zuzy Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Hi there, son is a Life scout. He is in the process of having his eagle project idea approved. Needs to meet with troop and then council to start project. In the meantime, he is finishing up his merit badges. Turned in 3 blue cards to scoutmaster in April. Still has not received his merit badges OR confirmation that they have been recorded with Council. Scoutmaster has told him that he has "misplaced" the blue cards, that he will take care of him. Butttt, have not heard anything for at least one month and son keeps asking with no reply as to what is happening. The Eagle merit badges are hard enough to complete, and then to have of all people, the scoutmaster lose the blues cards?! I am so dis heartened with soucts right now. Is there anything that son can do? Can he just have the scoutmaster sign a new set of blue cards and meet with the counselors and start all over again? Son still has his copies of the blue cards. Would any of you have suggestions on what to do? There is no hurry by the way, son is only 14, BUTTT again, these are Eagle merit badge blue cards that are misplaced. He spent a portion of his summer doing them. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stosh Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 He can have the MB counselor sign a new card, SM can't do it. We don't have blue cards in our council anymore. It is all done with submittal of the advancement notification given to the council personnel when the MB's and cards are purchased at the scout office. If the advancement notification was not given to the council office, that should be easily addressed with signatures from the CC and SM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krampus Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Our troop has always told our scouts (and parents) to make copies of everything. I fear this may not help you now, but good advice for the future. I would have your son contact the merit badge counselor and see if he can't get a second blue card. The counselor should have his records, but he may not. If he can get a second copy then he should take a picture of the whole card and submit that one to his scoutmaster. If this is not an option I would have your son request a scoutmaster conference with his scoutmaster and the advancement chairperson for your troop. He can then discuss with them his situation and they can jointly resolve the issue. When in doubt, reading and knowing your options under the Guide to Advancements may help you understand your options. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/33088.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwazse Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Good news is he doesn't need to have his merit badge work in order to start a project. SMs can be temporarily confused for quite a few weeks. I know this is like forever for a boy. But, patience and persistence is the order of the day. To the SMs out there, why would you ever take a blue card without immediately signing it at giving the applicant his portion? I know summer camp may be one situation with hundreds of cards at once and any number of end-of-week interruptions. But during the year, isn't the whole point to make sure the boy has a record in case yours gets misplaced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSScout Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) *sigh* "A Scout is Trustworthy". Let's remember, The Blue card has three sections. The SM signs off on the card first, giving his approval for the boy to attempt the MB. When the Scout fulfille the requirements, the MBCouselor fills in and signs the sections, keeps one section. The Scout hands one section to his Troop (SM) and keeps one section himself. I organized a multiscout trip to visit with a Railroading MeritBadge Counselor. He was an oldtimer, the Scouts love him. We met at a Model RRClub, went to a track Interlock Tower, visited a local railyard. He signed everyone's cards, gave out his name and address, etc. It was a good Saturday afternoon. A year later, one of the boy's father calls me. The boy has lost his BCard section, and the Troop records do not jibe with the council's.(he was awarded the MB at the Troop CoH). It's Eagle time! Can I sign a new card for him? Can't I vouch for him attending and passing the MB? I say I'd like to, but I'm not the MBC. They pursue the issue, and find that the MBC has since passed on. What to do? I , fortunately, have the list of boys I escorted to the session. It gets complicated, but eventually, the Council accepts that the Scout did attend and did earn the MB. Edited September 21, 2015 by SSScout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sentinel947 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Son still has his copies of the blue cards. Unless I'm missing something. Your Troop should have record of his completion. The council should too, if your advancement coordinator turned them in already. You are saying your son has his applicants record of the blue card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuzy Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Thanks for the replies. It's just 'too' bad that it has been the SM that has lost the card, not my son. My son has his portion of the card. Can't he just go back to the SM, have him sign a new blue card and go back to the counselors who already signed him off and sign him off again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuzy Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 SM is the advancement coordinator and as far as I know, did not record the merit badges with council, this is theeee problem. So, here my son sits with his education, completed workbooks, and his portion of BC, but given no credit because SM can't find his portion of the BC. biggggg sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krampus Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 The unit will have to submit his blue card for credit. Since he does have a copy he should email a picture of that copy (don't give that to anyone, that's his only proof) to the scoutmaster for credit. Sounds like the scoutmaster just needs to sit down and enter the information in to the system. I'd send copies of your son's portion of the blue card to the scoutmaster and ask for him to submit them for credit. It that still takes too long, sounds like a troop move might be another option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwazse Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 SM is the advancement coordinator and as far as I know, did not record the merit badges with council, this is theeee problem. So, here my son sits with his education, completed workbooks, and his portion of BC, but given no credit because SM can't find his portion of the BC. biggggg sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Sorry I missed the part about your son having his part of the card. Good news! The system is working! Your son has all the proof he needs to advance whenever he gets that project done and fills out that Eagle application! Like @@Krampus said, he holds onto those until he knows the troop has filed the advancement report. But, if that never happens, he's holding the trump cards. And, the reason he's holding them is because your SM was smart enough to follow procedure in April. So, go easy on the guy, and have the boy remind him from time to time that his sash feels a little light. Trust me (or trust my brother who, in the 50s, had an SM go AWOL with all of the troop's paperwork), it could be worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5yearscouter Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) In our troop we make sure when unit leader signs off on the blue card for the start of working on the mb and then again at the END when mb is completed. Then we emsure that the scout keeps his portion of the card, the sm/adv chair keeps the unit copy of the card, and hope that the mb counselor kept their portion of the card. Then there are three places that exists proof that the scout finished the mb, and no scout ever has to do the work twice. Any one of those cards can be used to re-create the approval if the portion is lost. Scout should ask sm to sign a new blue card, and scout could contact the old mb counselor with his portion showing it was completed and ask mb counselor to sign off on a new one as replacement. In our troop we would accept the scout's portion of the blue card as proof of completion if we lose our part. It happened most recently when adv chair put it in her pocket and then washed her pants and had little pieces of blue card in the dryer. Scout send a copy of his portion of blue card and that was that. Edited September 21, 2015 by 5yearscouter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuzy Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Gets even better, my firends... My husband just got an email from SM that he has lost ALL BC's of my sons. Son transferred to this troop in October last year because he is in sports and needed a troop that met on Sundays. Not too many of those in our area. So, at least son has all of his copies minus the copy for Citizanship in the Nation, which was a bear in the beginning to do in the first place. This is one that he just turned in last month and has already gone missing. Yikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5yearscouter Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Honestly it doesn't matter if SM has the blue cards. Cause the process is the unit gets the signed blue cards, unit copy. then enters it into troop records and more importantly, they enter it into internet advancement to update your son's records on Scoutnet--the BSA database for advancement. Once it's in there, the blue card is no longer needed, as when he goes for his Eagle, all that needs to show is that the internet advancement records exist for the scout having earned all the required merit badges. Sure some councils want to see the blue cards, and some Eagle Board of Reviews check them, but it doesn't say in the Guide to Advancement that blue cards or the merit badge cards provided at the court of honors of any of that are actually required.... It comes down to what has been entered in his records for internet advancement. So has the scoutmaster/adv chair entered any advancement fro this boy? Advancement chair should not be the scoutmaster, it really should be the job of a committee member. Maybe the scoutmaster is overwhelmed and could really use some assistance with this part of running the troop. Offer to help, rather than condemn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krampus Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 ...and more importantly, they enter it into internet advancement to update your son's records on Scoutnet--the BSA database for advancement. Once it's in there, the blue card is no longer needed, I would always counsel boys to keep their blue cards. It is the only record he controls of what he's done. Rank cards and blue cards are copied and put in to the iCloud in my house, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutldr Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Sounds like the SM is administratively challenged! You could volunteer to be a Committee Member and help out....like Advancement Chairman. WHen I was a struggling Cubmaster with a pack of 150 (15 dens and 5 Webelos Dens). I had a few moms take pity on me. Things ran a lot smoother after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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