Advancement Anomaly

[Hunt]

As I've mentioned before, I'm now the Advancement guy for my son's troop, and as a first order of business I'm looking at the records of Life scouts to see if there are any problems. Here's one situation that may have occurred--it's not totally clear--but I thought I would run it past the group.

A blue card for a non-required merit badge has a problem--say it doesn't appear to be signed by the counselor--but an advancement report was submitted, and the troop records show the merit badge was awarded. This occurred three years ago. The badge was relied upon to achieve Star rank. The scout received another non-required merit badge about a week after getting Star, and had excess badges before earning Life, and will have excess badges before going for Eagle. Is there a problem here? I would like to say that at most the Star BOR was a week premature, and any problem was cured by the additional merit badge. Let me add that the fault for the anomaly--if there is one--does not appear to be with the scout, but with the former SM. Let me also add that I am convinced that all requirements for the MB in question were, in fact, completed. Thoughts?

[Fat Old Guy]

Check the Scout's copy of the blue card, if it is signed, go no further.

 

 

[packsaddle]

The award has been made. It was made long ago under a different advancement guy who may already have cleared this up. You are sure the requirements were met. I don't see that you need to do anything at all. If I were you I would merely try to make sure no discrepancies like this happened on my watch.

[LPC_Thumper]

Packsaddle is absolutely correct. I volunteer to help scouts with this. All that REALLY matters is the Troop advancement record. When we receive a packet we go through the district's copies of those forms and verify that John Scout had the correct badges to attain each of his ranks. If he did, great. If he didn't let's go talk to the adults and see what's up.

 

There was a point that got me thinking, if this badge was from a couple of years ago which piece of the blue card do you have? Let me go over where each goes. There are three parts, one is for the counsellor (when the card is signed, the scout only gets two parts back), one is for the scout (he should keep until he leaves the program), one is for the distrcit (my district uses them to ensure those that are signing badges are registered. If we have an "unauthorized signer" we go and talk to them, and make them an "authorized signer")

 

See my concern for how you even found this problem? The opportunity for there to be an error is not that the card was not signed correctly, it's more about how did you know it wasn't signed.

 

Hope this helps.

[Hunt]

Our district doesn't take any part of the blue cards--only the advancement report. What I have for most of the boys is both the troop record part of the card and the part the boy is supposed to have. I think previous leaders thought it wasn't a good idea to let the boys keep their part--this is something I intend to change.

[LPC_Thumper]

What I would is to go to the district office (bring food, it's amazing what people will do for food) and ask to review your advancement report file. (Hopefully they have a copy of all the advancement reports.) This is probably what they audit the Eagle Application from anyway. I'm very sure they have those records.

 

Now if they don't have records the way you do, show them your advancement reports, I'm sure they'd appreciate the audit (see that's what the food was for, a bribe).

 

Good Luck, let us know how it goes, OK?

[Proud Eagle]

It would be far easier to ask them to print a copy of the records off of the Scout Net system. This will show what has been entered into each individuals records. If everything checks out on these, that means they almost certainly received the original advancement report, and likely still have it on file. If there is a problem, then you need to start using the paper records to sort them out. Just find out what the computer says before you ask someone to start digging through paper files.

[LPC_Thumper]

Good point... I think your way would work BETTER

[Hunt]

I'm pretty sure the district records are OK, because I have a copy of the Advancement Report that was filed for the MB. Only I am aware that there is any issue, because I have the questionable blue card. I take it that the actual blue cards do not have to be produced for review by the Eagle BOR? Again, let me emphasize that in my view, this particular scout's problem--if there was one--was cured when he got another non-required merit badge shortly after being given Star rank.

[boleta]

In our council, the Eagle application is filed electronically. The Merit Badges are listed alphabetically regardless of whether they were used for Star or Life!! The MB used for Star 3 years ago becomes irrelevant on the electronic Eagle app. Also, this may create problems when there are more than 26 merit badges and the Scout would like to get a Palm. Merit Badges that are used for Star and Life, but do not appear on the alphabetical Eagle app. may appear again on the Palm application because the Palm MBs must be different than those on the Eagle app. Kind of confusing isn't it?

[boleta]

In our district, all Blue Cards are to be presented at Eagle BORs.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Your concern and careful eye are to be commended. I am not sure what you are asking.

 

It appears that there was an inadequate checking system and the Scout may have found a loophole. But, neither may be true and if neither is true, you may only have unfounded doubts.

 

If the SMs record keeping was sloppy, then the Scout is not at fault. It is also possible that the Merit Badge Counselor was sloppy and did not do a good job with the records or with the teaching, so the Scout would still not be at fault.

 

If one or both are true, you still do not have evidence to prove your point. But let's say you can prove your case or the Scout decides that his conscience needs clearing. You most likely would not want to ask for the Progress Award back.

 

If the Scout did confess, the most that you might be able to do is to get the Scout to review the requirements of the Merit Badge in question and to submit himself for an exam, if required. I am not sure that would be satisfactory.

 

Basic honesty would need to be addressed if he did cheat. How do you live life and what reason for truth? What is a Scout and does honesty really work? Who are we and what is in a name? Where does truth reside and what are the effects of an erosive style of life?

 

.02,

 

FB

 

[Hunt]

Here's what I think happened--the scout worked on the MB his first summer at camp, and did all the requirements but one. After returning from camp, the scout did the last requirement, and the SM initialed the card, submitted the advancement report, and gave the scout the MB. I don't suspect the scout of cheating or seeking a loophole at all. The SM is gone; I suppose it is possible that he was a registered counselor for the MB in question, but I don't think so. Thus, this might be equivalent to finding out years later that a MB counselor wasn't registered.

[LPC_Thumper]

Your analogy is on target, I think. If there is an advancement report for this merit badge then the scout will not be hung up.

 

I agree that if what you suspect happened then this is wrong, but since it won't cause a problem for the scout, it should be fine.

[EagleInKY]

Blue cards are used differently on a council-by-council basis. Our council does not require them. We use it to manage the process between the scout, the counselor and the troop. The official record is the advancement report sent to the council/district. That said, the only thing that is used for verification on the Eagle application is the information off of Scout Net. We run an annual audit of our information against what Scout Net says. That way, we can clear up things well in advance.