Documentation for scout who quits & re-joins

[Faith]

Me again. I've searched the forums and a few search engines but could not find a direct answer on this.

 

We had a scout who was with us for Tiger & part of their Wolf year. They left our pack when they moved and later joined a pack in another town (they did not transfer there, they just joined.) They were there for the remainder of their Wolf year & part of their Bear year. A few weeks ago, they moved back here and re-joined us (again, no transfer.) 

 

I am in charge of awards for the Pack. Internet advancement website, submitting, arranging pickup, dispersal. I've never had this happen before but of course that scout is showing a blank slate on the website because nothing was transferred. We do not have any "files" on him (if we did keep that, someone would have 1000's of documents floating around on top of everything else we have filed away) so I don't even know where to begin as far as recalling what he earned or what is still needed.

 

I know he has his Bobcat. But as far as Cyber chip, loops, etc. - where do I go from here? It's not a huge deal but for the sake of getting him straightened out (and if this ever happens again for our future leadership since I'm moving up in March with my son), I wanted to ask if anyone else has been in this position and what they did.

 

I'm sure there's something we could have done in the past to prevent this (documentation wise) but I'll take it as a learning lesson. I have reached out to his mom about dates/info but got a bunch of "I have no idea" so, I'm on my own for this until further notice. 

[blw2]

Records at council are all that really mater.....

and truthfully for cubs, it doesn't matter all that much

the date he earned the rank is about it I believe....

 

Your council will have record of when he earned Tiger.

 

I'll assume he actually earned wolf and bear in the other pack.  If he did, his book would probably have that info in the sign offs if he even still has his books.....  You could probably just relay this info to council yourself to get it all straight....

or perhaps a quick call to his old council..... or your council may even do that for you to get the record straight.

Just give your council a quick call.

 

I'm convinced that for cubs there is zero need in all of this progress tracking. It's all just "make-work" non-sense.

 

In this case, it sounds like he's rejoined the bear den.... 

or maybe the webelos den

If he joined WEBELOS..... if he earned bear, great.  If he didn't, no problem.  It really just doesn't matter.

[qwazse]

True it's no big deal, but there's this "Do your best" motto that's kind of a nag.

 

Does the boy still have his handbooks? That's the first thing you should ask. Anything worth earning should have been signed off there.That little exercise will help prepare him for taking charge of his own progress.

 

Then, just look at his uniform. Have him bring in whatever he's bling he has managed to keep. What pins does he have? Make this fun for the boys. Have his den help you identify anything on his uniform that will help "set the record straight"! Then give him a "welcome back" patch. (I'm sure by now you have a few spares from past events that he might have missed.)

 

Sure you could drop a line to some other council HQ and try and chase paper. But where's the fun in that?

[Scoutmaster Teddy]

True it's no big deal, but there's this "Do your best" motto that's kind of a nag.

 

Does the boy still have his handbooks? That's the first thing you should ask. Anything worth earning should have been signed off there.That little exercise will help prepare him for taking charge of his own progress.

 

Then, just look at his uniform. Have him bring in whatever he's bling he has managed to keep. What pins does he have? Make this fun for the boys. Have his den help you identify anything on his uniform that will help "set the record straight"! Then give him a "welcome back" patch. (I'm sure by now you have a few spares from past events that he might have missed.)

 

Sure you could drop a line to some other council HQ and try and chase paper. But where's the fun in that?

 

Qwazse nailed it! It would be a blast to let the other boys see his "bling."

[Eagle94-A1]

Council can probably help, and that's IF they kept records.  My first den had some issues in that the records were NOT being recorded by the council. I hand delivered multiple ARs, and when it came time for their records, it was not showing up on the reports. Ticked off the SE when he made a comment about Cub Advancement not being done in my district at a commissioners' meeting, and had to tell him they were not being recorded at the council level.   

 

How I handled that situation, and others, was SCOUTNET.  I just imputed the data just before they crossed over so their records would be correct.

[blw2]

yep, all great ideas.

I especially like the bling puzzle exercise.... in theory anyway.  It brings a lot of the advantages that the uniform method is supposed to bring to the party.  A good way to rebuild the record.

In reality though I think that the results of it depend greatly on the den and even this scout.  I've written this before, even recently, but my son's den never seemed to give much of a care at all for any of it..... the patches, the bling, the uniform.... meh.  They just wanted to do something fun and that wasn't it. 

 

And correct also, with that bit about doing your best.  My real point was that it's not worth stopping the show over, not much there worth stressing about.

[Faith]

Thank you all so much, wonderful ideas. I prefer not to contact council and love the idea with the blind and books. He is one of our Scouts that have a blank uniform. So the book will help if it's recorded, as will his awards if they have them accessible. I know in theory it doesn't matter, I just hate having blanks before I pass all this onto someone else.

[gumbymaster]

Both registrations should have an attached member ID number.  Contact your District or Council Advancement committee, it is likely that they have the ability to merge the multiple accounts into one, then use that number on a transfer application from the most recent unit.

 

This may or may not resolve past advancement records getting merged - it may also be possible to use the Scout's book signatures to retroactively update the records into whatever Scout ID you have for his current membership with your unit.

[blw2]

Thank you all so much, wonderful ideas. I prefer not to contact council and love the idea with the blind and books. He is one of our Scouts that have a blank uniform. So the book will help if it's recorded, as will his awards if they have them accessible. I know in theory it doesn't matter, I just hate having blanks before I pass all this onto someone else.

 

I'll just throw this out there....

calling council really is no big deal at all.  I have found that they are very easy to work with.  Just call and identify yourself and your pack affiliation (Den Leader in Pack 123), and ask your question.  The receptionist will point you to the right person.  You might or might not get the answer, or get good information, but then again you might get it.  I have found it really doesn't matter how basic or even stupid the question seems.  There really is no need at all to be concerned about anything.  Odds are good you'll end up having an interesting discussion and you might just maybe get the question answered.

 

Remember, they are working for you..... because you are working for the scouts.

 

....and even if you do get the answer, there's no reason you can't go through the other exercises with the scouts anyway.

Edited December 7, 2016 by blw2

[gumbymaster]

Remember that contacting the Council or District does not always or even usually mean the professional staff.

 

This is one of those things where, if you have a Unit Commissioner assigned, they would be very helpful to resolve this; they will usually know of be able to find out the right people to get it done.

[qwazse]

I'm not saying calling any BSA staff is unpleasant. I'm just balancing the fun doing that against the fun letting the boy know you're really excited to have him back and want to know about everything he accomplished in his last pack.

Edited December 7, 2016 by qwazse

[Faith]

I'll just throw this out there....

calling council really is no big deal at all.  I have found that they are very easy to work with.  Just call and identify yourself and your pack affiliation (Den Leader in Pack 123), and ask your question.  The receptionist will point you to the right person.  You might or might not get the answer, or get good information, but then again you might get it.  I have found it really doesn't matter how basic or even stupid the question seems.  There really is no need at all to be concerned about anything.  Odds are good you'll end up having an interesting discussion and you might just maybe get the question answered.

 

Remember, they are working for you..... because you are working for the scouts.

 

....and even if you do get the answer, there's no reason you can't go through the other exercises with the scouts anyway.

 

I used to feel the same way. Then once I took over awards and have reached out a few times before...I'd just rather see if there are any other ways beforehand. There used to be a very helpful, polite lady there that I really enjoyed talking with. She made everything a breeze. She has since been let go and some of the newer staff there that I've been in touch with since then...not so helpful. I've had other members of our Pack call for things that they needed and it went the same way. When I have to call, 4 times, just to have our membership cards sent to us (small example) - I feel like anything we need or ask for is just a bother to them. Our council is going all kinds of ways right now (merging districts, changing pack numbers to appease a new DE due to his feelings, constantly downing us because we don't bring in nearly as much as the other, bigger areas in popcorn sles, etc.) & right now I feel like we're the trouble makers and would rather do this on our own *if* possible.

 

But again, as always, I appreciate all input and hope this doesn't come across as anything but. I just hate the mood I'm left in after chatting with them lately.

[Faith]

Both registrations should have an attached member ID number.  Contact your District or Council Advancement committee, it is likely that they have the ability to merge the multiple accounts into one, then use that number on a transfer application from the most recent unit.

 

This may or may not resolve past advancement records getting merged - it may also be possible to use the Scout's book signatures to retroactively update the records into whatever Scout ID you have for his current membership with your unit.

 

That's a great idea, if we can't reach what we need from the other suggestions here (book, etc.) - I will look into this. We've had to have other numbers merged in the past (adult.)

[Faith]

Remember that contacting the Council or District does not always or even usually mean the professional staff.

 

This is one of those things where, if you have a Unit Commissioner assigned, they would be very helpful to resolve this; they will usually know of be able to find out the right people to get it done.

 

One of my closest friends in scouting is our UC, she's been in the position for 2 years now (before her, we didn't have one.) I contacted her first and she had no idea besides calling council (scouting & its inter-workings really has been a learning experience for us both, in many aspects.) I told her I'd ask here first as this is my normal go-to for suggestions (working online for a living, I sometimes rely on forums too much ) and then go from here.