Issue 571 – July 23, 2018

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“If you’re out and about some morning and you run into a jerk; okay, so you met a jerk. But if you keep running into jerks all day long… you’re the jerk.” – Raylan Givens

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Couple of weeks ago, Scouter Joe Martinez, who had just completed YPT, asked about the “no more than two-year tent-mate age difference for Boy Scouts” and as part of his question wondered since, as he described it, “…youth sharing tents should not be more than two years apart in age…but it doesn’t say ‘must,’ so is it simply a guideline…?”

So I checked and found “should,” not “must,” which makes it a guideline instead of an inviolate rule.

Quite a few Scouters picked up this. One Scouter—Connie Knie—was pretty direct: “Hi Andy! While I agree with you about using the age of the youth (not worrying about the actual birthday date) to determine if Scouts can be tent partners/buddies, you didn’t correct the question about the use of the word ‘should.’ The GTSS doesn’t say should; it says ‘must.’”

So I checked again. This time I did find “must,” but it was in a different BSA file. (That’s right: The BSA has two files for the GUIDE TO SAFE SCOUTING—and they don’t match.) So thanks to Connie and her fellow sharp-eyed Scouters, we need to follow the “must” rule because, being the stronger of the two, it supersedes “should.”
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Hi Andy,

Our troop of 16 has two patrols. The Antelope Patrol, of 8 relatively new Scouts, has two who are age 10, three age 11, and three age 12 (two of these are brothers: one age 10 and the other age 12). The Bob White Patrol has 5 Scouts: two age 13, two age 14, and one age 17 (this last one shows up only occasionally).We also have a “junior leader patrol” of three: the Senior Patrol Leader, one Assistant SPL, and one Junior Assistant Scoutmaster (aka “JASM).

Of all of these, about nine will be going to summer camp; seven of the eight in the Antelope Patrol won’t be going at all. What do we do? How do we handle our patrols on a regular basis and what do we do for patrols at camp? (Puzzled Scoutmaster)

Interesting assortment. Doubtful there’s a simple answer here. Let’s tackle summer camp first, and then we’ll take a look at what to do in September…

For the 9 going to camp, it looks like you’ll have 1 Antelope, 5 Bob Whites, and the 3 junior leaders. So you’ll need to have 1 Senior Patrol Leader (be sure it’s your current SPL) plus 8 who need to be in two patrols of four each. Instead of “playing Solomon,” ask these eight to divide themselves into two groups of four and then give themselves “camp-patrol names” that are different from the two “home” patrol names. Be sure to point out to them that all Scouts (save the SPL) need to be included—no “strays.” Then step back and let the Scouts decide.

Now let’s look at September, when you’re all back home. First, ask the Antelopes to re-form by asking the 3 Scouts who are age 13 (soon to be 14) to “move” to the Bob Whites, and concurrently ask the “occasional” 17 year-old Scout to move out of the Bob Whites. (Yes, this will split the brothers and each will be in his own patrol, and that’s okay.) You’ll now have the Antelopes as a patrol of 5 Scouts and the Bob Whites as a patrol of 7 Scouts.

This leaves four Scouts: The SPL, the ASPL, the JASM, and the “occasional” 17 year-old. Of course your troop needs the SPL—he’s the highest-ranking leader in the troop! The SPL isn’t a member of any patrol during his tenure, and often moves to the JASM position when his watch as SPL has ended (so still: no patrol). As for the ASPL, in a troop this size I’m not sure this position is actually necessary. So let the current ASPL complete his term and—unless the troop’s size increases dramatically—just don’t replace him. (Remember that the ASPL isn’t the “runner-up” in the troop’s annual or semi-annual SPL election; the ASPL is appointed by the SPL with the approval of the Scoutmaster.) What will happen is the current ASPL can easily be asked to join the Bob White Patrol, which would bring the Bob Whites up to 8 Scouts. Meanwhile, the JASM is never a patrol member, regardless of the “leader patrol” notion; the JASM reports directly to the Scoutmaster, just as an ASM (Assistant Scoutmaster) would, and he carries out responsibilities assigned to him by the Scoutmaster (not the SPL).

I’ve deliberately left your “occasional” 17 year-old Scout (who I’m assuming is Life rank) to last. If indeed he achieved Life rank more than six months ago and has already completed his required six months of active participation in the troop and six months in a qualified position of responsibility, then “occasional” is just fine: Scouting is designed to be flexible, with the understanding that older young men in particular often have very busy lives outside of Scouting, including school, church, sports, music, specialized high school clubs (math, language, service, etc.) and we allow for this by not arbitrarily “dinging” the Scout for showing up less regularly than he may have in the past but by accommodating him (Scouts are, after all, Scouting’s first “volunteers”). If, however, it turns out that he still needs to complete either or both of the two tenure-related requirements I just mentioned, then a Scoutmaster conference is definitely in order here, so that he can fulfill these two on his journey toward Eagle rank. My recommendation for this young man is that he be appointed to the JASM position, which would be age-appropriate and useful to the Scoutmaster and the troop as a whole.

Finally, a caution. Arbitrarily realigning patrols from is rarely, if ever, a first-order option; in fact, it should conscientiously avoided except in very unusual circumstances (such as yours, for summer camp). When new boys join as a former Cub Scout den, and they’re all in the 10-to-11 age range, we should expect them to continue as an intact patrol straight through the Boy Scout program. They start as a “new-Scout” patrol, continue as a “regular” patrol, and finish their Boy Scouting tenure as an “older” patrol. So, in your troop’s situation, buy-in from the PLC (aka “Patrol Leaders Council”) is critical. Sit down first with your SPL in a collaborative conversation. Then, with your SPL in the lead, address the PLC. Unless you approach this situation through your SPL and his PLC, it’s going to feel like a dictatorship when it should ultimately be a democratic process. Not easy, but pretty darned important!
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Hi Andy,

Our troop committee and I (I’m Scoutmaster) are aware that, beginning in 2019, the BSA’s long-standing Boy Scout program will be renamed “Scouts BSA” and become open to girls. But we’re having some difficulty understanding how this is going to work and there are different viewpoints operating.

Recently one of our council’s professional staffers took me through how the new Scouts BSA will work: There will be all-boy troops and all-girl troops; they can be independent “solo” troops or they can be linked (that is, two separate units with the same chartered organization, and sharing activities from time to time), but they still need to be separately registered troops.

Okay so far, but a few members of our committee have different views. Several, for instance, are thinking that it if there are, let’s say, four or five or six girls who fit the criteria to become Scouts, they can become an all-girl patrol in an existing all-boy troop. One of my own concerns with this is the BSA “two-deep (adult) leadership” rule: If there’s an all-girl patrol in an otherwise all-boy troop and they go on a weekend overnight campout, they’d better make sure there are two adult female leaders along. In fact, this sort of troop would need two adult female leaders at all troop meetings too, they say. So what happens, they ask, when one or both of the girl’s adult leaders backs out at the last minute—do we cancel the entire event or meeting for both boys and girls?

I just don’t know how to get it through their heads that it’s separate troops.
Do you have any ideas on how to steer them along the right path? (Sorta Frustrated Scoutmaster)

Begin here: You all need to go to https://www.scouting.org/familyscouting/ and ready the FAQ section (and then the other five sections). Not to preempt your reading, here are a few highlights…

Yes, all troops for boys and for girls will be separate from one another. This means each troop is an “umbrella” for a unique set of patrols, and all members of those patrols will be the same gender. All-boy patrols will be in “Troop B” and all-girl patrols will be in “Troop G.”

Adult volunteers registered with one or the other of the two types of gender-specific troops may be (a) all male, (b) all female, or (c) mixed genders.

No group of girls is permitted to join an all-boy troop as individuals or as a patrol, and likewise, no group of boys is permitted to join up with an all-girl troop.

For an all-boy troop to abide by the “two-deep (adult) leadership” proviso, the adults may be all male or all female or mixed. This means that the all-boy troop you’re presently associated with needs make no changes.

There is absolutely no rule whatsoever that two female adults must be present per the BSA proviso on “two-deep leadership” for an all-girl troop. At least one: Yes. But that’s it.

Finally, on the subject of “backing out” (whether men or women—doesn’t matter)… I once was Scoutmaster of a troop that had prepared to go on a day-hike, and my ASM had signed up to be the second adult. On the morning of the trip, he backed out. With no fill-ins for him, I canceled the hike and sent all Scouts home (or in some cases called their parents to come pick them up from our jump-off point, where they had been dropped off a half-hour earlier). The Scouts were rightly disappointed, but the parents were furious…with me! “You should have gone anyway!” and “You ruined our Saturday plans!” were just a couple of the less visceral complaints I got. My reply was simple. “I’m not about to endanger your son, and if that’s a problem for you then you need to go find a troop that disregards fundamental safety policies.”

Happy Scouting!

Andy

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you’d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that’s what we’ll do.)

[No. 571 – 7/23/2018 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2018]