Leadership Positions

[Legitfire]

There is a Star Scout in our Troop who has met his Life Scout leadership requirement as Chaplain's Aide. Our Scoutmaster and he have discussed it and would like to have him serve as Chaplain's Aide again for his Eagle leadership requirement. Our Advancement Chair has said that there is a BSA rule against repeating a position to fulfill the leadership requirements for two different ranks. I can find no such rule in Scouting.org. Has anyone heard of this one way or another?

Thanks for your help.

[cdwscout]

This is not a rule. If the scout has done a good job as Chaplain's Aide, there is no reason he can't repeat it.

However, some boards will be happier with a scout who has done something different for the Eagle, or something that requires more leadership like PL, SPL, ASPL, TG, etc. But, this is not a rule, just some scouter's preference.

[kwildman]

I would not concern myself with the Board's happiness...if the scout meets the requirements then they should be happy. I find it a true blessing when we have a scout that really embraces the position of Chaplains Aide.

[FrankJ]

SM & SPL should be running the troop. Advancement chair should be more of a book keeper & making sure official policies are followed. The place to look for rules is in the current advancement requirement hand book. Everywhere else is just opinion as wise as it might be.

If the scout is allowed an eagle POR during his life tenure, it is not for anyone to say he cannot use it for rank requirement. If the committee is concerned that there is not enough rigor or expectations in POR, they need to work that out with the scoutmaster. In a well functioning troop, that should be an easy conversation.

If the SM feels the scout would benefit from a different POR now is the time for him to work it out with the scout.

[RWSmith]

This Advancement Chair/Coordinator is wrong.

Our Advancement Chair has said that there is a BSA rule against repeating a position to fulfill the leadership requirements for two different ranks.

There is no rule about repeating a POR for Star/Life/Eagle. I looked up the Guide to Advancement #33088 to get my answer. I think it would be a good idea to give this person a copy. Here is a link to the current version: http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf

I had a copy of the older version and did it several times during my tenure as a Scoutmaster in my Troop. My Troop Committee would interpret something incorrectly and I had to pull it out to tell them that they were wrong. I did not win any friends but I did not want to see any one of my Scouts get screwed.

[smtroop168]

Our Scoutmaster and he have discussed it and would like to have him serve as Chaplain's Aide again for his Eagle leadership requirement.

Kinda answered your own question except that the Chaplain's Aide position is assigned by the SPL, not the SM. The SPL and troop may need this scout to serve in a different position to help the troop. There is no rule against serving in the same POR for S/L/E but I personally think it's a good idea for scouts to try different PORs.