Loss of Charter

[ASM59]

Good Day,

 

Our local Cub Pack, from which come many of our new Boy Scouts, has been notified that their Charter Organization is dropping the Pack. The Pack is scrambling to find a new CO with the help of our DE. The Charter Organization is our local elementary school. Their reason for dropping the Pack is the BSAs policy regarding the whole homosexuality issue.

 

My point here is not to bring up the whole homosexual debate again but to simply ask, Are any of you aware of any other units being dropped by their Charter Organization because of this issue?

 

ASM59

[OldGreyEagle]

I am a bit surprised I got here before Merlyn, but the BSA has said it would not recharter any units chartered to governmental units. The topic has been discussed here and there in this forum. I am a little surprised your DE seems surprised as the BSA intentions not to renew governmental units charters has been announced for some time. And now, to point out my errors and fill in the rest, I introduce Merlyn LeRoy

[LovetoCamp]

Call your nearest American Legion Post. They will most likely be more than willing to help out!

[ASM59]

Thanks for the info OGE...

I'll have to look into that. Perhaps the information that I received from my source at the Cub Pack was mistaken or misinformed.

 

ASM59

[ASM59]

Now I really wonder...

Our Troop is Chartered with a local Park District. I would think that a Park District has a governmental association.

 

Anyone out there whose Unit is affected by this I'd be interested in hearing from you.

 

In the mean time I'll search the forums to see if I can find any information.

 

ASM59

[Bob White]

The issue here is not homosexuality that is causing the units to be dumped. The issue is legal harassment from the ACLU which has had a 25 year battle against the BSA, this is simply their latest ploy. School districts have enough financial problems without expensive and protracting legal proceedings as the ACLU has promised to begin against them. They are being forced to abandon the Scouting program from a simply practical financial standpoint.

 

This is not a social statement by the schools, manny teachers and school administrators throughout the country are scout volunteers. I would wager that you will find more scouts serving their community on school boards then you will find ACLU members doing the same.

 

This is a politically motivated attack by a politically motivated ACLU and nothing more. I am confident that your pack will be able to continue to serve the youth in your community with a new charter organization very quickly.

 

BW

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Mr ASM59,

 

I will leave the political debate to others. For now, RUN, do not WALK, to your local VFW and/or American Legion Post. Contact your local UC/DC and district executive on the way!

 

Both these great patriotic organizations have National mandates to their local units: Pick up BSA units dropped by other chartering partners!

 

http://www.legion.org/?section=prog_evt&subsection=evt_scouting&content=evt_scouting

 

http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=cmty.leveld&did=154

 

I don't promise your local posts will pick up the slack, but they're often willing!

 

The Troop and Crew of my son is chartered by a VFW Post, as was his Cub Pack. Superior support.(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[art jrk]

Here is another option you may have. Our Pack and Troop both have the School PTA as the CO. We receive a lot of support from the School and the PTA, which many members have kids in scouts. Also the PTA is not held to the same constraints as the school would be.

[johndaigler]

Political opinions aside, it's fairly irrelevant whether the cause is BSA policy change, Federal govt. policy change, or Court mandated policy change. As you trot off to the VFW and/or American Legion, pause to take a longer look at these forums. Do a search concerning COs. I believe there are several threads that discuss what the COs and their CORs should and could do for a Unit. As much as the VFW is a no-brainer, there is no reason not to do a little research and investigation. As important as the CO is, IMHO, the COR can make or break the potential value of the CO. Why not do a little comparison shopping?

 

For additional information there is a Training course and syllabus for "Training the Chartered Organization Representative". Even if you don't use this before you make new CO decisions, you should definitely point it out to the Pack's new CO/COR.

 

jd

 

>>If the local Park District is publicly funded in as direct a manner as the school district, it MAY also have difficulty re-Chartering. Best to know sooner rather than later.

 

 

Good Luck with both units!

[eisely]

You should also reach out to local service clubs such as Lions or Rotary, and women's service clubs (with which I am less familiar).

[evmori]

I was gonna suggest the PTA, too. What about the local churchs?

 

Their reason for dropping the Pack is the BSAs policy regarding the whole homosexuality issue.

 

That's sad. I wonder if they would knowing hire a gay teacher. And if they did & the parents found out, what would happen.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[scoutingagain]

Ed,

 

In many states and municipalities it would be illegal to not hire a gay school teacher if they are otherwise qualified. While the BSA is free to set it's own leadership policies as a private organization, many local governments have included sexual orientation in the same class as race, religion and gender and therefore hiring decisions may not consider the sexual orientation of the candidate any more than they could their skin color.

 

At this point, I would say any unit that is currently chartered by a government agency, including recreation depts, public schools, parks departments etc. should be actively seeking an alternate CO.

 

SA

 

 

[Bob White]

Scouting again is correct, public schools are just that 'public' the laws governing their operations are a totally different set of laws than those regulating private organizations such as the BSA. you cannot hold up against the other as far as applicable laws.

 

 

[evmori]

I know it is illegal to not hire someone based on sexual orientation. But it is done. I know that doesn't make it right. And I wasn't trying to compare the two. And this isn't the topic of this thread.

 

Good luck on finding a new charter partner.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Bob White writes:

The issue here is not homosexuality that is causing the units to be dumped. The issue is legal harassment from the ACLU which has had a 25 year battle against the BSA, this is simply their latest ploy. School districts have enough financial problems without expensive and protracting legal proceedings as the ACLU has promised to begin against them. They are being forced to abandon the Scouting program from a simply practical financial standpoint.

 

No, the issue is that public schools can't discriminate against atheists by running Scout units that exclude atheists. The "expense" excuse is just the BSA's lie to make them look good.

 

...This is a politically motivated attack by a politically motivated ACLU and nothing more

 

No Bob, atheists have equal civil rights, which means (among other things) that public schools can't own & operate youth groups that exclude them.

 

By the way, I would advice against rechartering with a PTA/PTO, as it's likely they are classified as public accommodations and cannot legally practice religious discrimination, either.