Eagle Board Situation

[agdparker]

In our District, I handle the Eagle project approvals and boards for a few cities within the district. I've been doing this for a little over a year and I've really enjoyed it. This weekend I got a call from one of the units in my area asking about a very specific situation that I don't feel like I have a really good option to give to him. A Scout earned his Life on 2/9/14 and is on track to be ready for an Eagle board on 8/9/14. Unfortunately, the family is moving to England on 8/7/14! I had a discussion with our District Advancement Chair this morning and he said he would go ahead and do the board a few days early. I've been researching other options as well.

I wanted to see if there were any options besides what I've come up with so far:

• Hold the board a few days early
• Hold a board via Skype (not sure if this is even allowed)
• Lone Scout program
• International troop based in England (US Military base, maybe?)

I was thinking that if we went the route of doing it early, we may want to have a letter of explanation attached to the National paperwork that is signed by the District (and maybe council) Advancement Chair.

I'd appreciate any ideas, options, etc.

[FrankJ]

Personally I would hold the board a few days early. If dates are an issue, reconvene via skype after the critical date & have a short recap then use that date for the paper work. Or even an email exchange to the same effect. Or reconvene the board with the scout in absentia (not there). I think some of this is checked by computer so dates might be an issue.

We have had a phone EBOR for a scout at boarding school. That is much the same as skype.

[Quailman]

Have them double-check the date of the Life BOR. There's a good chance they entered the wrong date and that it was actually a week earlier.

Okay, that was wrong. I don't have anything that could help.

[E V Augustine]

Have them double-check the date of the Life BOR. There's a good chance they entered the wrong date and that it was actually a week earlier.

Okay, that was wrong. I don't have anything that could help.

That circumstance happens more frequently than one would think.

[jr56]

I think the best solution, is like was stated earlier, have the board of review a few days before the 7th, and then do a brief "revisit", or "wrap up" via skype on the 9th, and submit that as the offical date of the BOR.

[Bill Pitcher]

Why not call the National BSA Advancement team for advice? I'll bet they say "hold the EBoR early" and then submit the paperwork a week later with the proper date on it, or with a letter of explination. They are pretty cooperative down there! Good luck.

[scoutaholic]

If the boy was on track to finish as dated in the original post, my comments won't matter any more, but I'll give them anyway.

As suggested by others, I would plan to hold the EBOR a few days before he leaves, and then work out a way to reconvene briefly to sign the papers on the correct date. If doing the EBOR early, it may take some forethought and planning. In my council, the council advancement department approves the Eagle paperwork before the EBOR is held. After they have approved it, they send it to the district Advancement Chairman so that he/she can schedule the EBOR. With some explanation, I suspect they could work out a way to get the paperwork approved at the council level and ready for the EBOR before the official qualification date.

However, if the boy is going longer on his schedule than planned, keeping him registered and working on finishing from overseas would make things very difficult. In this case, I would encourage him to get registered with an international BSA troop to finish up. What he has done here can be documented well enough that it can be finished there.

[agdparker]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. After discussions with the District Advancement Chair, we did decide to go with the early board while he was still here and then meet together later. We'll be submitting the paperwork soon, so I appreciate the help!

[jr56]

Sounds like a great solution. Glad it worked out.