Advice wanted

[u/AromaticCap4]

My son is part of the Jamboree contingent for our area. They had a Campout at the beginning of May with the new Jamboree troop. The kids were told there would be comfort stations available for them to utilize. Unbeknownst to them, the volunteer leadership decided against having the comfort stations because the troop would be responsible to clean them. The leaders did not update the boys about this change (it was decided at check in at the Scout reservation - not ahead of time). Several boys in my son's patrol went to the comfort station, found them locked and did the inappropriate thing and unlocked several with a flint and steel or rocks. My son was present and says he didn't participate but didn't stop the others either. The volunteer leader showed up, told the boys they should not have done that and the weekend progressed. On Sunday night we received a message in the Discord channel about the damage to the comfort station locks and there would be further discussion.

A week later, I received an email saying my son and a parent needed to attend a mandatory meeting to talk about the damage and reparations needed to be paid. I emailed back and said I needed pictures, needed to understand what was happening to the leadership (who weren't leading), and I wanted to understand the insurance. I was told this would all happen at the mandatory meeting.

The meeting was last night. Come to find out the Area Council leadership called most of the other parents in the Jamboree troop EXCEPT the accused kids' parents. Seriously. My son and the others was tried and convicted without being able to address his accuser(s) and discuss the situation. Is this normally how things are resolved in the Scouts? I get the boys violated the Oath and the Law and didn't act appropriately but I can imagine how this was all decided without talking to the accused. And leadership was exonerated from responsibility.

[u/OneCraftyBird]

Careful before you go in too hot -- "was there but did not participate" is the most common refrain of a kid trying to weasel out of responsibility. I am not saying he's lying...but I am saying that I wouldn't be surprised if that was the statement of every child in the vicinity of a broken lock.

Also, not for nothing, but "was there but did not participate" is incredibly un-Scoutlike and there should be consequences for not trying to stop the others and not reporting the damage immediately.

[u/sanity_is_overrated → u/OneCraftyBird]

Also, not for nothing, but "was there but did not participate" is incredibly un-Scoutlike and there should be consequences for not trying to stop the others and not reporting the damage immediately.

As an adult who as a youth was “there but did not participate” (for real), I’ve since learned that my lack of action / intervention - that was punished at the time - was not scout-like at all. It’s a tough lesson on accountability, but one that some scouts need to learn before it leads to bigger trouble.

[u/AromaticCap4 → u/OneCraftyBird]

Oh I certainly take my son's statement with a grain of salt. I am willing to pay my son's part.  He didn't stop them or get leadership so he has culpability. I am just concerned that his statement wasn't required.