wait until a scout has completed a rank before we record any advancement in TM. So when do you "transfer" requirement completions from their book to TM?

[Bob White]

"My next question is when and how is scout advancement recorded?"

 

Lots of different ways, remember that the only thing that must be recorded, outside of the scouts personal record book or handbook, is completed ranks and completed merit badges. Everything else is at the choice of the unit and the preference and agreement of the Advancement Chair, Committee Chair, and Scoutmaster.

 

Here is a Method I have seen used. A platic milk crate with a hanging file for each scout. Inside was an advancement record sheet. When a Scout completed advancement work he dated the advancement sheet to match his handbook. Merit badge blue card reciepts were also dropped into the files.

 

Once a month prior to the boards of review the advancement chair would take the files home and update the troop records whether in a book or on a data base.

 

A Troop Advancement Report was completed immediately following a board of review and sent to the scout office the next day with a recognition order and the wards presented at the next troop meeting. (merit badges were ordered when the scout began the badge so that we always had the badges on hand when the mb was completed.)

 

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[Mrw1]

We have about 50 active boys at this point.

 

Our troop committee secretary keeps a couple clipboards with a list of boys wanting SM conferences and BOR's. When a boy wants a conference, he puts his name on the appropriate list. When he has had the conference, he then goes and puts his name on the other list. We keep a pretty close eye on who is on the lists, so that we can have the BOR (and conferences) on a timely basis. We usually have enough "old folks" around to get these done within a week or two of the conference.

 

As advancement chair, I ususally sit on BOR's, but not always. If I did not, the boys are sent to me to record their advancement.

 

As far as recording completion dates for Troopmaster (dotnet) we have a wireless connection in the church where we meet, but rarely a laptop available. I periodically collect books and record the new dates from them on paper and then update the database from home that evening. This works well for most kids, but there are a couple who consistently miss meetings or don't bring the book and they are well behind the others on paper until they request a conference.

 

Every couple months I run a report for the SM/committee showing any boy who needs to be specifically checked up on for lack of advancement. This catches the ones who, for whatever reason, don't ask for a conference or BOR that should be scheduled.

[NJCubScouter]

BuffaloSkipper, we have about 35 kids in 5 or 6 patrols including the "senior patrol." (They just reorganized the patrols so I am not sure.) As for age breakdown, I think we have somewhat less than half high-school-age and the rest younger than that. (I don't know if you were looking for more of a breakdown than that, it would just be a guess anyway.) We seem to have about 7 Life Scouts and 1 active Eagle so they are out of the "normal" BOR process. I believe about 8 of the kids just joined in the spring. Actually, I have been somewhat concerned that if we had a couple of really good recruiting years (say 15 new kids a year) in a row, the numbers of kids would begin to overwhelm the sort of informal systems we have in place and that we might start losing track of people. There are troops near us with 80 to 100 kids and I can't even imagine that with our current leadership and the way we do things.

 

As for Scouts taking responsibility, there needs to be some balance. I think that kids (particularly but not exclusively those under 14 or so) need to be given the opportunity to show responsibility, but not left out in the wilderness if they fail to do so. If a boy takes a few weeks to ask for a BOR, fine, it's his advancement. Beyond that, he needs a reminder, and if that doesn't work there may need to be another SM conference and maybe at that point you just schedule the BOR for him. Some kids are shy, some are hesitant to talk to adults, maybe there is some problem you don't know about, or whatever. Ultimately it is a shared responsibility. We just had a boy switch from another troop, who crossed over in the spring, went on a couple of camping trips and summer camp with the other troop, apparently earned 3 or 4 merit badges -- and HAS NEVER EARNED THE SCOUT BADGE. I don't even see how that's possible. Obviously there was a failure somewhere, and it was not just the boy's. We are going to fix it and get the boy on the advancement track (unless it turns out that that's not where he wants to be.)

 

We also have 15- and 16-year-olds who need a real push -- and I'm not even talking about Eagle which is a whole different story -- and we've had 12-year-olds who need no push at all. You have to account for the fact that every kid is different.

 

As for Troopmaster, our advancement records person attends almost every meeting with his (or the troop's, I'm not sure) laptop and there is a printer in the troop room that he hooks up. Everybody who passes a requirement at a meeting (or passed one on the last camping trip) is supposed to go right to him with his handbook, so the information can be transferred into the computer. The record-keeper does not have Internet access at the meeting; I assume he does that part from home. It is also his function to print out individual advancement reports when requested, and that is a standard part of the prep for any BOR, so the board can look at one sheet of paper and see what the Scout has done, how fast he is advancing, POR's, merit badges earned, status toward next rank, age, etc., for discussion at the BOR.

[eghiglie]

Actually the Scout handbook has the answer to this one. Page 61 says that after you have had a SMC, the SM will arrange a BOR for you. This has worked well for us.