{"id":2247,"date":"2017-10-10T18:18:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T22:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=2247"},"modified":"2017-10-10T18:18:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T22:18:15","slug":"issue-546-october-10-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2017\/10\/issue-546-october-10-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 546 \u2013 October 10, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

________________________________________
\nDo YOU subscribe to the BSA\u2019s \u201cADVANCEMENT NEWS\u201d? This isn\u2019t a \u201cblog\u201d\u2014it\u2019s a newsletter published about ten times a year that you can subscribe to. Each article is written by an advancement expert and vetted by the BSA National Advancement Team. As a true newsletter, it brings you up-to-the-minute information on advancement happenings as well as advancement insights for youth, their units, districts, and council-level too. Your name definitely won\u2019t get \u201csold\u201d to people planning to inundate you with spam; you\u2019ll simply get one email message a month that contains the link to the latest issue. Subscribing is simple: Just send a message to advancement.team@scouting.org, with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and include your name, email address, and council in the message text. You\u2019ll be glad you did!<\/strong><\/em>
\n==========
\nHi Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

My son is now a Life Scout and he\u2019s just completed his service project for Eagle, including the \u201cProject Report\u201d section, with signatures, of his ESSP Workbook. As a volunteer for our council (not at the unit or district level) I\u2019ve heard through the \u201cgrapevine\u201d that our home district\u2019s advancement committee, which conducts all boards of review for Eagles, expects to see all three parts of the Workbook completed: The Project Proposal, Project Plan, and Project Report.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read through the entire Workbook plus Topic 9.0.2.0\u2014The Eagle Scout Service Project\u2014of the GUIDE TO ADVANCEMENT (2017 Edition) on my own and found the following information in these two resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Project Plan form is a tool for your use. No one approves it\u2026 Your project plan can also be important in showing your Eagle Scout board of review that you have planned and developed your project as required.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEagle Scout projects must be evaluated primarily on impact\u2026reviewers must not require more planning and development than necessary to execute the project. These elements must not overshadow the project itself, as long as the effort was well led, and resulted in an otherwise worthy outcome acceptable to the beneficiary.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the use of the workbook is required, this does not mean that every line or even every form must be completed\u2026Scouts should fully complete the proposal and (the) project report, and be strongly encouraged to complete the project plan. However, (completing the project plan) may\u2026just not be necessary for establishing that (requirement 5) was met.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although my hands-on involvement was minimal (I had minimal involvement with the project itself\u2014my son was in charge and did a great job by himself!), I was often a sounding-board for my son, and so I have a pretty fair knowledge of what his project was all about, who his beneficiary was (our family church), and what other aspects looked like.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because this project was on an extremely tight time-line based on the beneficiary\u2019s schedule and deadline, for my son to have laid out an entire work plan would have ultimately caused the project completion date to occur after the deadline\u2014which just couldn\u2019t be allowed to happen. Moreover, although some \u201cbuilding\u201d was involved, the beneficiary was supplying all materials, tools, and personal safety gear; moreover, no power tools were needed at all. Consequently, my son and his helpers showed up on back-to-back Saturday mornings and knocked out the project without a hitch or hiccup.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But now, on learning that our district\u2019s sort of \u201cEagle board of review subcommittee\u201d has actually dinged past Scouts if the project plan isn\u2019t completed \u201cto their satisfaction.\u201d While they\u2019ve never \u201cfailed\u201d a Scout, or so I\u2019m told, they\u2019ve apparently made any number of Scouts feel personally inadequate when they take these Scouts to task for not completing a form or section that\u2019s\u2014as I read the BSA\u2019s words\u2014optional (yes, \u201cstrongly encouraged,\u201d but ultimately not mandatory).<\/strong><\/p>\n

If this group of Scouters is actually doing this, isn\u2019t this in the taboo category of \u201cadding to a requirement\u201d? (Name & Council Withheld)<\/strong><\/p>\n

You bet it is! By demanding that Scouts do something that isn\u2019t required of them, these people are definitely in violation of the BSA\u2019s most fundamental principle of Scout advancement.<\/p>\n

I can only hope that any council advancement chairs reading this will check out each of their districts, to be sure this sort of unfair (and unauthorized) practice\u2014if it exists anywhere\u2014will be instantly stopped.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the larger question here is what to do\u2026and my suggestion is save your son first and foremost before you decide that this issue may be a hill you\u2019re willing to die on (figure of speech only).<\/p>\n

For your son, I\u2019d suggest to him that in the very first fillable block in the Project Plan section, he simply add\u2014in his own words\u2014that one sentence you just wrote, about the beneficiary\u2019s deadline and willingness to provide all materials, etc. That\u2019s step one.<\/p>\n

Step two is based on the BSA\u2019s allowance for your son\u2019s Scoutmaster to attend the board of review (which your district advancement committee can\u2019t refuse, even under the guise of \u201cthat\u2019s not how we do things here\u201d). Have a sit-down with his Scoutmaster, describe to him what you\u2019ve just told me, and ask him to be in attendance as an observer. This way, if there\u2019s any sign of misconduct by the reviewers, he can immediately speak to the chair and ask for a \u201ctime out\u201d in which this nonsense can be stopped\u2014at least for your son. Under these circumstances, I can\u2019t see how any right-thinking, Scout-supporting Scoutmaster would refuse, or any chair of a board of review wouldn\u2019t step up and cut this nonsense out, on the spot.<\/p>\n

Finally, decide whether or not you want to make this a \u201ccrusade\u201d for the sake of all future Eagle Scouts in your district\u2014and maybe beyond. If you do, I suggest you might want to start with your district\u2019s staff advisor to this committee, or with the council\u2019s advancement chair and staff advisor.<\/p>\n

Thanks for being willing to do the right research and to write about a significant but unfortunately not completely unique situation!
\n==========
\nHi Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just come across this statement by the BSA: \u201cEffective for the 2018 BSA summer camps season, any adult accompanying a Boy Scout troop to a residence camp or other Scouting activity lasting 72 hours or more must be registered as a leader, including completion of a CBC and YPT, even if they are a parent of a youth on the trip. Please note: Although YPT is strongly encouraged for adults attending any overnight activity, at this time the requirement applies only to individual adults staying three or more nights at a resident camp.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what is a leader? Do committee members meet the definition of \u201cleader,\u201d even though they may have no direct contact with Scouts except at summer camp? (We had a minor issue with some adults not behaving in a Scout-like manner last year at camp, and I\u2019m thinking of requiring all summer camp-attending adults to get a little more familiar with the Boy Scout program. Some of it was dads trying to do too much for their sons, plus a bit of un-adult-like behavior. Not always a bad thing, but we have to remember that the Scouts’ eyes are always on us.) Do you see a problem with requiring adults to take some additional training to get better oriented with the program? (Jeff Giacomi, SM, Orange County Council, CA)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The statement you’ve highlighted is perfectly clear: ANY ADULT must be registered as a BSA adult volunteer and must have taken the specified training required if he or she is to be accompanying Scouts at a residence camp or other outdoor activity that lasts 72 hours (3 days) or more.<\/p>\n

The required YPT (Youth Protection Training) and the required CBC (Criminal Background Check) both will take place when the adult volunteer registers as such with the BSA. \u201cPosition-specific training” isn\u2019t required in order to accompany Scouts at the resident camp or a campout extending to 72 hours (3 days) or more.<\/p>\n

That said, Scoutmaster\/ASM position-specific training for all adults spending extended time providing oversight for a troop of Scouts is always a good idea, because, along with solid information on how a troop is organized and supposed to be run, it will provide insights on how adults are to conduct themselves (as well as what sorts of stuff to not do) with boys of Scout age. So I\u2019d say the more you can do to encourage additional training\u2014even if it\u2019s an \u201corientation session\u201d that you, as Scoutmaster run prior to longer-term trips and summer camp\u2014will go a long way toward everyone enjoying the maximum positive experience possible!<\/p>\n

Happy Scouting!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andy<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Just to me at: askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you\u2019d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

[No. 546 \u2013 10\/10\/2017 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2017]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

________________________________________ Do YOU subscribe to the BSA\u2019s \u201cADVANCEMENT NEWS\u201d? This isn\u2019t a \u201cblog\u201d\u2014it\u2019s a newsletter published about ten times a year that you can subscribe to. Each article is written by an advancement expert and vetted by the BSA National Advancement Team. As a true newsletter, it brings you up-to-the-minute information on advancement happenings as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2250,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions\/2250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}