Board of Review -multiple ranks

[scouterfly]

A quick question. We have monthly BOR's. If a scout has completed multiple ranks, in this case, tenderfoot and second class, do you have one Board of Review for both ranks at the same sitting, or do you have him do one rank this month and then one at the next BOR? He is also close to completing 1st class, so this could be a triple. I always thought that each BOR was to be a separate opportunity for the scout to meet with the troop committee, and go through the BOR process.

 

 

[SemperParatus]

A quick, but interesting question. I would recommend some period of separation between the BORs for the different ranks, to give the scout some time to process and reflect on what he has accomplished in the earning of each separate rank. Combining two ranks in one review is not entirely fair to the scout, or to the other scouts in the troop who undergo separate reviews.

[Twocubdad]

By the book, I don't think there's anything with wrong with this for Tenderfoot, Second and First Class. For Star and up the requirements require that certain things be completed "while a First Class Scout" or "while a Star Scout" etc. This would preclude doing this for the higher ranks.

 

I assume that the Scout in question has done all these requirements over a period of time and is just behind on the BORs. Is there any reason he can't wait a month or so between ranks?

[NWScouter]

Putting a time requirement between BORs would be adding to the requirements and is against the no more or less rule of advancement. There is no time requirement between ranks until you are going for Star. A scout may work on any of the requirements for Tenderfoot, Second and First Class at any time. You also need to remember that we are to recognize them as soon as possible and waiting would violate that rule. The troop I was Scoutmaster in, would and still combines those ranks in BORs.

[Fuzzy Bear]

"We have monthly BOR's."

 

Did he complete all of the requirements in one month?

 

Did he miss the BOR nights for several months?

 

Did he not know that he was to have a BOR and failed to act on the information in his BSHB?

 

Did he not have SM conferences?

 

Something else in this story is missing. FB

[Hunt]

Since all requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class can be done concurrently, it would not be at all strange for a boy to finish them all at the same time. (For example, the 30-day fitness requirement for Tenderfoot could be the last one achieved.) If he achieved this by working really hard, why would you want to penalize him by making him wait? If you have enough adults, I suppose you could give him three separate Boards of Review in one night--since they should be pretty short for these early ranks, that might be doable--but I don't really see the point.

[scouterfly]

To answer some of the questions that came up from Twocubdad, FuzzyBear, Hunt. This scout was a Webelos Crossover in Spring 2002. We have a very small troop (

[molscouter]

Actually, we had a boy recently complete three boards in one night. He's 14 and a good Scout. He had done everything, he just hadn't completed the final step for each rank. We ran three boards, voting after each one, so as to not run afoul of the requirement that the ranks must be earned consecutively. He was pretty nervous during the Tenderfoot board, but relaxed when I asked him that should he be awarded Tenderfoot, what his plans were for completing Second Class.

 

 

[molscouter]

"if the boy has no initiative to advance, then he doesn't."

 

As it should be. It's up to the boys. We have a few kids like this. Most decided to get their rears in gear when their little brothers joined the troop.

[acco40]

"We have monthly BOR's."

 

There is your problem right there. Who should initiate a BOR? There are two options that are accepted by the BSA. The most frequent option is that the Scout should initiate a BOR for advancement purposes. He should schedule a BOR after he has completed all other requirements for that rank. As a SM, I will participate in a SM conference only for the rank with which the Scout is currently pursuing. That is, I will not give a First Class SM conference to a Scout who is currently a Tenderfoot. The other option for a BOR is one initiated by the Troop (specifically the Troop Committee via the Advancement Chair) to review a Scout, not for advancement, but to encourage, gather information, etc. about a Scout.

 

Although frequently done, a troop should not schedule monthly, quarterly, etc. BORs for advancement. They should be initiated by the Scouts themselves. When done properly, the dilemma of this tread would then not exist.

[KoreaScouter]

I've had several situations with Scouts ready for multiple BORs. Our committee normally does them a week apart, not for some artificial separation, but to give the Scout an opportunity to prepare for just one at a time. I can imagine a lad meeting three in one night, but that's a lot of pressure on him.

 

Our committee schedules BORs based on me telling them that a Scout has completed his SM conference. It's normally no more than a week or two afterward, but depends on them being able to assemble the board members (like most, our committee members are busy people). They try to include our COR (Eagle Scout and involved with the unit) and rotate the members so the same ones aren't doing it all the time. They can almost always "throw one together" since we always have 3 committee members at every Troop meeting anyway, but I find it's better when they have time to prepare and weren't planning to do part of their committee job at the meeting vice sitting on a BOR -- one or the other, right? Also, to do the BOR justice, we have enough time at each meeting for a BOR to meet with 3-4 Scouts max. Sometimes I have more than that in the que, and they need to spread them out.

 

I like how our committee does it.

 

KS

[acco40]

KoreaScoutter - shouldn't the Scout and not you, request a BOR? When I am finished with a SM conference I (usually) tell the Scout that he is ready for a BOR -but I do not schedule it! That is the responsibility of the Scout. Now, I may inform the committee that in all probability a Scout may be requesting a BOR in the near future but if the Scout does not schedule it, it does not occur. The Scout soon learns that trying to schedule a BOR on short notice a day before a COH is not a good idea.

[EagleInKY]

Korea - Our process is almost identical to yours. I think it works pretty well. I could see it getting more difficult as we get larger. I usually try to give the advancement chair a heads up that a BOR is coming up. We usually don't know for sure until the week before.

 

I don't think it's a big deal for the SM to coordinate the scheduling of the BOR. Since the SM Conference tends to be the last step before the BOR, it's a logical process. On the early ranks, I initiate the SM Conference. As the scouts get older (1st Class, Star and Life), they start showing a lot more initiative in pushing for both of these to happen.

 

I haven't had this happen (multiple ranks scenario), so I don't know for sure how I'd handle it. I think I'd handle it like Korea and schedule them a week apart.

[anarchist]

scouterfly,

why just once a month?....In our troop, we ask ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS to attend the first meeting of each month for multiple board sessions, then we try to have at least three committee members at every other meeting for needed BoR's.... seems to work well...in your case, you could do the boy in question over a three week period...or do tenderfoot/second class one week first class the next...good luck but I think he should have time to think about each board...in between

[FScouter]

I'd say that doing three in one night is not really three. There may be more questions, more discussion, and may take longer. But he will sit in the same chair and talk to the same adults. I'd call that one board of review. He'd be shortchanged of his opportunities to talk about his troop experiences.

 

On the other hand, it's not really fair to impose an artificial waiting period either. I think what I'd suggest is to schedule them a week apart, using a different mix of adults on the boards.