Welcome! This forum has a treasure trove of great info – Scouters helping Scouters! Just a heads up, though - all content, information, and opinions shared on this forum are those of the author, not the BSA.
I am a Key3 Delegate, Troop Admin, and Unit Advancement Chair, + others as shown in the Adult roster.
I was looking at the Connctions Manager and saw that some parents have “Full Access” to their Scout’s records. I assume that with this “Full Access” the parents can give awards/Ranks without going through the Troop. We have a Troop policy that Parents are not allowed to sign-off on their scout’s advancements except in special cases (some Family Life Requirements, Cooking requirements (cooking at home), etc.). I wanted to change their access to view/edit profile, and view advancements. The system will not let me. I click on the Intersection of parent and scout and nothing happens.
The Parental Full Control is not the same as the Leader Full Control. Parental Full Control does not allow parents to Approve, only to mark it as Complete which tells the Leader the Scout is ready to be tested. It is like marking the left column in the Scouts book.
Am I correct in assuming that Parents with “Full Access” can simply give their scout a merit badge that he has not earned and then Scoutbook will sync with Scoutnet and put it into the official records? This bypasses the MBC system, and the Troop System that make sure scouts “earn” awards and not just have awards given to them by their parents.
If this is the case, awards/Ranks become meaningless. And the Eagle Scout rank becomes just another “rubber stamp” award. I have a very high regard for the Eagle Scout Rank and I see scouts getting through Life Rank with no “earning” required through ScoutBook without the checks and balances built into advancement through the Troop System that is designed to ensure that a scout has EARNED an advancement. Unfortunately I did not reach Eagle Scout myself, but our Scoutmaster (an Eagle Scout and Vigil Member) is very adamant that scouts earn their awards.
We had a case where a Parent and Scout transferred into our Troop after having been in several other Troops. The scout was 11 years old and had 25 merit badges. He claimed to have completed Camping or Backpacking (not sure which) and one of our leaders sat down with him and the requirements worksheet to discuss his experiences in completing the badge. The scout claimed that he had been on a backpacking trip with a 2000 ft elevation change. He could not give any details about his experience, where they went, when they went, was it raining, what meals did you prepare. etc. It became obvious that the scout had not done the work to earn the Merit Badge. Evidently, previous troops had just taken the scout’s word and Scout’s Parent that he had completed the badges that he had already be awarded. When we refused to give him the Merit Badge, they quit the troop.
If Full Control means different things based on the user, then something other that a red circle should be used for “Limited Full Control” or a permission to “Mark for Completion Review”. As it now, It appears that parents can do anything with their scout’s advancement record because they have “Full Control” shown no differently that Troop Administrators and Key 3 personnel. Some additional Symbols and Titles could clear up this situation and make it obvious the permissions that the user has.
Is there tracking information about what user did what to a scouts record? This journaling is standard practice in accounting system software. It should also apply in a system like this. If a mistake is made, it can easily be corrected if it is known what user made the entry/change/approval.
You will not get many arguments, other than changing the wording will just add to the confusion. Beginning of the year BSA gave all Parents Full Control of all aspects of their Scouts account other than Approval of stuff. At that point the designation became moot. Since it is just the rights the Parents now have. It would be better to remove all the designations because they cannot be applied to the Parent.
