Issue 628 – February 11, 2020

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I’ve been thrown a lot of curve-balls in the past 19 years, and this one sits pretty near the top… But it’s sure a winner when it comes to the reply, which I usually omit but I’m making an exception today. I think you’ll enjoy it, too!

Hi Andy,

I’m one of the trainers for our council’s NYLT staff. The NYLT staff includes both adults and youth. Based on my past training experience, I’m thinking it’s a safe bet that a particular question will come up again. It has to do with cellphones and cameras. Here it is:

“What if there’s a question about someone taking an inappropriate picture? What should we do? What should we expect to see happen next? If those actions don’t happen, what should we do next?”

Up to now, I’ve tried to simply say, “Ask our Scout Executive,” and I’ve just never been able to come up with a clearer answer than that. I’ve asked our SE myself, but this hasn’t really helped—it’s still just as vague as it’s always been. Do you have any ideas at all on how to handle this issue? (Troubled Trainer)

I can tell you this as a former trainer of adults and youth, a former NYLT staffer, and a former Scoutmaster to boot… I’d NEVER answer a question like that. The reason’s simple: Someone may ask a “blanket” question, but it’s really not a question; it’s a trap….unless it’s just pure lame-brained.

Anybody can ask a lame-brained question. If you’re teaching “woods tools,” for instance, what would you do with “What if somebody chops their arm off?” Nothing, I hope.

These “What if…?” questions are designed not to get information but to do only one thing, and that’s to trip up the session leader. Don’t let yourself fall into that trap.

To stay out of that trap, here’s your answer to that question, in the exact words to use:

– Interesting question. Help me out here. What do you mean by “inappropriate”? (THEN DON’T SPEAK)

After they’ve answered, here’s your second question if you need it):

– Okay I understand. Well, what would YOU do? (THEN DON’T SPEAK)

The follow-up to this is, “My agenda for this session says we have to move on. See me afterwards if you’d like to talk more about your question.”

Bottom line: Stay focused on why you’re there and what your goal is; don’t allow anyone to replace your goal with theirs. Got it?

FREAKING GOLD, ANDY — GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD GOLD! I should a started with you! Can’t thank you enough!

I have to tell you…That reply sorta made my day.
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Hi Andy,

My district has for years “offered”—insisted on, actually—district boards of review for the Star and Life ranks. I’ve done some reading, and this seems to directly contradict the GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT, which states that all boards of review before Eagle should be done at the unit level.

I understand that this originally may have been done with good intentions, perhaps to assist committees that may not have had enough members handy to run a review, or to help Scouts feel more at ease when they have to go to the district level for their Eagle project or their Eagle board of review. But unfortunately, this has become a cumbersome and unpopular addition to what Scouts already need to do in order to advance in rank. Many of the troops in our district—including mine—conduct their own reviews for their Scouts, so that these district reviews become redundant—effectively Scouts are subject to two reviews for their ranks from Tenderfoot through Life ranks.

Moreover, since the district reviews aren’t as frequent as troop reviews, Scouts are getting delayed in their opportunities to work toward their next ranks.

I’ve reached out to our council staff about this issue, including our Field Director and Scout Executive, but these two don’t seem to have any inclination to correct this. Where do I go, now, to get this fixed? (Scout-oriented Scoutmaster)

You’re right. Boards of review for all ranks from Tenderfoot through Life are to be conducted at the unit level. A council (but not an individual district) is allowed to deviate from this only for Eagle.

This is described—including the reasons why this is so—in detail in Section 8 “Boards of Review: An Overview for All Ranks” of the BSA GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT.

This means that you’re in a renegade district. If this were merely an artifice based on simply a false sense of self-importance, we probably wouldn’t worry too much about these district jerks. But, thanks to the double-reviews and unnecessary delays these chest-puffers are inflicting on Scouts, they’re actually damaging their advancement “careers.” Shame on them.

Have you spoken with your council’s advancement chair? It strikes me that this may be your best resource. Please do this—best with others who feel as you do—and bring the GTE with you! (Let me know what happens. If further escalation is needed, I may be able to help you.)

Bottom line: This is a bloody travesty!
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Hi Andy,

On transgender Scouts… We have a Scout in our troop who identifies as a boy. The guidance on this from the BSA National Office—which we checked with directly—is simple and specific: This Scout is to be treated in all ways, including his sleeping arrangements, as a young man. No female leader is needed. (Connie, Michigan Crossroads Council)

Thanks! That’s excellent information for us all to have!
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Hi Andy,

One of the troops I serve as commissioner has had episodic disciplinary issues within it (who hasn’t?). For years, they’ve had a written policy on discipline, and they’re presently at work revising it.

The proposed new policy has a four-tier escalating framework for addressing issues:
First: Patrol Leader
Second: Senior Patrol Leader
Third: Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster(s)
Fourth: “Troop Discipline Committee.”

The details discuss the various types of issues, the process for dealing with them, and the potential consequences (definitely not “punishment”!).

They intend to make clear to everyone that this is not something invented by “someone” in a back room, so the process will begin with presenting BSA policy and then explain how the troop’s policy is to implement the BSA policy.

I’m currently assisting them with drafts, so I’m wondering if there are any “best practice” troop policies available. (Mitch Erickson, Commissioner, Patriots’ Path Council, NJ)

On 9/11, when all aircraft flying over or about to enter America had to be grounded, the ATCs across the country took immediate action and together made it happen virtually seamlessly. This is despite the fact that there was absolutely no written procedure for this!

Later, when the FAA reviewed the ATC’s actions on that fateful day, with an eye toward creating a procedure that could be used should something like this ever—God forbid!—be needed to be done again.

They didn’t do it. They created no special “manual” or procedure. They wisely concluded that all a written procedure would do is require—on the spot—every ATC to find it and read it again, before employing it, and by then it would be too late!

I happen feel the same way about the kind of “guide” and “step-wise” procedure this troop is contemplating. Apparently, so does the BSA. The two volumes of the BSA’s TROOP LEADER GUIDEBOOK contain a total of 368 pages; this guidebook has a couple of paragraphs on various pages but, if you add it all up, it’s less than a single page on the combined subjects of “discipline” and “consequences.” That’s an important observation all by itself! Fundamentally, it tells us folks “in the trenches” how much time we should devote to “discipline and consequences” compared to the joy of guiding a bunch of enthusiastic young people!

So what “creds” do I have, to spout off about there being no need for a handbook-on-discipline? It goes all the way back to when I was a Scout and then a Patrol Leader and then a Senior Patrol Leader. I’ll tell you that not once did I ever have to seek the wisdom of an adult in handling a patrol member who got himself a little bit off-center, or—as Senior Patrol Leader—helping a Patrol Leader with a Scout who needed a place to put his energy.

I sure learned from adults, though! But don’t misunderstand me…I learned what NOT to do from adults…

Danny, a Scout in my patrol, was deaf in one ear. We in the patrol all knew this. But our Scoutmaster didn’t. Instead, he was constantly getting on Danny’s case for not looking him “straight in the eye.” That’s right. Danny tilted his head to one side so he could better hear you. Duh!

Or Billy, who couldn’t find his buddy quickly enough at a summer camp general swim’s “buddy-check.” The Waterfront Director “docked” Billy for the rest of the week—He wasn’t allowed in or near the waterfront for the next six days. Never mind that Billy (like the rest of us) was an inner city kid and this was his one and only time in the whole year he could go swimming. And so much for his wanting to earn Swimming and Rowing merit badges at camp!

(There are more, but you get the point…)

So my best recommendation to you is simple: Convince those well-meaning but misguided adults to throw out that book and start doing what Baden-Powell did when he was Scoutmaster… Look for the good in every youth, and bring it out. Yes, it’s really that simple.

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.)

Although these columns are copyrighted, any reader has my permission to quote or reproduce any columns or column parts so long as you attribute authorship: “Ask Andy” by Andy McCommish.

[No. 628 – 2/11/2020 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2020]