Serve for 4 months, 6 months, 6 months...

[Greg]

With the Star, Life, and Eagle ranks you have to serve actively for 4 months, 6 months, 6 months respectively. Well, what exactly defines these months I have wondered...

Would April to October be 6 months or would you have to be more specific and say April 3rd to October 3rd?

I have been wondering this for some time.

[wagionvigil]

Time starts when you Have your BOR for the previous rank.

[ASM-142]

It would be from the date that the BOR is signed off. For example if the BOR was on April 3 then the six months would be October 3

[Quailman]

With the Star, Life, and Eagle ranks you have to serve actively for 4 months, 6 months, 6 months respectively...

The Star requirement about "serving actively" states:

While a First Class Scout, serve actively 4 months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility...

If you have a PoR at the time of your BOR then the clock would start and keep ticking. Otherwise it starts the day you take over a PoR.

[scoutaholic]

With the Star, Life, and Eagle ranks you have to serve actively for 4 months, 6 months, 6 months respectively...

The Star requirement about "serving actively" states:

While a First Class Scout, serve actively 4 months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility...

If you have a PoR at the time of your BOR then the clock would start and keep ticking. Otherwise it starts the day you take over a PoR.

Actually there are two requirements that each require 4 months.
One is to actively participate as a member of the troop. That one starts as soon as you pass the 1st Class BOR.
The other time requirement is for a position of responsibility. That one starts the day of BOR if you are already serving in the position, otherwise, it starts when to assume the position.

[AquilaNegra2]

Question. Our troop does BORs nine or ten times a year. We have a Scout working on his Eagle palms who will have served 90 days for his next palm. It is, however, two calendar days short of "3 months". The BOR was changed for a Committee Member's convenience from a Thursday to a Tuesday - shorting him his planned two days. Would you make this Scout wait for the next BOR (two months afterward), or count the "months" rather than the days?

Would it make a difference if it was the time in service for Star or Life? Does it make a difference that the BOR was changed? Does it matter why?

Looking for some guidance.

[wagionvigil]

Why penalize a kid for 2 days especially to accomadate an adult.

[PaulSWolf]

It must be no earlier than the same DATE in the month (i.e. if the last BoR was on 8/6/2009, this one must be no earlier than 11/6/2009)

My suggestion would be to hold another BoR the following week. A 2 month delay is unreasonable. They should be held ASAP after a Scout has completed the requirements for a rank, not on a fixed inflexible schedule.

[ronin718]

Question. Our troop does BORs nine or ten times a year. We have a Scout working on his Eagle palms who will have served 90 days for his next palm. It is, however, two calendar days short of "3 months". The BOR was changed for a Committee Member's convenience from a Thursday to a Tuesday - shorting him his planned two days. Would you make this Scout wait for the next BOR (two months afterward), or count the "months" rather than the days?

Would it make a difference if it was the time in service for Star or Life? Does it make a difference that the BOR was changed? Does it matter why?

Looking for some guidance.

That's why I like the way our troop does it. We don't have set dates for SMCs and BoRs. The boy simply goes to the SM and CC and says he wants his SMC/BoR. The only time this changes is when we get close to a CoH. With 120 boys in the troop, this gets a little crazy, so the SM and CC have sign-up sheets for the boys to put their names on. Then they're taken in order. We even have BoR teams available at CoH time to move the process along.

[evmori]

Why penalize a kid for 2 days especially to accomadate an adult.

Great question! We had BOR's as needed.

[ThunderingWind]

Why penalize a kid for 2 days especially to accomadate an adult.

Understood...However, the date on the paperwork will need to be the full time period otherwise the ScoutNet system will bounce it when the Council Registrar updates the Scouts records.

Personally, since the reason to move the board is to accomdate an adults schedule, if the boy can be there, give the BoR and date the papwerwork for the "original" board.

[smtroop168]

It must be no earlier than the same DATE in the month (i.e. if the last BoR was on 8/6/2009, this one must be no earlier than 11/6/2009)

My suggestion would be to hold another BoR the following week. A 2 month delay is unreasonable. They should be held ASAP after a Scout has completed the requirements for a rank, not on a fixed inflexible schedule.

The requirement is 3 months (used to be 6) not 90 days. This is how Troopmaster calculates it. sometimes it's 93 days (say 5/1-8/1).

Why penalize a kid for 2 days especially to accomadate an adult.

Not sure if you're saying...give him the 2 days even if he doesn't meet the requirement or have a BOR when he's ready and not delay it until the next cycle.

[wagionvigil]

I would not change the BOR date to accomadate an adult I would find another adult. WE sometimes had BOR's every meeting.

[smtroop168]

I would not change the BOR date to accomadate an adult I would find another adult. WE sometimes had BOR's every meeting.

Exactly...if he has 120 members in his troop, surely there is another committee member who could serve.

[evmori]

I would not change the BOR date to accomadate an adult I would find another adult. WE sometimes had BOR's every meeting.

Exactly...if he has 120 members in his troop, surely there is another committee member who could serve.

BOR's should be done on an as needed basis not on a schedule to accommodate the adults.

[kwildman]

we typically will coordinate a BOR as needed for each scout for their TF and 2nd Class reviews. After they do their 1st class SM conference we tell them that they know who is on the TC and that they need to be responsible for asking 3 of them to do a BOR. Very rare if you cant find 3 TC members to sit on a BOR after a meeting.

[smtroop168]

we typically will coordinate a BOR as needed for each scout for their TF and 2nd Class reviews. After they do their 1st class SM conference we tell them that they know who is on the TC and that they need to be responsible for asking 3 of them to do a BOR. Very rare if you cant find 3 TC members to sit on a BOR after a meeting.

Scouts should not have any input on who the members of their BORs are. It is strictly prohibited for Eagle BORs in the ACP #33088 but I don't think it addresses it for lower BORs but I don't have my copy handy.

[kwildman]

we typically will coordinate a BOR as needed for each scout for their TF and 2nd Class reviews. After they do their 1st class SM conference we tell them that they know who is on the TC and that they need to be responsible for asking 3 of them to do a BOR. Very rare if you cant find 3 TC members to sit on a BOR after a meeting.

Scouts should not have any input on who the members of their BORs are. It is strictly prohibited for Eagle BORs in the ACP #33088 but I don't think it addresses it for lower BORs but I don't have my copy handy.

The BOR requires a minimum of three TC members. All of our TC members have been trained on how to conduct the BOR. Relatives are not allowed to serve on the BOR. The scouts have to pick from the same pool of people as the SM or the Adv. Chair. Our rationale is that as the scouts advance to first class they need to take more responsibility in their advancement and they also need to interact with adults other than the SM/ASM. Basically, if we didn't trust the members of the TC they wouldn't be part of it. Eagle BOR is an entirely different subject.

I feel very strongly that Troops that only organize several BOR per year a doing a great disservice to the program. Scouts that work hard to meet requirements and advance should not be put in some bureaucratic holding pattern. This is extremely important as they get into the higher ranks that have specific time requirements associated with them. They cannot serve actively as a _______ scout for _____ months until they are awarded the rank. if you delay them for months between each rank you could end up costing them 6 months or more that they could have used to get eagle. Similarly, it might cost them the opportunity to be elected into the OA during the current year or make them ineligible for an office if you have rank requirements.

[smtroop168]

Our rationale is that as the scouts advance to first class they need to take more responsibility in their advancement and they also need to interact with adults other than the SM/ASM. Basically, if we didn't trust the members of the TC they wouldn't be part of it. Eagle BOR is an entirely different subject.

I don't disagree that scouts should take responsibility for their advancement but I believe that their role is to complete the requirements of rank and merit badges. However it is the Troop Committee and in the Troop Advancement Committee Person's job description to arrange BORs. Some troops use the term Board of Review Coordinator. Has nothing to do with trusting the Comm Members.

[Fibonacci]

Comment on the original topic: I had a mother get very mad at me (I'm the Adv Chair.) I insisted her son complete all the requirements before his Board of Review. He was a week short of his 6 months POR for Life. It was not a problem for anyone else to hold his board on the 6 month date (exactly), but she felt it would be more convenient if we would hold it a week early, on the 6 month date of his activitity as a member, but a week short of his Position of Responsibility. I told her that we were holding her son to the same requirements as every other Life Scout in BSA, but she said I was just being picky.

The usual procedure for all Scouts in our troop, Tenderfoot thru Life, is for the Scout to ask me for a Board of Review and to submit his book or to scan the appropriate pages & e-mail them to me (we've had a few instances where the Scout thought he was done but he actually wasn't, so now I check every book thoroughly.) Asking for the Tenderfoot Board of Review, the Scoutmaster walks over to me with the Scout and prompts him for what to say (previously practiced.) Most Scouts have it figured out by Second Class, but a few still need some help. By Star, they get it!

Then I ask trained Committee Members (I won't ask the untrained ones) to come 20 minutes early to the next meeting. This system allows Scouts to have complete ownership of their advancement, or "responsibility for their advancement" as a previous poster described.

We only have 47 Scouts right now, so this system works well for us.