Lost handbook and signed requirements

[Eagle732]

One of my Scouts comes to me the other day wanting a SMC for Second Class. He hands me his book which is brand new with nothing signed off in it. Seems young Tenderfoot left his handbook in his pants pocket and mom ran it through the wash! Hey, my wife won't check pockets either but a handbook? How could you not notice that! Then figuring it was ruined, she threw it away. Anyway this can't be the first time this has happened (well at least losing a book). What does he do about the requirements that were signed off for Second Class? Does he have to do them over? Do I take his word that they were signed?

 

 

[red feather]

Been in your shoes. One of the things that I stress with the scouts of the troop that I serve is that a scout is trustworthy and that I will trust what they say without doubt up to the day that they lie and cannot be trusted. Lost trust is hard to recover. The scouts take this very seriously.

 

I would ask the scout, that as a scout of the troop if he did in fact complete all the requirements for 2nd class and if he says yes, remind him of Trustworthy and if he still says yes, take his word as a scout and continue on with the advancement. If he says maybe not, I would congratulate him for his trustworthiness and get a Troop Guide to work with him and get 2nd class completed. Double win situation.

 

Marvelous chance for a individual scoutmaster minute. Might be a moment he will learn a life lesson from.

 

yis

[shortridge]

A lot of the Second Class requirements are for doing things with your patrol or troop, or at camp - situations where others are present. Ask the Scout to match up the requirements he completed with the occasions on which he completed them. He should at least remember where he was to do the swim test, flag ceremony, service project, built the campfire, etc. Should be easy to check with the other people who were present then as well to see if they signed off on it.

[Eagle92]

While a scout is trustworthy, I think this is an excellent teaching responsibility for the young scout. I would would discuss the importance of that handbook, after all the HB is the official record that will be used to correct any troop or SCOUTNET records that are incorrect, and go to one person who signed off on a Second Class requirement. I don't think any scout would have a problem with a "trust but verify" approach.

 

Further, I would recommend that the scout make copies of the book as things get signed off, especially immediately after BORs. that way if this situation does occur again, he will have a photocopy to support him. I know I was glad when I had a phtocopy of one rank, as my HB took a dive into the drink while canoeing.

[evmori]

And if you have a competent Advancement Chair, this information should be readily available & verifiable!

[Eagle732]

You expect the AC to record every requirement from every Scout as it is earned?

[fgoodwin]

Eagle732: in my son's former troop, most advancement requirements were signed-off on a campout.

 

At the troop meeting following a campout, any Scout that had advancement requirements signed-off presented his HB to the SM. The SM and advancement chair then updated Troop Master to record the completed advancements. So the individual advancement record was as current as we could make it.

 

I don't know if a Scout ever lost his HB between sign-off and turn-in, but if he did, he would need to "restore" only an "incremental back-up" (his recollection), as it were.

[evmori]

You expect the AC to record every requirement from every Scout as it is earned?

 

When I was the AC for my Troop, I reviewed all the handbooks on a monthly basis to keep my records current. Once the initial loading of the data is done, the updating takes a minimal amount of time.

 

So in answer to your question, yes.

[Lisabob]

My son's troop has patrol notebooks where sign offs are logged on a periodic basis. While sometimes I feel this is hand holding, on the other hand, when a kid loses his book, it is a really nice resource.

[eisely]

We are fortunate in having an activist honest Advancement person on our committee. We are also fortunate in owning a laptop dedicated to this purpose. She brings that to every regular meeting and invites scouts to update her records, so as a unit we are less at risk of the kind of situation you describe. Whether or not you own a troop laptop, establishing a process for frequent regular updates of troop records is a great idea and greatly enhances your advancement program.

[Crew21_Adv]

Fellow Scouters,

 

 

Just to add my thoughts. I like what Kudo mentione(and others commented) about the Advancement Coordinator. But before the AC, I would look towards the youth themselves. Unfortunately, it could lead to a Scoutmasters minute for everyone (as already mentioned)

 

But in addition of the Advancement coordinator knowing the status of all the Scouts. There are Scout leadership positions of responsibility that should also know the advancement requirements and completions of their fellow Scouts.

 

First the Patrol Leader should know the advancement status and requirements of their patrol. In addition to the Patrol Leaders Handbook (which explains how to do the job of the Patrol leader), is a lesser known pamphlet called the Patrol Leaders Record Book (34516), which records dues, attendance and advancement of the patrol members.

 

Then the Troop Scribe is responsible for maintaining the Individual Scout record (34518), which records dues attendance and the specific line item advancement requirements.

 

We know as a adults in our troop that we make occasional mistakes, trying to get back from work and get ready for troop meetings and campouts. We rely on our youth leadership to know what is going on, we are suppose to rely on our Senior Patrol Leader for keeping us up to date. After all the youth leadership is responsible for getting ready for campouts and events, as well as the program and advancement, with the adult guidance.

 

So during PLCs and Scout meetings, we constantly remind the youth they are responsible for knowing the advancement of their own fellow Scouts.

 

Good Luck!

 

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21 Adv

[OldGreyEagle]

It may not help now, but the Troop Advancement Chart may be a decent investment for a troop at $2.99 each. When the book is signed off, the scout goes to the scribe or other designee and the completion is recorded for all to see, and to transcribe from if the book gets lost.

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/BSASupply/ItemDetail.aspx?cat=01RTL&ctgy=PRODUCTS&c2=BOOKS_LIT&c3=SUPPLIES&c4=&lv=3&item=34506

 

 

[Eagle732]

Our troop only enters the requirements into TroopMaster after a BOR. The AC says he has tried to get books from the Scouts and keep the database more up to date but he could never get the Scouts books on a regular bases. Then he would have to keep the books until the next meeting so he could enter the info into TroopMaster which is on his home computer. Obviously not a desirable situation, so we depend on the Scouts to maintain their handbook between rank.

[dg98adams]

Eagle,

Troop Master can print out reports for individual Scouts showing progress toward rank..it would be easy to use that printed sheet to record weekly updates for him to update at home.

 

We do that for the PLC monthly (print reports for each patrol leader/SPL), and use that to report updated progress as needed.