Wholesale denying of BOR

[BulldogBlitz]

New to being adult leader (and 20 years removed from my youth stint). Two weeks ago, I was at our Troop meeting which was conducted offsite from our normal CO meeting place. I asked the COR who was early like me for a reason for the offsite meeting (as I am a member of the CO and know that there wasn't a conflict of schedule). He explained that we'd been booted - temporarily. A month prior, the scouts made a total mess of the entire grounds with a water baloon fight (leaving all the busted baloons). Apparently there have been other instances of unruly behavior.

 

Anyway... there was a board of review that night, actually several. I only sat on one. This whole event of being temporarily banned is embarrassing. During the BOR, after we dismissed the scout, I asked the BOR if we could discuss "the incident" because I have my one remaining feeling hurt that we - curteous, obedient, clean - scouts have been reprimanded. We did ask the scout what he thought about "the incident" and how it could have been handled differently and how it will (or will not) be handled differently going forward. However, after some thought on the matter, I was looking more to the point of our (troop leadership) response should have been "the entire troop did not show scout spirit, therefore, during the month that we are limited to offsite meetings, there will be no BORs". Would that be "too tough"?

 

I also just recently went to my first troop committee meeting and these folks seem willing to bend over backwards to make BORs available at a moments notice (going so far as to put little or no time limits). I think I see a trend, and it has to do with the fact that I'm the only one in the adult ranks that does not have a child in the program (yet). They are all agreeable to cater to the boys, without discrimination (as in all boys are treated as "theirs").

[Gold Winger]

The horse is already out of the barn, you've given BORs to some of the bad actors so would it be fair to let them go and then not talk to the other boys.

 

I guess that your CO doesn't understand that the troop is part of the CO. The IH should have called the COR who should have called the CC who should have called the SM who would have chatted with the SPL and the would have come and cleaned up the mess. That's chain of command and teaches a better lesson than kicking them out or denying BORs.

[scoutingagain]

Welcome Bulldog and thank you for your service to scouting.

 

I think you need to keep in mind advancement in scouting is based on individual accomplishment. Either a scout has met the requirements to be awarded the rank or he hasn't. Troop discipline is an entirely different matter.

 

I'm not saying the boys shouldn't be reprimanded for their behavior but it would be wrong to use BORs as a collective disciplinary device. The adults are there to serve the youth. If a boy has completed all the requirements for rank advancement a BOR should be convened as soon as is practicle for all concerned. The youth should be respectful of the adults volunteer service and not expect them to drop everything to hold a BOR for him. But the adults should not artificially hold up a BOR either. The adults are there to serve the boy in the advancement process. This service includes making sure the boy has met all the requirements for advancement and provide timely feedback.

 

The incident is certainly a good point of discussion during a BOR. Fair questions to youth that participated in the event would be how did he see the results of the event as keeping with the scout law? What should be done differently? Does he believe he lived up to the scout law during this event? If so why? If not, what will he do to do better. Based on answers to these questions, I might suspend a BOR until he has demonstrated he has learned from the event and than re-convene the BOR and then approve his rank advancement.

 

But to wholesale suspend BORs would not be the correct thing to do here. My two cents.

 

SA

[evmori]

Water balloon debris? Minor and no reason to boot the unit! What are these other instances of unruly behavior? Unless the Scouts are busting windows or busting up the furniture, it sounds like the CO is looking for a reason to dump the unit.

[ScoutNut]

Why are you so ready to punish every boy in the Troop for an incident that happened a month ago? And one that you have absolutely no knowledge of at all. Is it because as a member of the CO you felt that the Scouts had embarrassed you personally?

 

Does the Troop leadership know who - exactly - was involved? If this was at a Troop meeting then the Troop's leadership was there and must have know about it. What did they do about it at the time?

 

Since this was a month ago, there is EVERY possibility that the incident was dealt with before you ever came on board. If so, then you should not now be imposing additional consequences.

 

 

 

[Vicki]

I guess I'd also want to know where the adult leadership was while the scouts were trashing the place and leaving the debris? And during the other "unruly" moments? There's a huge gap, to my mind, between boy-led and adult-abandoned. I think perhaps some serious service work for the CO is in order - probably a better option than being banned, but that's water under the bridge at this point. Still something that could be offered when you're allowed back into the facility.

 

Were the BOR's specifically to address the issues? If so, had the scouts already had a SM conference? In any event, I don't think banning BORs during the off-site period is the answer. I do think the SM should have some talks with scouts concerning scout spirit, however...

 

Last, but not least, IMO, BORs should be held whenever all parties can conveniently convene, not at regularly scheduled, adult-only convenient, times. But there are other threads that cover that issue.

 

Vicki