Personal Fitness Mb Issue

[jpc763]

You're probably right.  Anytime I've had a difficult boss or client I've always found it better to just move on rather than try to work things out.  Bail and shop for a better venue is the life lesson I'd want my son to take from the situation.

I assume sarcasm by your response.

 

My son had a conversation with the MBC.  He told my son that it had been too long and therefore he would not do the test.  My son went home and sent the 17 week program explaining that he maintained his exercise program beyond the 12 weeks and given the concern the MBC had about the time lapse, could he do his test with another adult given that the MBC is not available.

 

The MBC flat out said no and that if he was overridden by the Advancement Chair (who is also Committee Chair) than he would not sign the blue card.

 

I ask who is being more childish.

[eagle77]

   Just a few questions here. You say in previous posts that you've had some other problems when it comes to this leader and the scouts advancement. Would you not agree that adult leaders or scouters job is to work with the boys? Do you feel that this scouter has done well at this incident, as well as others? Would you recomend any of your scouts to see this guy for MBs? Just because he is an Eagle Scout and has all the "bling" does not make him any better. Just because he was a, shall we say stand out scout, does not mean he will be the same as a scouter. Do'nt know if you have ever heard this before or not but it may fit here. "Not every great SM is an Eagle Scout and not every Eagle Scout make a great SM". Now just replace MBC with SM. He still needs to be counseled on what is expected of your scouters.

[dfolson]

If Mrs. X is the advancement Chair, she has no authority over the MB Counsilor.  If he is deferring to her, then the MBC is not doing his part correctly.  There is no reason this Scout should not be given the names of some alternative MBCs to finish up with.  This is part of the reason why I do not encourage participation in MB 'Universities'.  My son had a similar problem with followup after doing cooking.  After a year of chasing the MBC from the class he asked for a new one and was signed off right away.

[eagle77]

If Mrs. X is the advancement Chair, she has no authority over the MB Counsilor.  If he is deferring to her, then the MBC is not doing his part correctly.  There is no reason this Scout should not be given the names of some alternative MBCs to finish up with.  This is part of the reason why I do not encourage participation in MB 'Universities'.  My son had a similar problem with followup after doing cooking.  After a year of chasing the MBC from the class he asked for a new one and was signed off right away.

 

  Same here. What I think makes this even worse is this guy is from his troop. So this could have happened whether they attended a MB University.

[eagle77]

  Same here. What I think makes this even worse is this guy is from his troop. So this could have happened whether they attended a MB University or not..

 Had to revise my comment forgot the "or not" after University.

[T2Eagle]

I've found "bail and shop for a better venue" to be pretty solid advice an awful lot of the time, frankly especially when it comes to clients and bosses.  When dealing with human beings the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior; you can and usually should try to work things out, but understand that often that's not really going to work very well, that's not to imply that either side is a bad person, but most people are pretty stuck in their ways.  There are other companies to work for, other clients to get, other MBCs that will better help you achieve your goals.

[jpc763]

   Just a few questions here. You say in previous posts that you've had some other problems when it comes to this leader and the scouts advancement. Would you not agree that adult leaders or scouters job is to work with the boys? Do you feel that this scouter has done well at this incident, as well as others? Would you recomend any of your scouts to see this guy for MBs? Just because he is an Eagle Scout and has all the "bling" does not make him any better. Just because he was a, shall we say stand out scout, does not mean he will be the same as a scouter. Do'nt know if you have ever heard this before or not but it may fit here. "Not every great SM is an Eagle Scout and not every Eagle Scout make a great SM". Now just replace MBC with SM. He still needs to be counseled on what is expected of your scouters.

I have one example that I have first hand knowledge of and have heard of other similar but all of that is second hand.

 

The first one was when he was on a BoR and he began re-testing the boy.  The Advancement Chair pulled him aside and said that it was not appropriate for him to do that.  His answer was that he had to do it when he was a scout.  The Advancement Chair and I clearly set the expectation that he would not sit on another BoR if that was the attitude.  The second hand accounts are similar behaviors in MB situations and other advancement situations.  When he firsr rejoined the troop, he was at every meeting.  Now he attends very rarely so he is moving away on his own.

 

I like the young man.  He is a nice guy, but he has the attitude that since it was "hard" for him, he is going to make it hard for the youth of today.

 

If Mrs. X is the advancement Chair, she has no authority over the MB Counsilor.  If he is deferring to her, then the MBC is not doing his part correctly.  There is no reason this Scout should not be given the names of some alternative MBCs to finish up with.  This is part of the reason why I do not encourage participation in MB 'Universities'.  My son had a similar problem with followup after doing cooking.  After a year of chasing the MBC from the class he asked for a new one and was signed off right away.

 

Mrs. X is both the Advancement Chair and the Committee Chair.  Our troop had gotten to a very lean point before I took over as SM.  We had many older scouts and very few new ones and the new ones were almost 100% drop off's so we had little parent involvement.  That is the reason that she has two positions and we accepted this guy as a committee member.  We have since begun growing again (through recruitment) and are getting some great new blood, both scouts and scouters.

 

Our troop does not participate in District level MBU for the reasons put forth.  We put our own on and this year we combined it with another troop.  All of the MB counselors are from our troop or the other troop, not the district.

[CalicoPenn]

So a question for you - how many of the Scouts that started the merit badge with this counseler completed the badge?  Are there any lads from the other Troop having the same problem with him?  If so, then not only is he denying the Scouts the opportunity to complete the badge (and adding to the requirements in doing so, by the way - more on that later) - he is embarrassing your Troop since your Troop is the one that provided him.

 

Now as to adding to the requirements - the requirements of the Merit Badge do NOT require that the "testing" be done in front of the Merit Badge Counselor.  In fact, they are written in such a way as to suggest that they be self-administered and they're written that way so that the merit badge can be accomplished at any time without being dictated by the counselors schedule and availability.  Heck, a Scout could do the full 12 weeks and log everything and then not sit down with their counselor for a year to discuss the results and it still counts.

 

I'll revise my earlier answer just a bit - I think you would be much better off recruiting someone else in your unit to be a Personal Fitness Merit Badge Counselor, make sure they understand how the program works, and get any of those Scouts with partials in front of him/her right away so that they can get the merit badges they deserve.  I think it's also time for you to separate this counselor from your Troop until he's ready to come back, get trained, and do things the right way.

[qwazse]

@@CalicoPenn brings up a very important point. Counseling is not testing. This is nothing new. I don't recall doing a single push-up in front of my personal fitness MBC. Nor did I open my wallet to show the exact change for my personal finance MBC to audit.

 

There is this thing called scout's honor. Unless a boy has betrayed that, we should have reason to believe in it.

 

I think the best strategy is to find a third MBC to go over everything your son did for the remaining requirement, determine what, if anything remains to be done, and approve or make a solid plan for completion.

[jpc763]

So a question for you - how many of the Scouts that started the merit badge with this counseler completed the badge?  Are there any lads from the other Troop having the same problem with him?  If so, then not only is he denying the Scouts the opportunity to complete the badge (and adding to the requirements in doing so, by the way - more on that later) - he is embarrassing your Troop since your Troop is the one that provided him.

 

Now as to adding to the requirements - the requirements of the Merit Badge do NOT require that the "testing" be done in front of the Merit Badge Counselor.  In fact, they are written in such a way as to suggest that they be self-administered and they're written that way so that the merit badge can be accomplished at any time without being dictated by the counselors schedule and availability.  Heck, a Scout could do the full 12 weeks and log everything and then not sit down with their counselor for a year to discuss the results and it still counts.

 

I'll revise my earlier answer just a bit - I think you would be much better off recruiting someone else in your unit to be a Personal Fitness Merit Badge Counselor, make sure they understand how the program works, and get any of those Scouts with partials in front of him/her right away so that they can get the merit badges they deserve.  I think it's also time for you to separate this counselor from your Troop until he's ready to come back, get trained, and do things the right way.

His class had 8-10 boys in it from two different troops.  I know of 3 that attended the final test day.  I am not sure of the others.  They received blue cards and most likely got a new MBC with their own troop.  The boys in my troop are just sitting on them (as is often the case!).

 

Mrs. X is back and I have been in contact with her.  She has not read the email (I forwarded it to her) and we will talk tonight or tomorrow once she digs out.  I have lots of items to discuss (she was gone for 3 weeks and a LOT happens in 3 weeks!) so I know I will talk to her in the next day or two.

 

Thanks all for your responses.  They are overwhelming in support of finding someone new to work with my son.  That was my gut but I am glad to have confirmation from so many great scouters.

 

John