ASM or Committee Member?

[Chippewa29 13]

I've tried looking at the job descriptions for both, but I'm still confused. As we are all aware, the duties for a committee member and assistant scoutmaster tend to be somewhat vague. In the past, I've seen troops with either an outdoor activities chair (committee member) or an ASM-Outdoor Activities. For both of them, their job was to handle the paperwork for the outdoor activities (reservations, health forms, permission slips, tour permits, etc.) These seemed to be the same job to me and both put in roughly the same amount of time and committment. How do you determine whether that person's title is as part of the committee or if they are, as they used to call it, a "commissioned" Scouter, or ASM?

[Lightcrow 10]

If you look at the Troop Committee Guidebook, there is very little mention of how committee members interact with the youth. I believe one reference is the troop Scribe assisting the committee secretary. In their development as leaders and program the committee plays a minor role at the boy level. The job of the Scoutmaster core is to train the youth leadership, advise them in planning, and be the main adults interacting with the youth membership. The troop committee, in an ideal situation, is in the background and providing support for the decisions reached by the youth. I think whether your outdoor planner should be a member of the Scoutmaster core or the committee would fall on the troop and how it defines the position in its by-laws. It may also be a matter of who was willing to do the position and had the time; that person just turned out to be an assistant Scoutmaster at that time.

 

I would also like to know why you use the term "commissioned Scouter" in reference to an assistant Scoutmaster. It is my understanding that only commissioners and professional Scouters are "commissioned Scouters." That is because they wear the wreath of service on their position patch.

[Bob White 20]

I agree with everything Lightcrow wrote with one exception. I don't think it requires written bylaws to determine if the role will be done by a committee chair or ASM. If the person who is going to do the job would like to be an ASM I'd make them an ASM if they wanted to be on the committee I'd put them there.

 

Bob White

[ASM7 10]

Besides the specific job of an assistant Scoutmaster to watch over a certain patrol (new scout, venture), the SA is usually assigned specific program duties. Of course, with the absence of committee members who perform the support duties, the SA usually will pick up that slack, even though they are not on the committee. He/She wears many hats. Just try not to burn them out. Good SA's are sometimes hard to come by.They are also needed for two-deep leadership.