Den3702

Thank all of you so much for your replies and support. I must say this whole situation is giving me a new learning curve in Scouting! Last night's Den meeting was just shy of a lynch mob. I pulled the parents out of the room to let them rant without having the Bears distracted. I am lucky to have a wonderful Assistant Den Leader. I am trying to sort through all of the heresy and get down to the facts. The Pack roster copy I received is not from Council. It was sent to me from the Committee Chairperson. I emailed the CM to get his response to the allegations he did this AFTER Council already said no and refused her registration. Hopefully he will reply soon. Uncleguinea; I heard that Council refused her application but I have not been able to confirm this as of yet. There is no ambiguity with the first name she has. ScoutNut, yup the liability placed on all of us is a big consideration here. tma-1 that is my point exactly, we are not designed to include girls in the BSA program. We have several Girl Scout Troops in the local area that are actually more active than some of the Cub Scout Dens. I wish I could have heard from this young lady as to her reasoning for wanting to join Cub Scouts. This situation just stinks and the way that it has been handled appears rather sneaky and underhanded.What message does this send to our Cubs? That you just ignore the rules and do what you want? I think not. It was decided with my Den parents last night that if our Pack is going to pursue this ridiculous notion, we will leave the Pack. I am wondering how this is going to affect the Pack in just having to deal with this. A petition has been started to get the consensus of the other parents. There may come a day when co-ed Scouting is available in the US. Today is not that day. To just force against the tide without having the support and system designed to embrace a co-ed situation was foolish. Falling off my horse now..thanks for letting me vent off some frustration.

I just received a copy of the new pack roster. This young lady's name is listed in the roster as a Webelos 1st year. I am not looking forward to my Den meeting with angry parents tonight. I am frustrated with what seems to be a total lack of respect by a select few. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.....

Girls have cooties.... BUT they're really pretty and nice cooties unlike those puppy dog's tail type cooties the BOYS have(This message has been edited by Den3702)

Thank you both for your replies. I do agree with you that this situation is totally implausible. I never imagined I would have been having to deal with it myself. Unfortunately, I am fairly new to Scouting and not familiar with all the rules and regulations. My opinion was it states in the leader's handbook that Cub Scouts is for boys, end of discussion. However, we have a few of those who wish to buck the system. I had searched the www in hopes of finding another Pack that has had to deal with this and came upon your forum. I appreciate the opportunity to be allowed to post here and also your taking the time to respond. I understood it was the DE that was visiting the Committee Meetings, perhaps I am wrong in his title. Either way, thank you. I thought I was all up on my high horse without a saddle about not having a young lady enter into our Pack for what seemed obvious reasons to me. Your replies have firmed up my decision to discuss this further at the Council level.

The DE, who does attend Committee Meetings every now and then, did state that it definetely would not be allowed in Boy Scouts but he wasn't sure of the policy in Cub Scouts for allowing young ladies to join. He was also getting the "evil eye" from those who were interested in letting her join. It appeared to me he didn't want to take a definitive stance without checking with Council. The discussion at that time was also getting rather heated, he may have been trying to let it cool off by deferring to Council approval. "Unless you are willling to move the pack and the young Lady to a country that allows girls, it just can't be done. This isn't a matter of opinion it is just the way it is. I hope you don't mind me asking. But what was a DE doing at a monthly pack committee meeting? I have say that I'm a little more than surprised that he or she didn't lay out the facts there and then. Eamonn"

This has become an issue in the pack of which I am currently a Bears Den Leader in. I wish to ask all of you for your opinions, whether they be positive or negative. I am asking here so as to try and get opinions from those not directly involved. I have purposely not disclosed my position in this issue. The situation is as follows: At the monthly Pack Committee Meeting it was brought up for discussion that a girl was interested in joining the Pack. She would be of Webelos age and has brothers currently in Cub Scouting. Three Committee Members felt this would be a positive, albeit proactive, move to allow her to join. Three others had a very negative reaction and felt the girl would be better served in joining the Girl Scouts. The Cubmaster felt the boys would need to learn to adjust to it but he saw no reason the girl could not join. The remaining attending Committee Members did not remark as to their position. Our DE present at the meeting recommended that the policy on girl's in Cub Scouts be determined and ultimately would require approval from the Council. No further discussion on this topic has occurred since then at Committee level. I received a telephone call from a CubScout mother rather upset she learned a girl has joined our Pack from a member of another local Pack. She contacted the Cubmaster who stated that the Council had indeed approved the girl to join if no one had a problem with it. Well, it now appears that several of the parents do have a problem with it and are very upset there was no discussion with the other members of the Pack prior to making the decision to allow her to join. My main concern here is the children involved in this volatile issue. My question to the board members is this: Do you feel girl's should be allowed to join CubScouts? Why or why not? Thank you for your opinions.