dual registration concerns

[CC4LIFE]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and need help on the question of dual registrations. I know that an adult can be dual registered in different positions.(ie troop CC, district UC...) I also know a boy can be dual registered in two different programs.(ie troop,venture...)Have you ever heard of boys being dual registered in two troops. I would think this would quickly become a possibility for conflict of interest, not to mention the problems created in record keeping.

 

Is there a national policy for this, or is this a council or district thing. Is this a RIGHT, or a priviledge. I can see where this might be helpful for boys in rare instances, however as the SM for my troop, I want to insure resources are utilized to the maximim benefit of all troop members.

 

Any comments?

[dsteele]

Welcome to the electronic campfire.

 

I checked the Registration Procedures manual and it was very clear.

 

"Troop members (youth) may not multiple register in another troop." "May not" is underlined and in bold print.

 

DS

[CC4LIFE]

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[eisely]

The Man of Steele is of course absolutely correct about the policy. This does not mean that boys do not occasionally register with more than one unit simultaneousy, either accidentally or on purpose. Policing this requires some careful monitoring and checking at the council level. If someone were intent on doing this, it probably would not be too difficult to fool the system.

[Bob White]

Scouts and scouters now have one national identification number based on the Social Security number. The System will now reject a scout having simultaneous troop registrations. What will happen is the computer will treat the new registaration as a transfer and drop his membership in the first troop.

 

Bob White

[NJCubScouter]

Thanks, DS, I thought that was the rule. There have been some discussions here (and elsewhere) from time to time of what to do in rare cases where there is a legitimate reason why a boy might be involved with two troops (such as he spends part of each year with each parent, who live in states far enough apart to make it impossible to travel back to the "home troop" on a regular basis.) I don't remember the answer. Apparently there were ways to do it. But short of that there doesn't seem to be any good reason to have a boy registered in 2 troops.

 

I have been wondering about this lately because the other brand new Scout in my son's troop seems to be active in another troop as well, and his father is an ASM in each troop. (The troops are about 5 miles apart, same district, same county, same state.) I know that both of them went to summer camp with both troops this year. Based on what you are saying, he is probably only registered in one of them (and not to sound too "cold" or anything, but for insurance purposes I hope it is ours.)

[dsteele]

The BSA system can handle the Scout who spends part of the time with one parent and the other part of the time with the other parent. The Scout would be registered with one troop and, as long as the troop he is registered with recognizes his achievements, etc. done in the other troop, there's no problem.

 

As to your new Scout being active with another troop and the concern about insurance, don't be concerned. Insurance matters are tied to the boy's registration in the council, not to the unit to which he belongs. The exception would be if he paid his membership in a troop that is not covered by unit accident insurance and gets hurt on a campout. More and more councils are joining the accident insurance plan as a council, so the insurance concern probably doesn't apply.

 

DS

[NJCubScouter]

Thanks DS, that is good to know.

[packsaddle]

OK, clear so far. One more clarification re: troop, venture crew. Can the system handle a young man from one troop also registering in a venture crew that has a different number (CO, troop)? Just checking, we're going to have a bunch of these.

[Bob White]

yes

[CC4LIFE]

OKAY! Now for the nitty gritty. The main reason I asked is our troop has a major fund raiser at our local fair. We give credits to each scout depending on how many shifts they and thier parents work together.(no scout works alone)Our unit bylaws state that if a scout leaves the troop, they forfiet all monies in thier scout account. The CC from thier new troop is asking that thier accounts be transfered. He is also a district officer in charge of troop operations. We want to do whats right for the boys, but don't want to proceed if they are not officially transfered. (his memos have contained vieled threats of revocation of our fundraising permit)

 

I think you can read between the lines and have figured out that the new troop SM was our SM and left under less than disirable circumstances. We have lost several boys and parents to the new troop. I had no part in any of this and am trying to pick up the pieces.

 

Any thoughts or advice? Do any of you out there use individual scout accounts with Troopmaster. What do you all do in cases like this? Does anyone know what national policies govern this. We are thinking about cutting one check with account breakouts for all the boys concerned and letting council sort it all out.

What do you all think. Sorry for the long post and any help is greatly appreciated.

[Bob White]

You will have to explain to me what a "District officer in charge of troop operations" is. I have never heard of such a thing. What is the actual title and responsibilities.

 

Bob White

[FScouter]

In our troop, we consider money in boy accounts to be used for the benefit of the boy, as long as the money is used for Scouting purposes. If a boy goes to another troop, the account would go with him. If he quits Scouting altogether, the money would stay with the troop.

 

Your council isn't going to get involved to settle any disagreement about money between two troops.

 

As long as you are not violating the guidelines for money-earning events (outlined on the back of the Money-Earning Application) your permit is not going to be revoked. If some overzealous "district officer" were to improperly refuse a permit, your council would be interested to know about it.

 

[CC4LIFE]

After much digging the district officer in question is a district chairperson in charge of overseeing unit fundraising.

[mk9750]

We use Scout accounts, and we use Troopmaster, although we don't use Troopmaster for Scout accounts.

 

We had a policy a few years back that all money in Scout accounts reverted back to the Troop if a boy left the Troop. that was fine at the time, as all monies in the accounts were earned doing Troop fundraising activities.

 

A few years ago, a number of us, including our Quartermaster, began purchasing needed items with money from our own pocket, and trying to make things easier on everyone by turning in the receipt and asking that the money be credited to our (or our son's) Scout account. This was still not a problem until someone who had done this left. At that point, a portion of their account was actually their money, not "Troop fundraising" funds. When he asked to have his son's money refunded, and he explained his reasoning for believing he was entitled to it, it became obvious that we should give him the money. We considered trying to determine what he should have simply been reimbursed for, but the transactions were over two years old, and impossible to reconstruct.

 

We have since rewritten our policy to refund all money. I don't think this is the best way to do things, but we had no solution other than to disallow other transactions into and out of Scout accounts, and no one liked that idea either.

 

I'm with FScouter. If you are meeting the guidelines for fundraising, I won't worry too much about a threat like that. Do what is right.

 

Mark