Advancement Records who maintains them?

[JMan]

Who maintains the advancement records for the pack? Is it the advancement chair, cub-master or someone else?

 

I know den leaders maintain current information on the boys progress, but who keeps ongoing information on active boys? ie.. information on badges, belt loops, and other awards.

 

Thanks for your help.

[SemperParatus]

advancement chair

[acco40]

Keeps record of advancement for the boys or keeps records of advancement opportunities?

 

For troops, definitely the advancement chair. For packs, my experience is that it is with the Den Leader. Remember for Cub Scouts at the Tiger/Wolf and Bear level parents can sign off. The committee person for advancement in a pack promotes advancement but does not keep records for every scout. A hint would be to look at the advancement record sheets that are turned into council - they need to be sign by the advancement chair in a troop but in a pack, the den leader and cub master.

 

PACK ADVANCEMENT CHAIR DUTIES

 

Have a working knowledge of the Tiger Cub, Cub Scout, and Webelos Scout advancement plans.

 

Help plan and conduct induction and advancement recognition ceremonies.

 

Arrange for Tiger Cub graduation ceremonies with the Cubmaster and Tiger Cub den leader.

 

Train parents, guardians, and pack committee members in ways to stimulate Tiger Cub, Cub Scout, and Webelos Scout advancement.

 

Arrange for Webelos graduation ceremonies with the Cubmaster, Webelos den leader, and Scoutmaster.

 

Promote the use of Tiger Cub, Cub Scout, and Webelos Scout den advancement charts to record advancement in the den and as an incentive for advancement.

 

Promote the use of den doodles as a stimulus for advancement.

Collect den advancement reports at pack leaders' meetings for use when ordering badges and insignia from the local council service center.

 

Promote Boys' Life magazine as an aid to advancement.

Help build or obtain advancement equipment for use in making advancement ceremonies more effective.

 

Promote the wearing and proper use of uniform and insignia.

 

Nowhere does it mention that the Pack Advancement Chair keeps records for all of the Cub Scouts.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[kenk]

We recently started using ScoutTrack.com's online tracking tool. It allows den leaders to track requirements completed at meetings/activities and parents to track requirements completed at home. Den leaders can also enter requirements completed outside the den meetings. Den leaders can run reports to see a summarized status for advancement and/or the sports & academics program.

 

A week or so before each pack meeiting, our advacement coordinator simply runs and prints a report that lists out the number of each award earned since the last pack meeting (basically a shopping list) and then purchases them at the council scout store. He can go on-line to check off awards that have indeed been purchased.

 

He then runs and prints another report that lists exactly who earned which award, for distribution at the meeting.

 

After the meeting he uses the same report to electronically check off the boys who actually received their awards - as opposed to those who weren't at the meeting. Those that didn't get their award will come up on the distribution report for next month's pack meeting - so we don't forget them.

 

It works well and splits responsibility between den leaders, parents, and the advancement coordinator.

 

ScoutTrack also provides for an on-line pack directory, (parents can maintain their own information) and an on-line calendar that provides den-specific views (parents only see pack events and their den's events) that is maintained by pack leaders (pack level) and den leaders (den level).

 

I'm not at all connected with the makers of ScoutTrack - just a user. Our pack was struggling with maintaining records on a single database system managed by several different people on different PCs - they were simply never up to date and couldn't be merged, nor were they EVER backed up.

 

Ken

[mschwartz]

In our pack, the den leaders keep track of who's done what in their individual den, but the Advancement Chair keeps the overall records. When I became Advancement Chair, I convinced the pack to go with the PackMaster software (this is not an advertisement, just a statement of fact) which has made life very simple for me, especially when a den leader calls and asks, "Did I remember to tell you that so-and-so got their Baseball belt loop?". When I took on the position, I inherited a folder full of bits of paper that were extremely difficult to decipher. Now, the next person will take on a functional database that includes everything (as far as I know) about each scout in the pack.

 

So - my personal opinion is that it is extremely useful for SOMEONE (not necessarily the Advancement Chair, but someone) to be a central location for the advancement records. And it makes sense in our pack for that someone to be the Advancement Chair.

 

Just my two cents.

[John-in-KC]

The other advantage of a well-maintained database is reconciling Scouts & Scouters come recharter!!!

[Advancement_Lady]

I'm the advancement chair for our pack and I use PackMaster to keep up with the scouts, pack, leaders awards and fundraisers. It is easy to use. It's not free and most councils use it. You can cotact your council for a copy of it or go to http://www.troopmaster.com to order it.

The DL should keep track of who has earned what in his/her den.