so theres a scout who was in his BOR for first class when the CC comes out and is questioning some things. the item in question was one of the events that was used for the '10 events' requirement. the event was a district roundtable – and without that event the scout only has 9 of the 10 events needed for the requirement. but the SM told him that it would count and signed off on the requirement.

so the sad part is the scout is obviously upset as he was ready for first class and comes just a couple weeks after he was told he could be troop historian – only to have it 'taken away' from him by the CC. (yes, i think i read somewhere that was a position appointed by the SPL). and this scout wanted this position not because he wanted a patch on his shoulder, but after hearing from a SM that the troop didnt have this position and no other scouts had expressed interest in the position, he wanted to do the job for the troop.

sure – attend one more event in the up coming months and get first class. but why even sign off and give the scout the appearance that he was leaving the meeting a first class scout.. so the troop has a historian – probably a first class scout who has needed a POR to get to star, and the CC has stopped the BOR to make sure that everything is in line, but it seems like we couldve not disappointed a scout so much by just doing things a little different.

and come to think about – had the scout not written the events in the back of the book – the committee might not have even questioned anything.

just thinking out loud with some fellow scouters.

unfortunately the scout was my son. i wanted to try and remain objective in the writing since i dont know that people would give an opinion knowing its someones kid versus some 3rd party.

though its been a while – this is still on our minds. unfortunately  i travel for work and cant make many of the meetings lately. we have talked about it – and he ended up doing the 10th event within a week or so – but that doesnt change things. i think the CC is surely out of line.

no pitchforks and torches here… ;)   but i think like everyone we just want to see a good program for the scouts.

ill try to answer some of the things/questions that have come up in the thread…

bryan – re: district meeting – he was there performing the opening and flag ceremony with other members from the troop as well as some others things that i wasnt around for since i was in another breakout session. he had asked the SM if participating in this would count towards the 10 events and was told yes. ultimately – this is a very active scout who has missed maybe 1 campout due to a prior commitment – and he ended up getting the 10th a couple weeks later. i just agree the execution was very poor on that one and it shouldve been handled differently. she was at the district meeting when he was asking the SM about it – and iirc was standing next to him for the conversation.

there were other incidents where she would, imho, have poor execution. for example – before the BOR that was a typical boy who had some behavior problems due to dad being deployed for the past couple years – she asked me to find anything i could so he would fail the BOR. i didnt do this and conducted the BOR as i saw fit and was trained to do so – but you get the idea.

as for the historian – she told my son that she didnt want him to be historian and wanted another older boy to have this position – and thats how he lost it. this is what she told my son – and i still dont know what was told to the SM or others in the troop as to the reason. my son continues to do some of the things he wanted to do as historian – like a write up of all events the troop does and take pictures – and i think ive seen the historian at 3 meetings in the past couple months.

as of last week the CO removed her as the CC and the family is no longer in the troop. they are shopping other area troops. since i brought my concerns up – other parents have come forward about things she has done. no need to go into details – but my concerns were the least of the worries.

the sad thing in all of this is the boys are the ones that will lose. she had 4 boys in the troop that are now gone – her husband is a well liked ASM – and nobody had issues with them. the wife just seemed to have problems with some scouts and/or their families and tried to manipulate them however possible. from her placing her incorrect interpretation of the rules  or adding new rules to the program (recently declaring all patrol elections invalid since one scout was re-elected patrol leader for example)..

boy parents sure can get in the way of a good youth organization :)

yis – jeff