20 November 2008
Parents Make Federal Case Out of Scouting
Posted by admin under: special needs .
This seems fairly over the top. A troop in my council decided not to take a boy in their unit on a campout and the boy’s parents sued. Now they’re all going to federal court.
The parents, Jane Dubovy and Mike Reilly of Pacific Palisades, allege that Troop 223 violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when the troop excluded their child, Casey Reilly, from a weeklong scouting trip, which prevented him from advancing in rank.
In October 2006, Federal District Court Judge S. James Otero dismissed the lawsuit before the parents’ attorney, Christopher Knauf, had a chance to present the case.
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Dubovy and Reilly appealed Judge Otero’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena. This May, Knauf argued the case’s merit before Ninth Circuit Judges Jay Bybee, Marsha Berzon and Barry Silverman.
‘The judges recently decided that the case was pled properly and that we have enough facts to go forward,’ Dubovy told the Palisadian-Post.
I’ve always felt like I don’t really have to worry about the parents in my troop. I always follow the organization’s rules, but there’s been a couple of times when I look up from my table and discover I’m in the room alone with a Boy Scout. I shoo him outdoors where he’s supposed to be, but it never really crosses my mind that some bad accusation will be made and that I’ll have to find a lawyer. I don’t know the circumstances of this case, but not every trip is always accessible to every Boy Scout. Sometimes it’s money or preparation or just age. We try to take care of those first two, but certain programs, like Venturing, are not available to younger Boy Scouts. This seems to be a case of a trip not being right for a particular Scout. Why the parents now want to drag the family into this is beyond me.
Oh, okay. It appears that the mom is a disability lawyer who brings ADA cases as her means of business. So, this is just another day in the office for her. Another article makes it clear she doesn’t agree with the Supreme Court’s Dale decision, either, so I wonder if this is all to bring her more publicity or to attack that decision.
“Boy Scout Troop 223 is not a private organisation,” said Dubovy. “It’s open to all boys in the community. They start applying to the Tiger Cubs at seven to eight years old. Being a boy in a certain geographic area is the only real requirement, not one’s sexuality or religious beliefs.’
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In August 2005, Scout leaders told Casey’s parents that he could attend a week-long Scout rite of passage at Catalina’s Emerald Bay only if his father came to supervise him. Casey’s father was an assistant Scoutmaster and frequently attended the Troop’s outings, and his brother is an Eagle Scout. But his father’s health prevented him from attending that summer’s event and his brother was not allowed to attend the event and supervise Casey.
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“We didn’t do anything wrong,” said Troop 223 Scoutmaster Mike Lanning in a press release. “It is standard practice in scouting to ask a parent to accompany a Scout with disabilities whose behaviour appears to endanger himself and others. With the help of their parents, our troop has worked successfully with many Scouts with various disabilities. Most have attained the rank of Eagle.”
Lanning has run Troop 223 in the Palisades for more than five decades, and the Troop has produced more Eagle Scouts than any other troop nationwide.
Too bad the mom is gunning for something. I’d be happy to take autistic boys in my troop. In fact, I have. I’d have second thoughts about lawyers, though. 
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