Merit Badges - how's it really done

[EagleInKY 14]

Turning blue cards into council? Never heard of that around here. Not saying it hasn't been done, but I've never heard of it or done it.

[nldscout 18]

ED, and all,

Why would you sent the troops copy of the Blue card to council? Its the troop copy not thiers. Thats what the advancement report is for.

 

So what is your council going to do when they are converted to electronic reporting of advancement?

[oldsm 10]

Evmori,

 

I'm not certain if you're referring to my troop "wanting to keep everything in-house". Let me explain. It's not that we don't want Council to verify signatures. Virtually every troop in my district had BIG PROBLEMS with Council not returning the blue cards to the local units. That left the troops without their own records.

 

The problem is that the Council registration staff is way too small (only 2 people) and overworked. Checking blue cards was just another low-priority task form them that quickly snowballed into a much larger problem. The solution was for Council to not require the blue cards and rely on the district advancement committee to verify them only for that small percentage that applies for Eagle.

 

By way of example, last January I had a young man who was a candidate for Eagle. I requested a ScoutNet advancement report from Council so that I could verify Council's records against our own troop records. Council was missing 4 of his merit badges: 3 from his first summer camp and one since then. Fortunately, I had our troop copies of his properly-signed MBs and copies of the advancement reports where Council had signed that they'd received them years ago. Needless to say, they corrected their records. Now, how many boys have incorrect records in ScoutNet? And is it really necessary to correct them until it's apparent that one might make Eagle?

[Beavah 205]

I've never figured out why anyone at district or council would bother with blue cards if they got a valid advancement report. What a waste of good staff or volunteer time, eh? Most signatures are illegible, lots of troops go to out-of-council camps, few districts keep well updated MBC lists. Blech.

 

Trust da unit scouters with da patches. We're trustin' 'em with the kids after all.

 

 

[evmori 11]

Council gets their portion of the blue card along with the advancement report. Actually, they are turned in at our Scout shop in council headquarters when the merit badges are purchased. The Troop Scout section & counselor section stays with the Advancement Chairman (me).

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[GernBlansten 10]

Ed, just curious about your blue cards.

Our's have three sections, one for the Counselor's Record, one for the Applicants Record and one for the Units Record. Which one are you sending to Council with the advancement form? I've always thought blue cards were standardized across the nation.

[oldsm 10]

I agree. The BSA blue card is item 34124, which has only 3-parts.

[evmori 11]

Gern,

I don't have a blue card in front of me but the part council gets is the part the MB counselor signs.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[GernBlansten 10]

That's ok Ed, I have one right in front of me. I am to please.

The section you refer to states at the bottom "Applicant will turn in this portion to his unit leader for record posting". Now I can see how you might interpret that as Council recording, I however perceive it as Unit recording (since there is no unit record without it). Seems your council interprets it differently from my council too. Too bad there isn't a consistent procedure all councils follow. I'm a consistency freak. Its a cross I bear.

[Eamonn 61]

I'm sure many people are happy with the way they manage things.

I'm just as sure that some people are unhappy with the way it is supposed to be done.

Hopefully at the end of the day we do what is in the best interest of the Scout.

Merit Badges and that darn list were the biggest problem that I had to face as District Chairman.

 

We try in Scouting to give the Scouts we serve opportunities to do real world activities scaled down to boy size.

Having a Scout work with non-unit MB Counselors, can go a long way to teaching a Scout life skills that go far beyond the MB requirements.

Working with people he doesn't know is something that just about all of us have had to do at one time.

Phoning and making the appointment is another skill. While we of course don't want to scare the Scout, having him move out of his comfort zone isn't always a bad thing.

Adult Association is a method of Scouting done right the Scout learns to work with other adults and develops the skills needed to navigate the adult world.

I'm unsure if this can be done correctly if everything is done in house?

 

That darn list was a real pain.

Our list hadn't been updated for eons!! I tried contacting the first two names on the list and found that the people named were dead and buried.

Some people had quit, some had moved. It was a totally useless list.

Trying to fix it just wasn't going to work.

We found a fellow who had the Troop Master District Merit Badge Counselor program on his computer.

We gave everyone six months notice and the did away with the entire list.

Anyone who wanted to be a MBC had to apply.

While the material says that a person can counsel as many MB's as they are qualified to counsel, the District Advancement Committee (And later the Council Advancement Committee, with the OK from the SE set a limit of 5 per person.)

About once a month the Dean Of Merit Badges goes into the Service Center and checks to see that only only people who have been approved by the Advancement Committee are signing off. He kicks back any that are not.

Once the word got out that he was doing this, people seemed to get the message.

Keeping the list up to date isn't that hard MBC's like all positions in Scouting are good for a year. He contacts everyone on the list either by e-mail or post card, along with notices in the newsletter. Anyone who doesn't re-register is removed and has to re-apply.

The Advancement Committee does go over each and every MBC application.

We now have a first rate list.

Sure we have some units that have everyone in the unit sign up, but at the end of the day is this really in the best interest of the Scout or just easy?

Eamonn.

 

[packsaddle 753]

The frustrating thing to me was the realization that when I was a boy (in another council), we actually did the process correctly. And then years later, when I came on as an adult...thinking how much improved things would be, I found that no unit in our district followed the SB procedure. In fact, not only have I been unable to locate a unit anywhere in the council that follows the SB procedure, the council doesn't seem to be at all concerned with this deficiency. And after many years of doing it wrong, this has become established as part of the scouting 'culture' around here. As far as I can tell, there are very few, if any, actual registered MB counselors. And the council is happy to annoint any advancement form with no oversight as to the way advancement was accomplished.

 

That said, our blue card is identical to the one described here. Three parts, nothing outside of the advancement form sent to the council. We use them, except at summer camp which has its own photocopied forms (also not sent to council).