Scoutmaster lost sons Blue cards (4 of them, 2 Eagle)

[5yearscouter]

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. 

Yeah definitely don't toss his copy of the blue cards, keep them just in case. Always compare them to the date on the merit badge card he gets at court of honors and make sure everything matches.  Better to catch that sooner than later.

and we want troops to keep their copy

and we hope merit badge counselors keep their copy.

But as far as getting his Eagle, blue cards are used for proving he completed the merit badges and getting them entered on his official records with BSA.  Then blue cards lose most of their importance and aren't necessary to HAVE in hand for any other reason in the advancement process

 

If he is working with an Eagle Counselor, ask them if they can get a copy of his advancement report from council office,

or call council up yourself and ask for a copy.  The troop can also provide you a copy in PDF form out of internet advancement.  It would be a good idea to see what is entered and what hasn't been entered.  Especially as a transfer from another troop, you may find that the prior troop didn't enter everything for the scout and his scout record is empty (we've had it happen and not caught til going for Eagle) or you may see that everything is entered and the fuss over blue cards is more cause he didn't ever receive the mb patch, rather than due to lack of recording the mb.

[perdidochas]

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

Did your son keep his part of the card?  Or did the Counselor keep his part of the card? Either should be proof to fill out a new complete card. 

 

The card is in three parts: Counselor, Troop and Scout.  When completed, the counselor should keep his part.  Then, the Scout should keep his, and only turn in the Troop part to the Troop.  Do that in the future.

 

 

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badge_Application

 

I say this as a former Advancement chair, current MBC/ASM.  When I started as advancement chair, the scouts just gave me the three part form.  I would immediately give them their copy.  Almost no counselors had their copies. I keep mine, because it saves the boys in cases like this. 

[perdidochas]

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.

Blue Card is for troop use.  It does make record keeping easier, IMHO.

[perdidochas]

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

Does your son have his portion of the BC?  That is what is needed? Your son's portion is the official one. It has the Merit badge name, date of completion and both adults' signatures. EBORs and the council should accept that as the legal part of the BC.  I would explain that to your SM.  If your SM refuses to take the part of the card that HE signed as unit leader, then take the card to the Council, and have his records updated.  

[Stosh]

Blue Card is for troop use.  It does make record keeping easier, IMHO.

 

Yep, but if one has to go over to the next council over to get cards, it's a bit of a hassle.  When we go out of council with summer camp and they have the cards, it's the only time the cards are available to us.

[perdidochas]

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.

 

Yep, but if one has to go over to the next council over to get cards, it's a bit of a hassle.  When we go out of council with summer camp and they have the cards, it's the only time the cards are available to us.

 

You can order them online.

 

http://www.scoutstuff.org/merit-badge-application-card-100-pack.html#.VgBtrZevExc

[Stosh]

Our people just print them off on blue paper.  

[5yearscouter]

Our people just print them off on blue paper.  

or people just print them off, they don't have to be on blue paper.

[qwazse]

... he has lost ALL BC's of my sons.  ...

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.

Well ... At least the guy's consistent.

So, son should call his Cit. Nat. MBC and ask if he/she wouldn't mind sending a copy of his record. Lacking that record, son can ask him if he/she can sign if she remembers him completing the requirements,, or if h/she will arrange another visit to recap how he did the requirements.

 

Point is ... Your son has a plan B and C. From copies of that, the SM an enter his advancement.

[T2Eagle]

Adults can make anything overly complicated.  It's great that the scout has his copies of the blue cards.  it will be nice if the Merit Badge counselors have their copies.  But all of that should be entirely unnecessary at this point.   Someone in the troop has, or should have, the responsibility to enter into BSA's Internet Advancement system the fact that the scout has earned these merit badges.  The scout and/or the SM (really the SM, since it looks like his mistake) should be able to just send an email to the Advancement Coordinator and have the facts recorded in the system.  End of story.  Anything more than that is just bureaucratic b.s.

 

People often confuse evidence of a fact with the fact itself.  A scout meets with a MB counselor and completes the requirements for the MB -- he has earned the MB.  Signed card, no signed card, the MB has been earned.  No one who knows of the fact that the scout has earned the badge, or believes the scout or anyone else with direct knowledge of that fact, should do anything other than make sure the scout is properly recognized.  Getting caught up in paperwork, or worrying about getting new cards signed, or any other bureaucratic nonsense is doing a disservice to the scouts we're supposed to be serving.

[qwazse]

@@T2Eagle, I consider the blue cards to be BSA's advancement system. Everything else (e.g., that 4th data entry person, if you will) is just redundancy.

[T2Eagle]

Over the weekend I worked with two scouts finishing up their camping merit badge; came home, entered that into Internet Advancement so the Committee Member could pick up the badges for the COH this week.  

 

I will probably eventually sign their "blue cards" which are actually 8.5 x 11 sheets of white paper, but the most salient fact is that the scouts completed the requirements and earned the badge --- everything else is just bookkeeping.

Edited September 22, 2015 by T2Eagle

[Krampus]

I don't usually post a lot. I read a great deal. I get confused sometimes in this forum because most of the time I have learned that consulting the official scout documents is always the way to go. Lately in this thread, and in discussions about uniforms, where there is clear policy around what do to knowledgeable folks are giving advice contrary to what the national publications advise.

 

Section 7.0.0.0 discusses the merit badge process. Section 7.0.0.2 says that the blue card is the "nationally recognized merit badge record". To me that means you use the blue card record, and keep it, as the process defined by national. It discusses possible issues that might arise during the process. While it does not cover all of them it covers the basics. In this case, the scout has the copy of the card so he followed the process and has proof of his work. He can then go to another unit or to his council to seek remedy should his unit not acknowledge his work. 

 

What we as individuals consider "done" is immaterial. The guide to advancement is pretty clear and that is the advice we should be following. When that does not answer our questions we should be working through our district or council advancement teams to find out what to do. Shouldn't we?

[Stosh]

or people just print them off, they don't have to be on blue paper.

 My ASM that does advancement is a little OCD.  

[Stosh]

I don't usually post a lot. I read a great deal. I get confused sometimes in this forum because most of the time I have learned that consulting the official scout documents is always the way to go. Lately in this thread, and in discussions about uniforms, where there is clear policy around what do to knowledgeable folks are giving advice contrary to what the national publications advise.

 

Section 7.0.0.0 discusses the merit badge process. Section 7.0.0.2 says that the blue card is the "nationally recognized merit badge record". To me that means you use the blue card record, and keep it, as the process defined by national. It discusses possible issues that might arise during the process. While it does not cover all of them it covers the basics. In this case, the scout has the copy of the card so he followed the process and has proof of his work. He can then go to another unit or to his council to seek remedy should his unit not acknowledge his work. 

 

What we as individuals consider "done" is immaterial. The guide to advancement is pretty clear and that is the advice we should be following. When that does not answer our questions we should be working through our district or council advancement teams to find out what to do. Shouldn't we?

 

I advise my boys that the only official record of their advancement is their Scout Handbook and Blue Cards and it is their responsibility to keep them safe, duplicated, stored or whatever.  But if they lose them they are on their own.  The adults may keep records too, but those aren't official and adults dealing with a number of boys may not get everything recorded properly.  The only way to keep track of their advancement progress is up to them.  They get this "lecture" when they first start in scouts and it is repeated ad nauseum throughout their scouting career.  I have only had a couple of sticky wickets along the way, and we got those resolved rather quickly.