Lost Eagle records for transferred Scout

[Trevorum]

Last night I gave a SM conference for an Eagle candidate. A fine young man, I know he will have no problem with his EBoR.

 

However, in reviewing his application I spotted a possible records issue which I hope will not become a problem. I've never faced this one befiore and peraps some one can offer insight or advice.

 

The fellow transferred into our troop from an out of state council 3 years ago as a Star Scout. He has all of his MB cards except one (a Citizenship) which he unfortunately lost somewhere in several of the family's moves. He knows the date of the MB because he recieved it at the same time as another of the citizenships, but he can not prove the award.

 

So - if our council has no record of the MB award, will there be any problem with the application? I imagine the old council has the record - do councils routinely consult each other on these matters?

 

Thanks!

-T

[mdutch]

I, too, have no expirience in this. However, I would suggest that it wouldn't hurt to try and contact his old troop/council, and ask them to fax/mail a copy of the merit badge record, just in case.

[EagleInKY]

When you filled out his transfer paperwork, you should have given them his old council and troop number. This allows them to reconcile records. I've never had this happen, but I understand that it is supposed to work that way. Let us know, because I've got a Star Scout that will be in this situation in a year or so.

[GernBlansten]

You better contact council to verify they have record of his badge. I just went through a lengthy process to get an out state scout transfered to our council. I'm not sure all his badges transfered either. I have very little faith in our councils computer records.

If he cannot prove the badge was earned and council doesn't have it in their computer, I'd have him redo the badge.

[packsaddle]

Been there, done that. If your council doesn't have the records, then you must hope that someone at his old troop or council has a copy. After one particularly time-consuming episode, I make a policy of quickly contacting the old unit leader for transferring scouts...in order to get a copy of his records. Councils can't be trusted to keep accurate records. Good luck.

[nldscout]

If this scout transfered, didn't you get tranfer records with him? You should have, especially now that there is so many automated troop record programs out there.

 

As far as a councils records, everyones records sre on the same Data Base(Scoutnet) at national. Cuncils don't keep seperate records they access the SN database and enter info so if it was entered in old council it should be on record.

 

When we have a a scout atain LIFE rank we ask council to give us a scout printout of his awards and badges so we can make sure there is no last minute glitches. Your registrar can run individual ones of one report on whole unit only takes seconds to do.

[NeilLup]

Hello,

 

When I was SM for a Troop on an AF base, we dealt with this many, many times.

 

I presume that the boy came with a transfer form which was approved (signed) by his outgoing council. If so, as I understand matters, that is sufficient documentation for all advancement listed on the transfer form. The procedure was that the unit would fill out the form, send it to the council office, they would sign it and then the Scout would take the original with him and our unit would keep a copy.

 

If he didn't have a transfer form, or if the transfer form wasn't approved by the local council office, then things could get a bit trickier. I'm not sure how picky your local council office is for Eagle Scout, but if they want to be ultra picky, they could decline to accept advancement based just on having cards for merit badges, etc. After all, some councils just hand out blank merit badge cards and the unit fills them out. So if a boy or the boy's parents go down to the Scout Shop, get a few merit badge cards and fill one out for the Goat Roping merit badge, then what's to say that he really earned it.

 

The answer is, or at least is supposed to be, that when an Eagle application goes in, the local council checks the official advancement form filled out by the unit for each merit badge to make sure that it actually was earned. If they have records on-line, so much the better. Things were entered there based on official advancement forms.

 

That's also supposed to be what happens when a transfer form is approved. The council goes through the advancement records and verifies that everything listed on the form is accurate and has been sent in on official advancement reports. So when you get an approved transfer form, that has supposedly been checked against advancement records. The transfer form also confirms his current registration

 

What to do if you don't have an approved transfer form? You can check with your local council, but one alternative might be to have the Scout fill out the transfer form and send it to his former council with the explanation that he is going for Eagle and needs to have his advancement there confirmed. Maybe your local council has another suggestion.