19 September 2008
Different Policies, Same Cost
Posted by admin under: Community Partners .
After decades of waiving fees for the Scouts, the school board now will charge them $7 an hour to hold their meetings in schools.
The fee is much less than the $20 an hour other nonprofits pay to rent a classroom, but it came as a shock to Scout leaders who hadn’t budgeted for the extra cost. About 350 Girl Scout troops meet in Palm Beach County schools.
See, what shorts my sheets with this kind of thing is that Girl Scouts has been changing, changing, changing over the years trying to keep everyone happy so that they won’t have to get caught up in this kind of thing. Do they get a pass because they’ve made religious affiliation optional? Nope. Do they get a pass because gay leaders are allowed? Nope. The changes have not granted them any kind of special handling. GSUSA is still the premier organization for teaching girls leadership and other skills, but almost one hundred years of service to their communities and valuable programs to keep the focus of our girls on positive activities means little to some politicians.
Apparently, the Palm Beach Scouts are going to try to get this decision reversed, if possible, and I hope they do. I don’t want money given to Scouts by the government, but I would like it to recognize the service Scouting provides and try not to get in the way.
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9 Comments so far...
Brian Westley Says:
20 September 2008 at 8:07 pm.
“Do they get a pass because they’ve made religious affiliation optional? Nope. Do they get a pass because gay leaders are allowed? Nope.”
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say here; I’d say the Girl Scouts changed their policy because they didn’t want to exclude any girls from their organization, not because they’re trying to get special treatment. It’s the BSA that thinks it’s entitled to free government handouts.
And if you’ll read the story closely, you’ll see that both Boy and Girl Scouts are getting cheaper rates than other nonprofits, which may still get the school in trouble if some of the other organizations that are charged more decide to file a lawsuit.
admin Says:
21 September 2008 at 9:05 pm.
My annoyance is that the Scouts have been meeting at schools since they started. Yes, I saw their rate was lower, but other non-profits meeting generally once per month at most and many times once per quarter. Scouts meet every week which makes their cost higher in the long run than other non profits.
So, the Girl Scouts has changed their program to be more correct and easy going than the BSA and has it gotten them preferential treatment over the Boy Scouts? Nope. The decision to change was imposed from above by national, in my opinion. The net effect has not been to make GSUSA more respected than BSA as evidenced by this news item. If you’re going to change and tick off much of your membership at least you’d like to get some recognition for it. Seems to be missing here. And I don’t even like imposing these costs in the first place. Since the GSUSA has their own insurance and the use of facilities is minimal requiring no expense by the school other than a few watts of electricity (which might have been used anyway) I’m annoyed that cities are treating Girl Scouts like some sort of imposition rather than an organization that is doing the good work they do.
Brian Westley Says:
22 September 2008 at 9:55 pm.
“The decision to change was imposed from above by national, in my opinion.”
Are you referring to the GSUSA’s inclusive policies, or the BSA exclusive policies?
“The net effect has not been to make GSUSA more respected than BSA as evidenced by this news item.”
Are you equating a discount with “respect”? And are you suggesting that the GSUSA changed their policy as some kind of PR stunt?
“If you’re going to change and tick off much of your membership at least you’d like to get some recognition for it. ”
Again, I can’t tell if you’re referring to the GSUSA or the BSA. The BSA has lost a significant fraction of its scout membership in the last ten years.
“I’m annoyed that cities are treating Girl Scouts like some sort of imposition rather than an organization that is doing the good work they do.”
In some cases the BSA is dragging down the GSUSA. Public schools are trying to distance themselves from the BSA due to their discriminatory policies (which public schools can’t practice), and if they treat the GSUSA any better than they do the BSA, the BSA will sue to get the same deal as the Girl Scouts. So the safest thing for schools to do is not allow any special deals.
admin Says:
23 September 2008 at 1:28 pm.
My comments were all about GSUSA. Yes, I agree that the word “Scout” associates BSA and GSUSA and so schools and things treat them the same. My point was that activists have been trying to point out BSA’s flaws while GSUSA changed to accomodate those objections, but nobody treats GSUSA better thanBSA because of it. Obviously, you don’t change to receive some sort of recognition, but one would expect that the recognition would occur anyway. Without it, the issues (God & Homosexuality) must be less important than we’ve been led to believe. Otherwise, the organizations would be treated differently.
Brian Westley Says:
23 September 2008 at 2:02 pm.
You seem to think that local public schools have the authority to adjust fees based on whether they agree with the views espoused by those groups; school boards that do this get sued, and lose (see e.g. rulings about “Good News Clubs”). By far, the safest thing for any school board to do is treat everyone the same — no special deals for anyone, because that’s trivial to legally defend. Once they start making exceptions, they open a can of worms.
The gay and atheist issues are what lead to the BSA losing their largest single chartering partner (public schools), so I still think it’s an important issue. I don’t think you can point to the Girl Scouts being treated equally as a basis to dismiss the importance of those issues, because the whole discrimination problem has resulted in many school boards reconsidering their policies, and under the “special rights” legislation in the No Child Left Behind bill added just for Scouts, the Boy Scouts AND the Girl Scouts have the be treated identically. So you just aren’t going to see the GS get special deals because the BSA would sue.
admin Says:
23 September 2008 at 2:12 pm.
I’d like to say you’re wrong because BSA almost never brings suits, but we both know that leaders do and then BSA gets involved. I guess I’m just tired of cities imposing these costs. We end up having to fight it every couple of years. The free volunteer work Scouts do far outpaces the minimal costs involved in keeping the lights on for another hour or two. It feels like politicians don’t care about damaging Scouting as much as they do treating them like a cash resource. Anybody who has spent days in the sun trying to sell various treats and objects for the cash to afford the program can’t help but resent cities who are trying to get their hands on it.
Brian Westley Says:
24 September 2008 at 9:45 am.
“I guess I’m just tired of cities imposing these costs. We end up having to fight it every couple of years. The free volunteer work Scouts do far outpaces the minimal costs involved in keeping the lights on for another hour or two.”
The BSA’s discrimination makes it all but impossible for schools and cities to offer them special deals anymore. Private organizations pay their own way.
Cici Says:
25 September 2008 at 2:25 am.
Brian you are such a broken record. Maybe you don’t speak for the school boards. Maybe this isn’t all the result of the evil BSA. Maybe the school boards are trying to find ways to make more money!!! Wow…that never happens huh? If you hate the BSA so much; why don’t you join the Y? Or start your own group? Should all clubs and organizations that don’t agree with you or want you to be a leader be destroyed? Me and my friends have a Girls Night Out group. You can’t be in our group. You’re not a girl. Does that make us diabolical? Should everyone hate us? Okay…maybe I’m cranky tonight but don’t you ever talk about anything positive? Ever? Are you only inspired to speak when you can get into someone’s face?
Brian Westley Says:
28 September 2008 at 6:14 pm.
Cici, the BSA is trying to have it both ways. They want to be a private club that can exclude anyone, but they also want special deals that no one else gets, like reduced rent, recruiting during school hours, and other “special rights.” They even expected public schools to break the law on their behalf and exclude atheists from cub scout packs chartered to public schools. I’ll say something positive about the BSA when they stop acting dishonestly.
