Requesting a BOR - Protocol

[PaulSWolf]

We had a problem with one of the people thinking a scout should not get a BOR until he served out his full time "6 months" at his present rank. A BOR can happen at any time before there 6 months is up. It doesn't have to be the last thing he does in the requirements for the next rank unless it is a EBOR.

That's NOT correct. Since the date of advancement is the date of the Board of Review, ALL requirements (including the tenure items) must be complete before the Board of Review may be held. You can't hold the BoR and say, "This will take effect next month."

OTOH, The SM Conference can be held before the tenure items are complete. That may be what you were thinking of.

[Nuts4Scouts]

A BOR can happen at any time before there 6 months is up. It doesn't have to be the last thing he does in the requirements for the next rank

If the BOR is for advancement purposes it definately does have to be the last thing a Scout does.


However, a BOR can be held for other purposes. From the BSA BOR training -

The issues addressed can be about the Scout or the troop. The board of review is a chance for the troop committee or other adults in the community to get a sense of how the troop is doing and to permit them to offer support where needed.

and

Some reasons to have a board of review may include a Scout's lack of advancement, perceived trouble in the troop, or a certain event at the last campout or troop meeting. Ideally, a Scout should sit for a board of review every six months, whether he is advancing or not.

[Fibonacci]

I hope that what we are doing is reasonable.

42 Scouts in Troop; 39 active

Scout asks SM for a conference. (SM will not grant a request from a parent.) After the SM Conf, the SM walks the Scout over to me (Advancement Chair) and coaches the Scout through the process of asking for a Board of Review. "Mrs Advancement, I would like to request a Board of Review for Tenderfoot Rank." By the time the boys are getting 1st Class, they know the routine & walk across the room to ask me, or send me an e-mail the next day.

As Adv Chair, I contact the trained members of our Troop Committee and set up the Board. Almost all Boards are held in the 20 minutes before a troop meeting, preferably the next meeting being held. I provide a TroopMaster Board of Review form and some suggested appropriate rank questions. I try to serve on most Boards, but as a woman, I work hard to get at least one man on every Board.

We do not have regularly scheduled Boards on the troop calendar, but only rarely does a boy have to wait more than two weeks for a Board. (The three Courts of Honor are on the calendar ~ we get a flurry of activity in the weeks before CoH.) We had 43 Boards last year and 20 so far this year. Thirteen Scouts are Life or Eagle, so they aren't requesting Boards very often anymore.

We have just recently begun having something like a BoR for Scouts who aren't advancing. A member of the Advancement Committee contacts the Scout, just to have a supportive conversation. But it isn't a regular BoR ~ just a conversation (that gets reported back to the Committee.)

[Mrw]

We do our non-advancing scouts the same way

Just a committee member or ASM talking with them to see what is going on, or if they need something they haven't asked for.

[lifescoutforlife]

We had a problem with one of the people thinking a scout should not get a BOR until he served out his full time "6 months" at his present rank. A BOR can happen at any time before there 6 months is up. It doesn't have to be the last thing he does in the requirements for the next rank unless it is a EBOR.

That's NOT correct. Since the date of advancement is the date of the Board of Review, ALL requirements (including the tenure items) must be complete before the Board of Review may be held. You can't hold the BoR and say, "This will take effect next month."

OTOH, The SM Conference can be held before the tenure items are complete. That may be what you were thinking of.

I need some help on this one.

1.Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 6 months as a Star Scout.
2.Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
3.Earn 5 more merit badges (so that you have 11 in all), including any 3 more from the required list for Eagle.
___________________________________(required for Eagle)*
___________________________________(required for Eagle)*
___________________________________(required for Eagle)*
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
4.While a Star Scout, take part in service projects totaling at least 6 hours of work. These projects must be approved by your Scoutmaster.
5.While a Star Scout, serve actively 6 months in one or more of the positions of responsibility listed in requirement 5 for Star Scout (or carry out a Scoutmaster-assigned leadership project to help the troop).
6.Take part in a Scoutmaster conference
7.Complete your board of review.


I do not see were it says do # 1 before # 7.
Can't you date the BOR #7 requirement be before the date of # 1 ? then the boy gets his rank on the day his 6 months are up?

[evmori]

We had a problem with one of the people thinking a scout should not get a BOR until he served out his full time "6 months" at his present rank. A BOR can happen at any time before there 6 months is up. It doesn't have to be the last thing he does in the requirements for the next rank unless it is a EBOR.

That's NOT correct. Since the date of advancement is the date of the Board of Review, ALL requirements (including the tenure items) must be complete before the Board of Review may be held. You can't hold the BoR and say, "This will take effect next month."

OTOH, The SM Conference can be held before the tenure items are complete. That may be what you were thinking of.

I need some help on this one.

1.Be active in your troop and patrol for at least 6 months as a Star Scout.
2.Demonstrate Scout spirit by living the Scout Oath (Promise) and Scout Law in your everyday life.
3.Earn 5 more merit badges (so that you have 11 in all), including any 3 more from the required list for Eagle.
___________________________________(required for Eagle)*
___________________________________(required for Eagle)*
___________________________________(required for Eagle)*
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
4.While a Star Scout, take part in service projects totaling at least 6 hours of work. These projects must be approved by your Scoutmaster.
5.While a Star Scout, serve actively 6 months in one or more of the positions of responsibility listed in requirement 5 for Star Scout (or carry out a Scoutmaster-assigned leadership project to help the troop).
6.Take part in a Scoutmaster conference
7.Complete your board of review.


I do not see were it says do # 1 before # 7.
Can't you date the BOR #7 requirement be before the date of # 1 ? then the boy gets his rank on the day his 6 months are up?

1 through 6 must be completed prior to 7. Makes no difference in what order but 7 must be last. The purpose of a BOR for advancement is to determine if a Scout has met all the requirements for rank. If the Scout still has 4 months left to serve in his POR, he has not met all the requirement for rank.

[lifescoutforlife]

Thanks evmori for the imformation, I guess #1 does have to be completed before #7 even if it is only a day or 2 difference.
Thanks!

[Fibonacci]

The TroopMaster software will not allow me to enter the Board of Review date if it is earlier than any one of the other requirements. I can enter dates that are the same (i.e. ~ SM Conf & BoR can be the same date.)

[optimist]

Four Steps of Advancement.

3. The Boy Scout is reviewed. After a Scout has completed all requirements for a rank, he has a board of review.

Pretty straightforward.

[WVBeaver05]

I am less concerned about who asks for a BOR than some other stuff. (Like merit badges!)

We have a quite small Troop and don't schedule the BORs. We normally have enought Committee Members present (at least at the end of the meeting). Our typical sequence is that when a Scout has finished all but the Scout Spirit, SM Conference, and BOR I meet with them for the conference and discuss/sign the first two as appropriate. Part of my discussion is to explain the BOR process. This discussion gets shorter as they progress through the ranks as they will have been through them already.

At the end of the SM Conference, if they say they are ready for the BOR, I send the Scout back to the Troop activity and notify the Advancement Chair who is almost always at the meeting. If there are enough members she will advise the Scout that the BOR is ready. Other times, we wait a little while or call another Committee Member to stop by before the end of the meeting. In over 90% of the cases, we are able to do the BOR that day.

When scheduling has been difficult, we have done other things. We once scheduled a BOR in the middle of an Eagle Project because the appropriate people were going to be there and we needed to get it before the COH the next week.

Again, the protocol of who asks is not a significant part of this for me / our Troop.

YiS

[Lynda J]

I sure do love our Troop. We are small and work together so well. When a boy has his SMC our SM will tell the CC that Johnnie is ready for BOR. Then she normally ask Johnnie is next week will work for him to his BOR.

I am sorry but if a CC is restricting BOR's to every 3 months that person is in fact restricting Advancement in the Troop. And for a CC to do that is wrong and hurtful not only to the Scout but in the long run to the Troop. Sounds like a control freek to me.
A boy should know that when he works hard to complete requirements that he does not have to wait more than a week or two to be awarded the next rank.

[mhjacobson]

Seems to be a disconnect here -- as the advancement chair, I am tracking all of the advancement in the troop. I am aware of where a scout is in terms of advancement, and I am present at the meeting (and activities) where there will be a SMC. As long as there are sufficient CM present (and there are usually) at the meeting/activity, we can hold a BOR immediately following the SMC.

BTW, I usually have some badges in my case so that as soon as the scout completes his BOR, we can present him with his badge of rank. We give the scout his pocket card, mother's pin and a 8 x 1/2 rang certificate at the COH -- no sanse making him wait weeks for his being able to wear his badge.

[WVBeaver05]

Seems to be a disconnect here -- as the advancement chair, I am tracking all of the advancement in the troop. I am aware of where a scout is in terms of advancement, and I am present at the meeting (and activities) where there will be a SMC. As long as there are sufficient CM present (and there are usually) at the meeting/activity, we can hold a BOR immediately following the SMC.

BTW, I usually have some badges in my case so that as soon as the scout completes his BOR, we can present him with his badge of rank. We give the scout his pocket card, mother's pin and a 8 x 1/2 rang certificate at the COH -- no sanse making him wait weeks for his being able to wear his badge.

That's just what we do as well (including the Advancement Chair usually having the patch right then). In probably 80+% of the cases we can get the SMC, BOR, and patch presentation the same night.

But not all Troops do it that way. Just got back from summer camp where I had a discussion with a Life Scout wearing a First Class rank badge. His Troop does not present the patches until a COH and they have 2 a year. I don't agree with that and from what I read in the manuals it is WRONG!!

YiS

[scoutaholic]

That's just what we do as well (including the Advancement Chair usually having the patch right then). In probably 80+% of the cases we can get the SMC, BOR, and patch presentation the same night.
But not all Troops do it that way. Just got back from summer camp where I had a discussion with a Life Scout wearing a First Class rank badge. His Troop does not present the patches until a COH and they have 2 a year. :evil: I don't agree with that and from what I read in the manuals it is WRONG!!
YiS

We often have the SMC and BOR in the same night. In most cases it is a few weeks before our COH, when I (SM) am preparing for the COH and see that several need SMC and BOR for their next ranks. Many of the boys don't seem to think of doing that part until I chase them into it.

In our council, you have to have signed advancement forms in order to buy MBs and Rank Badges. They have set it up so we can't present the badge the night of the BOR even if we wanted to. It is generally expected that the boy will wait to receive the patch at the COH. I've heard of scouts in other areas getting the patch the night they earn it, but I've NEVER seen it happen that way.

[WVBeaver05]

Our Council also requires the advancement form to get the patch -- however, it wasn't always that way. So, if an advancement person had 1 patch on hand when the rule went into effect, they can still hand the patch out right away and continue to have one on hand. The cases where you have multiple advancements the same week or didn't have one mean you have to wait until the next week to present the patch.

Since we have 2, sometimes 3 COH per year, waiting until then doesn't seem much like recognizing ASAP. And in the case of the Scout I was talking to, they were hoping to have 1 COH this year, but might not.

I have just come back from Summer Camp and NYLT two weeks before, so I don't have my books handy, but I'm pretty sure they suggest giving the patch as quickly as possible and recognizing again at the COH with the card, etc.

YiS

[Mrw]

We announce advancements the night they happen. We need to turn in the advancement for to buy the badges (although they don't really check that you are buying just what is on the form).

This means the boys may wait a couple weeks to get their badges, but never more than a month.

They get the badges and wallet card together as I staple them to make sure they all get to the correct place, especially if the boy is not at the meeting when the badges arrive.

We have 2-3 COH a year and each boy is again publicly and individually called up and recognized for his accomplishments sine the last COH

[joat]

My son would be very upset if someone poked 2 holes through his rank card before he even received it.

[Mrw]

My son would be very upset if someone poked 2 holes through his rank card before he even received it.

I haven't ever had a request to not staple them or to replace a rank card that was damaged in any way. The cub pack we came from also stapled or pinned the awards on the cards.

If there was a boy who was bothered by this, I would be glad to furnish him with new cards as keepsakes.

[Fibonacci]

I staple the rank badge (if it hasn't already been presented) to a 3 x 5 card with the Scout's name. I use a paper clip to attach the rank card. I poke the Mother's Pin through the 3x5 card.

We have 3 regularly scheduled Courts of Honor per year. I "inheireted" a box full of rank patches and merit badges from my Advancement Chair predecessor. I returned the merit badges for store credit, but have cycled through all the rank patches as someone else described. (Give Cody the Star patch I have, then buy another Star patch with the Advancement Record when I next go to the Scout Shop.)

[Lynda J]

We staple ours at the very top also. It isn't an issue since when Kevin puts him in his binder he staples them into the card holder so they can't fall out.