Merit Badge Counselor Rant

[Herms]

Buff, it has also happened to me/us about three times now. All you can do is count to 10, breath and fill out the bloody form again.

[sherminator505]

Purge all of them? I understand the need for annual renewals for these folks, but did anyone in that council make an attempt to contact any of these folks before they pushed the delete button? It seems like a rather cavalier way of doing business.

[Buffalo Skipper]

I want to reply here, but I am about to leave town, so I will be brief.

 

The ASE and CAC made the decision to push the delete button after conferring with National and determining we were not following policy. MBCs had been "rolled" year after year and a larger portion of these were not even in the area and may not have be been for years in some cases. It was decided to "pull the plug" and start over. Allegedly, everyone was set a letter explaining they had to come back in and renew or be dropped. Based on our finances, I doubt that hundreds of dollars were spent to send everyone a letter (I know I never received one...), and thought that is an issue, it is not where I want to take the discussion.

 

After Council (pros and vols) recognized this was a little brutal, those who registered after a certain date (January?) were re-entered. Part of this was a result of Nationals advice to change MBC registration from Jan-Dec to Jul-Jun, a relief for the registrar (our units recharter Jan 1). This means she has Jul-Aug to take care of this before the Cub Scout push with the new school year, so we are already past our prime opportunity for this year.

 

Things are looking better, and I am satisified with what the ASE and SE told me. It is for the greater good. I will talk about this more when I come back from this outing.

[GKlose]

Last summer, I registered to be an MBC (first timer). This year, I asked our DE if I would need to reregister, and he told me not to worry, that someone would be contacting me. Sure enough, after a few weeks, I received a list of the merit badges I cover, a blank application (and council CORI form), and instructions that told me I would have to reregister to be left on the council MBC list.

 

I have no idea how much admin time and money it takes to create those lists, address envelopes and mail them, but it seems like a fairly convenient system.

 

Guy

[ghermanno]

Curious here guys. Where do you find a Troop MBC? I realize that MBC's can state they are for their Troop only but to my knowledge, ALL MBC's are registered as District assets. MBC's are a "District/Council" position.

 

My understanding is that ALL potential MBC's must apply to Disrict/Council and be approved. The SM only needs to make sure that the MBC's (s)he submitted were entered into the database. District is required to publish the MBC lists. The SM's should read it and ensure that it is up to date.

 

If the Troop has MBC's that the District does not, then they are NOT MBC's. A merit badge may be revolked if the MBC is NOT registered.

 

If we move the MBC's to the Unit level, the MBC's would be on the Unit charter and the Units would be charged annualy for registration fees.

 

I am dealing with Troops that think thier MBC's are MBC's because they say so but they are NOT registered and I do publish a list that they ignore.

 

If I am wrong, feel free to tell me where to find the rule change.

 

YiS,

 

Rick

[Buffalo Skipper]

Guy, I agree that this system should be fairly simple and painless. It is just that it was not handled as very well the first time it was implemented here. I am hopeful that we will be much like yours from here on out.

 

Rick, ALL MBCs are registered as district volunteers (registration code 42) and are approved on the council level. I have recently discovered that the system will record the MBCs preference to work only with a particular unit. They are still subject to the same rules, training, backgound check and approval process, but they do not appear on the "district" list. For our council, Troops are responsible to maintaining their own list (which is easy through Troopmaster). There is really no conflict here. It does require a degree of organization, that's all.

 

Hope that helps.

[ghermanno]

Buffalo Skipper,

 

Your DAC is passing his/her work onto the Units. The MBC's that are listed as "Troop Only" are on the Council/Distric list. I get one every month that I reorganize into Districts and publish at Roundtable. I ask SM's to check the list and ensure that ALL their MBCs are on it.

 

I still get some SM's that tell me to look on their website as they have the updated info. I know the list I publish has the only approved MBCs.

 

This is why the DAC/CAC needs to publish a list monthly so that SM's can get a listing from Council/District that is up-to-date. It is in the DAC duties listing to recruit & train MBCs, and publish lists of MBCs for units.

 

YiS,

 

Rick