Question about approving MB requirements

Scoutbook Using Scoutbook & Scoutbook Plus
1

This question is more procedural than technical, but maybe someone here will have insight on this:

Should I as Scoutmaster approve/record a merit badge requirement even though I’m not a MB counselor when the requirement in question is earning another award or MB?

I have two not hypothetical examples:

  1. A Scout goes to a Council-sponsored merit badge day and works on Wood Carving MB. The MBC did not sign off 2a, “Earn the Totin’ Chip” because the Scout did not have his original card with him. I know he has earned Totin’ Chip because I signed the card, but the MBC doesn’t know that and didn’t accept the Scout’s evidence (a photocopy of his card). I am not a Wood Carving MBC. Should I approve it anyway?
  2. A Scout worked on Emergency Preparedness MB at summer camp and the advancement report has everything approved except requirement 1 (v2025) which is to earn First Aid MB, which this Scout has. It would be nice if SB automatically connected those dots, but still, I as Scoutmaster have a record of that MB being earned, and the MBC doesn’t. Should I approve that requirement, even though I’m not an e-prep MBC?

Again, this is a more procedural or philosophical question, and I’m wondering how others have approached similar situations. I’ve read the Guide to Advancement, and I can see arguments both ways.

What do you think?

ZW

2

That is typically what I have done as an SM - EPrep - First Aid MB - mark it as complete in EPrep. Or have the Scout mark it in SB.

Not all MBCs use SB.

3

@ZachWhalen

You, the Scout or the Scout’s parents can mark these requirements complete but I would not mark them approved without a MBC for that MB approving them (either directly in SB+ or via a physical Blue Card, e-mail, etc.)

What I don’t understand is why the MBC would not accept a copy, photo, etc of Totin Chip. If the MBC didn’t believe the Scout earned it, the Scout should not have been permitted to work with a knife.

4

@ZachWhalen - and the camp should have had a method of the scoutmaster certification of pre-reqs. I know I have provided that form for each camp we had attended.

5

@edavignon

Yes, I agree. I don’t know why the MBC wouldn’t approve it, since that same contradiction occurred to me as well. Granted, there may be more to the story, since I haven’t received the report or blue card yet. This information was just from the Scout’s parent.

What’s convenient in both of these specific cases is that I have parents in the troop who I’ve been encouraging to get approved as MBCs. Both Wood Carving and E-Prep make sense for a couple of them, so maybe I can use this as motivation to get them signed up.