Who Checks ?

[Eamonn]

The District has a new Dean of Merit Badges. I recruited him. He seems like a nice enough fellow, he has all the programs on his laptop, which I swear he sleeps with.

He has been very busy up-dating the merit badge list adding new counselors and making it available in every which way and in every format known to man.

To be very honest even though he is a nice fellow he is a bit of a pest. He keeps coming up with questions and he phones me. I tell him that he ought to be calling the Advancement Chair. But so far it hasn't sunk in.

The other day he called and asked "Who ever checks that the merit badge counselor on the card is OK?" I said that I didn't know. So the next day I called the Service Center and asked.

We have a really nice Lady who has been with the Council for a coons age. She knows everything, I am not sure what her job title is but she takes care of the store and does a lot of other stuff. Anyone buying stuff would more then lightly go through her. I asked "Who checks the cards against the list?" She wasn't happy and informed me that she doesn't have the time to check all the blue cards and that it is up to the district. Being as I like her a lot I didn't want to argue with her. After all she is the one that finds and orders me all the stuff that I need.

I called the Dean back and informed him that no one was checking. He now wants to check every merit badge saying that he is going to do a check every week or so. I admire his commitment, but I don't know what we would tell a Scout who has worked on a merit badge and gone to a non-approved counselor? Does the Lad forfeit the badge? Does the Scoutmaster go to jail and not pass go?

Who checks in your Council?

Eamonn.

[scoutldr]

The SM should check. He signs the card authorizing the Scout to begin work on the badge and one of the questions at that point should be "are you using a registered counsellor". If the scout brings a blue card back to the SM without an approved counsellor's name on it, it is rejected and not submitted to Council. This is a Youth Protection issue. Anyone performing volunteer work under the auspices of the BSA needs to be registered and trained.

[evmori]

Actually, according to the SM handbook, the SM is the one who assigns the MB counselor. So if the name on the card is different than the one he assigned then the SM or advancement chairman needs to make sure this MB counselor is registered for that badge!

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Laurie]

I don't know who does here. It hasn't been an issue, well, until *I* brought it up, that is. The SM keeps a list of merit badge counselors, and he assigns the Scout to a merit badge counselor. So far as I know, at the council noone checks this until a boy goes for Eagle. And then, I don't know who checks it. At the last roundtable, the district stressed that good penmanship is a must, for many blue card signatures cannot be read when reviewing them. My husband serves as advancement chair, and he double checks blue cards before sending them to the council to buy advancements.

[nldscout]

I know in our council and district no one checks blue cards, not enough time. Beside where is district guy gonna check them? after they are submitted to council? At that point its too late.