Outdated? Eagle Workbook

[Lady_Leigh67]

Hi all!  I hope you can help answer a question, or at least direct us where to go.  

 

My son completed his Eagle Scout Project June 2015.  He started the ball rolling in January same year, with paperwork that was from BSA dated 2015.  Well, he still had one Eagle required merit badge to finish.  It took him a year (yes, that's another story).  Anyway, the Eagle Workbook, Proposal, etc., has been updated since his initial proposal was signed off by all required adult signatures in 2015.  He completed the entire workbook, and paperwork for his binder using the early 2015 version.  We now know that the BSA updated the forms in October 2015, and then again this year.  

 

Questions:  

 

1.  Does he have to redo ALL the paperwork that he started for his Eagle binder?  Or, is there only certain pages?  

 

2.  His original Troop Eagle Advisor that signed the paperwork back in January, is no longer with our Troop.  He has been aligned a new one.  How will this affect his paperwork/binder?

 

Thank you all!  

[NJCubScouter]

This:

 

Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, No. 512-927

This is the newly revised Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook. Scouts who have already downloaded the previous workbook may continue to use it. Please let us know how we may further improve your experience. Send comments to advancement.team@@scouting.org.

 

is on this official BSA web page: http://www.scouting.org/advancement.aspx

 

That sounds like your answer right there.

 

Given how difficult it often is to find an answer on the BSA web site, that was amazingly easy.

[Sentinel947]

To my knowledge, the workbook was rewritten in 2012, with only a few small edits since. 

[TAHAWK]

"9.0.1.2 Prepare the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook The most current workbook must be used. It can be found at www.scouting.org/advancement."

 

Guide to Advancement

[Stosh]

Buzzkill, there ya go again, quotin' the rules from the rule book.

 

With something as important as the Eagle rank, I would go with @@TAHAWK just to make sure no one questions it down the road.  Others out there might be actually reading these things too.  Not necessarily, but maybe.

[qwazse]

The project is done. A year ago. Makes sense that the 2015 workbook that was current when he started would apply.

 

Oh look, there's these instructions on the page that NJ references ...

"Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, No. 512-927

This is the newly revised Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook. Scouts who have already downloaded the previous workbook may continue to use it. ..."

 

I want my scouts moving on to new projects for other purposes, not spending hours copying from one form to another for the sake of looking officious.

[Eagle94-A1]

My advice  for your son to "Be Prepared" during his EBOR is to not only review the Guide to Advancement and but make sure a copy of it is with him, and I'm paranoid enough to have the passage highlighted. As you can guess, I had experience in this matter.

[qwazse]

Really?

 

Who here has denied a candidate because the workbook he started the project with was no longer current at the time of his BoR?

What's so great about the current workbook that the 2015 would not suffice?

 

Maybe a boy should not fill out a workbook at all. But rather complete the proposal, report, etc ... in essay form. Get signatures on separate sheet, then when the time comes print up the current version, and type "see attached".

 

The instructions give boys latitude in a common sense way.

Keep the BS out of the BSA.

[Eagle94-A1]

Really?

Who here has denied a candidate because the workbook he started the project with was no longer current at the time of his BoR?

...

Keep the BS out of the BSA.

 

The DAC that sat on my EBOR. He did not like the fact that A) he did not approve my project and B) it was the 4 year old paperwork that was current when I did it. He tried to do the same thing to a friend who used the then current forms instead of the new forms. Thankfully I threatened to appeal his decision, and my friend did that as well.

 

And I agree with your last sentence.

[TAHAWK]

"Do what you have to do, but don;t go lookin' for trouble."

[fred johnson]

It's a none issue.  Unit and district leaders should accept it just fine.  

 

Unfortunately, answers vary as districts are wildly different and volunteers have different views and objectives.  To resolve this, just ask your unit leaders and your district advancement committee chair.  Go to your council web site and find the district you are in.  Using that, find the district advancement committee chair.  That's really the only easy answer.

 

Even then, there is very little different between the March 2015 and the Oct 2015 versions.  Very little.  

 

Also you can use the guidance BSA gave in their Aug/Sep 2014 advancement news.  "Clarifying Use of the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook" http://www.scouting.org/filestore/advancement_news/2014_Aug-Sept.pdf

 

The workbook is supposed to be a tool to help the scout.  The paperwork is not the requirement.  The project is the requirement.  As leaders, we are supposed to guide the scout to have a safe, successful project that is a positive experience for the scout.  

 

So with that view, I'd ask how redoing paperwork helps the project?  All the concern I see is about how adult leaders and/or adults on his EBOR will re-act.  IMHO, at that point, the fix needs to focus on correcting the EBOR members, not the paperwork.

 

I've had scouts ask me to sign earlier versions of the workbook.  We work through it and then I ask them for the next section to go after and use the later version of the workbook for that section.  Perhaps if it was the 2011 or 2012 version, I'd ask them to update it first.  But generally, let's move forward to have a positive experience.