Blue Cards

[NationalTrailEagle]

How long should a Troop hold on to Blue Cards?

[fred8033]

1 hour ago, NationalTrailEagle said:

How long should a Troop hold on to Blue Cards?

Until they see the scout.  

Question is a little like "when did you stop beating your wife?".  It's hard to answer because you shouldn't be doing that.  The blue card should either be in the hands of the scout or the counselor.  When done, the scout hands in the troop's portion for the troop to keep.  The scout keeps his part.  The counselor keeps his part.  

[Treflienne]

1 hour ago, fred8033 said:

When done, the scout hands in the troop's portion for the troop to keep

I think that the original question was "How long should a Troop hold on to the troop's third of the blue card, after the scout has completed the merit badge?"

Until the scout ages out of scouting?

[Eagledad]

1 hour ago, fred8033 said:

Until they see the scout.  

Question is a little like "when did you stop beating your wife?".  It's hard to answer because you shouldn't be doing that.  The blue card should either be in the hands of the scout or the counselor.  When done, the scout hands in the troop's portion for the troop to keep.  The scout keeps his part.  The counselor keeps his part.  

Umm......that's the best analogy you could think of? 

Barry

[scotteg83]

Once the scout has aged out, and has received his last rank prior, I don't see a reason to keep the troops copy.  I would, however, give them back to the scout at that time.

[fred8033]

54 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Umm......that's the best analogy you could think of? 

Barry

Yeah.  I was in a mood, but that is the common comparison to a logical fallacy.  

[NationalTrailEagle]

To clarify, I should have asked, how long should a Troop hold on to the Troop's portion of the Blue Card?

[T2Eagle]

We hold them until the scout has aged out, and then we keep them until someone decides it's time to purge the files every few years.

Holding on to them is pretty redundant since the record is held electronically in BSA's Scoutnet and in the Troop's Troopmaster file.

[fred8033]

5 hours ago, NationalTrailEagle said:

To clarify, I should have asked, how long should a Troop hold on to the Troop's portion of the Blue Card?

I knew a scoutmaster that kept them for 20+ years.  I personally see little value.

I'm with T2Eagle.  Now that records are electronic, it's mostly redundant.    Minimize the time invested.  Have an envelope for 2010, 2011, 2012, etc.  Throw away after a few years or eight if it makes you feel better.  

I've never seen a troop use their portion of the cards to recreate records.  Maybe in the old days it would have happened.  But not now.

[qwazse]

7 hours ago, fred8033 said:

... Throw away after a few years or eight if it makes you feel better.  

I've never seen a troop use their portion of the cards to recreate records.  Maybe in the old days it would have happened.  But not now.

As one with a brother who ended his scouting career as a Life scout because his SM went AWOL along with all blue cards and not so much as a good-bye or call to the troop across town to help the scouts transfer ... I'd say eight years. And, let several people know exactly where those records are being kept.

[mrkstvns]

19 hours ago, fred8033 said:

... The blue card should either be in the hands of the scout or the counselor.  When done, the scout hands in the troop's portion for the troop to keep.  The scout keeps his part.  The counselor keeps his part.  

Ummm.  Yeahhhhhh....

I sincerely doubt there are many counselors who actually DO keep their parts of the blue card (and even fewer who could actually lay hands on it if ever asked).  Expecting counselors to do so is a quaint fantasy.

[malraux]

I still have my blue cards from 25 years ago...

[MikeS72]

7 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

I sincerely doubt there are many counselors who actually DO keep their parts of the blue card (and even fewer who could actually lay hands on it if ever asked).  Expecting counselors to do so is a quaint fantasy.

I will plead guilty to being one of those who does keep my copy of every blue card.  Most of what I sign are for scouts in my troop, and I know that there is always that scout who will come up to me weeks later, after having lost the rest of the card before thinking about turning it in to our advancement chair.

[mrkstvns]

3 minutes ago, MikeS72 said:

I will plead guilty to being one of those who does keep my copy of every blue card.  Most of what I sign are for scouts in my troop, and I know that there is always that scout who will come up to me weeks later, after having lost the rest of the card before thinking about turning it in to our advancement chair.

Glad to hear it works out for you.  I can see the value in being able to back up a scout who loses a card....but for how long are you willing to be that safety net?  Do you keep cards for years? That sure would add up to a lot of clutter as time goes by. That certainly does not work out for me, particularly since the troop should be keeping records of such things (via Scoutbook these days) and the scout should have his copy of the blue card for backup.  Triple redundancy just seems silly and an unreasonable imposition on already overtaxed scouters.

I remain convinced that there is no serious value in a counselor keeping his part of a blue card.

 

[MikeS72]

37 minutes ago, mrkstvns said:

I can see the value in being able to back up a scout who loses a card....but for how long are you willing to be that safety net?

Until I see that it has been entered in Scoutbook.