Only if the leader searching the list and the counselor are in the same council, or if the counselor has manually set their visibility to “worldwide” in Scoutbook.
3 Likes
But it still says approved by under their name. The counselors that are doing online badges should only be used if they are approved and they should mark worldwide!!
If it does not say approved by… then are they approved? If properly registered then no.
No argument there, but setting the visibility is a real issue. Many councils are offering online MB courses since the start of the pandemic, and don’t explicitly contemplate the issues raised by doing so outside of council. In addition, a lot of the MBCs are not as tech-savvy, so they don’t interact with Scoutbook regularly. The only reason I even discovered the worldwide visibility option is because it came up here on the discussion boards.
Looking back at my comments, the issue is broader than just MBCs offering online courses to out-of-council scouts. MBCs can limit their visibility in Scoutbook to:
- a single unit
- a single district
- their council
- worldwide
If the person searching for the counselor isn’t in the group to which visibility has been restricted, then you can’t see them at all as a unit leader, despite them being approved, so there is no way to see their approval status as an MBC. It looks the same as “This person is not an approved MBC” would (i.e. they don’t appear on the list when searched). I understand that there may be reasons for the way that visibility is restricted, but because of those reasons, councils need to be prepared to handle the occasional out-of-council leader calling or emailing to verify registration.
I personally favor allowing new MBCs to elect to work with only a unit, since that gives them time to “grow into” the counseling process before they get inundated with requests from scouts throughout their district and council. That was how I started and it was a great opportunity to beta test a lot of approaches before I was “on call” in the district, which is how my visibility is set now. I don’t really have time to take on more scouts than I am already counseling, so restricting my visibility helps reduce the number of leaders referring a scout to me whom I will need to turn down. I know that some councils don’t permit the option to only serve a unit, and require that MBCs agree to work with the entire council, or at least their district.
We’ve wandered pretty far afield of the original topic, but I think this is a valuable area that needs more contemplation in how it is implemented. Maybe that’s from the peanut gallery, which then makes suggestions to the professionals, or maybe it needs to be re-considered by the professionals in light of the evolving circumstances.
Our discussion in taking this topic off the rails… However, counselors now control who they work with And multiple units and multiple districts are available, and possibly Councils but I do not have dirat experience with that.
1 Like
@StanleyHuhman i agree on the checking, If a MBC gets insulted when you check, and you as an adult cannot verify… I would use the Reporting Merit Badge Counseling Concerns form. https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/512-800_WB.pdf
I would then contact who is putting on the event.
We are in a newer world now.
John Heuchan
3 Likes
Note that form is not exactly formatted for out of council use. The best way to verify a counselor outside of Scoutbook would be to contact the council registrar where the MBC registered.
Identifying the council, the registrar’s contact info may take some legwork. I’d call certainly but I’d submit that form via email, file any replies.
Note: If a counselor is removed for any reason they in theory should lose connection with the Scout. I don’t believe Scoutbook is set up to notify the unit leader this has happened and, when working off Scoutbook you’d never know without checking regularly.
Yes, I agree with contacting the council. However, if the MBC clicked worldwide, then the will show in Scoutbook. By showing approved in Scoutbook, the MBC satisfies what National would want as per the GTA.
7.0.1.0 About Merit Badge Counselors
7.0.1.1 Qualifications of Counselors
People serving as merit badge counselors must maintain
registration with the Boy Scouts of America as merit
badge counselors and be approved by their local council
advancement committee for each of their badges. This
includes those working at summer camp or in any other
group instruction setting, or providing web-based
opportunities. See “Counselor Approvals and
Limitations,” 7.0.1.4. There are no exceptions.
Therefore if for some reason a MBC does not show as approved, that MBC should not be used.
From what I have read, now MBC will not show as such if they are expired. This is a major improvement over the system with letting them show for 60 days past expiration.
This might be getting into the weeds, but I don’t think they should show up if their YPT is expired either. This can happen often in the middle of the year and it is seemingly impossible to get people do do training these days.
You did get into the weeds but, that’s okay. BSA should mandate position training for everyone and no one should be allowed to serve without first completing it. If a training course has an expire, Scouters should be temporarily removed from position until they are up to date.
Training should not cost more than materials necessary to deliver (a whole other topic) and since every Scout deserves a trained leader, unit funds should pay for it.
BAC requires YPT each year, and will not allow recharter or registration without YPT extending through the recharter year.
I also agree if YPT is expired a person should not show, There are too many ways to update YPT dates if they are incorrect.
Right but once they are rechartered and expire they are still in the system until the next recharter. Case in point I have an individual that expired in January that I have been trying to get them to do their training to no avail. I think if your YPT expires you should be locked out of everything, but YPT until it is renewed.
1 Like
I agree, They should show the expired date. Then every will know what is happening, but access should be limited!! From what I understand the only thing that gets removed from SB is MBC if they expire the position, but not YPT.
This is a great idea. Like the yellow triangles, a red dot should show up next to their name. No access to anything until resolved.
Actually it’s unit(S) and district(S) plural, not “a single …”. You can select multiple districts or enter a list of units to work with as an MBC.
1 Like
I’m not sure that’s true as implemented in Scoutbook. I agree that many councils and districts do so separately from Scoutbook.
Yes, in Scoutbook an MBC can set visibility to worldwide, council, 1 or more districts, 1 or more units.
1 Like
YPT is good for TWO years and no one should be dropped until the day their YPT expires. I fully agree with giving them a 60 day grace period, after expiration, to correct that problem before completely removing them.
The biggest issue I see is that national, once again, utterly fails at letting people know their YPT is expiring. Their emails are hit and miss (at best) in my personal experience and that of a number of people I’ve asked. SB, likewise, does nothing to help here. We want everyone to maintain YPT yet we don’t effectively help them to maintain that. It’s just silliness and laziness.
There should be multiple emails going out from national at 60 days, 45 days, 30 days, 15 days, and 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 days. Then another at “YOU ARE EXPIRED”. Then another every 7 days after expiration until the 60 day grace period window is used. There should be an option to say “I quit, I’m not going to continue as a volunteer” to stop the reminders as well. There should be a DIRECT link to the training in the email.
SB should show a prominent warning on every page after login starting 60 days before expiry. It should also include a DIRECT link to take the training.
I end up having to do the job of monitoring YPT dates and sending out reminders. It doesn’t help that I can’t link directly to the YPT course either. Sadly, our volunteers have to navigate the ever changing infernal maze of my.scouting to eventually, maybe, if you’re lucky, find the training they are looking for. We could and SHOULD do a MUCH better job of supporting our volunteers, especially our MBCs as this may be their only connection to Scouting!
All it needs is one additional radio button for “worldwide” and it would be fine for out of council use.
As long as they also have “or equivalent experience” and a reasonable list of acceptable alternatives.
If I’m a Red Cross first aid instructor or a high school chemistry teacher, there’s nothing in the MBC training that helps me be a better instructor for these skills. It’s just a waste of time.
Likewise, it’s silly to make professional educators take our YPT. Our training is so poor, outdated, and slip-shod compared to what professional educators have to take it’s just embarrassing.
I could see BSA offering an EXTREEMELY abbreviated course for these cases to cover just the BSA specific bits. I’m talking about MAYBE 5 minutes long, if that.
What we really need here is some standardized youth protection training that all organizations (BSA, GSUSA, Little League, schools, day care, etc.) could offer. Then we establish reciprocity with all organizations that meet the standards so people don’t have to take the same training from different organizations. I attempted to do this in my state but couldn’t get any traction with my legislators because they immediately focused on “how much will this cost for us to maintain the registry”.
Cool beans! I didn’t know that was possible. My apologies, @JamesBrown13. I thought you were wrong, but I was.
1 Like
