Although having the ability to have a parent validate advancement for Cubs is permitted, doing it for Scouts is not. I would like to see a layer of security added so that parents/guardians for Scouts are not explicitly permitted to do so once a boy hits Scout age, unless an Admin approves that ability.
The BSA has stated that parents shall have full control of their children in Scoutbook. This includes the ability to mark requirements complete. Anything marked complete in Scoutbook must be approved by a leader. A parent who is not a leader may not approve anything. Parents who are leaders need to be instructed not to check the leader approved box unless that is their role in the unit.
Completed in Scoutbook just means the Scout is ready to be tested. This is equivalent to putting a check in the left column of the rank table of the Scouts BSA handbook. Just as you can’t prevent a parent from writing in the handbook, you can’t prevent a parent from marking an item complete in Scoutbook.
There is an audit report available if you want to know who marked advancement completed, approved and awarded.
Keep in mind, some parents do not permit their children to have a smartphone, e-mail address or access sites like Scoutbook. It is the parent’s decision to give a Scout access to Scoutbook. If the parent decides not to give the Scout access, the family can still make use of Scoutbook because the parent can mark requirements complete.
There are no plans to change this policy nor give units the ability to override it.
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I’ll back up Ed on this one. At first I was very skeptical of parents in the Scouts BSA program being able to check off requirements as “completed.” However, I am pleased to report that it hasn’t proved to be the problem that I and the other troop leaders originally thought it might be. I takes a little time to educate parents about how it works but once it has been explained, we have had very few problems with this feature. Since COVID-19 hit, it actually has proven to be helpful.
Chuck Olson
Troop 463 Sandy Springs, GA
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