Brooks Policy Change - no after school scouts

[momto4]

The principal at Brooks has decided that beginning next school year the building will not be available for groups to use directly after school. More than 1/3 of Brooks students participate in scouts and many of those groups meet in the building after school. The principal's refusal to meet with scout leaders to discuss this has led to even more animosity.

Does your elementary school allow scouts to meet in the building after school? One Girl Scout leader gave stats on the percentage of girls participating in scouts in buildings where meetings are allowed in the building after school versus those where they are not, and significantly more girls participate when there are at-school after school meetings available.

Here is some parent feedback on the principal's blog -
principalblogs.typepad.com/daveyounce/2007/04/volunteers_want.html
and the last response on this page -
principalblogs.typepad.com/daveyounce/2007/03/who_are_you.html

Here is the response from the principal -
principalblogs.typepad.com/daveyounce/2007/05/lots_of_feedbac.html

There will be a "meet the PTA board and principal" this coming Saturday morning. This could be a very interesting gathering since this is now a big issue for many parents.

I also see from the principal's last post that he is NOT giving us back our daytime Halloween costume parties. Even with the larger space available at Granger it will still be chaos to have 1000+ people all trying to do the same activities rather than groups of around 25 in each classroom.

[bob]

It's funny that the one person who is going to hold her kids out of school out of this, the one who is going to alert of all of the media is the former chairman and treasurer of CFO.

[gatormom]

Bob, historically, the scouts have met after school in our schools. This has always encouraged the involvement of children who may not be able to attend these meetings otherwise. It really doesn't matter who is involved in fighting this policy.

For those of you who think well at least it isn't my school, think again. People pretty much let Halloween parades fade from existence at McCarty and then Gombert without so much as a glance and now that it is at their doorsteps, holy heck has broken out over it.

Every principal could make this same decision. I read the IPSD building rental guidelines. According to next year's guidelines, you cannot use an ES until after 6:30 in the evening. That certainly cuts out a lot of children from participating in scouts. I wonder is this a recent change or has it always been that way.

www.ipsd.org/biz.asp

[bob]

But if the SD rule is 6:30 why are schools allowing an earlier start time?

I just saw your post gatormom.

[gatormom]

bob said:

But if the SD rule is 6:30 why are schools allowing an earlier start time?

That is a good question bob. I really don't know. It seems that if we were allowed to meet with our scouts in the past directly after school that maybe something in the policy has changed. The question then becomes why.

[bob]

The principal stated that the earlier start time is putting time constraints on his PE teachers and maintenance/set up crew.

Now there should be a simple solution to taking pressure off these two groups and keep the scouts happy.

I understand that the B/G scouts do a great job as I was once one.

From the principals point of view I can see why it is not fair for him to rearrange the building schedule to accommodate certain rental groups.

On the other hand, he should at least have pointed out the problems and worked with the groups to find a solution.

[momto4]

bob said:

It's funny that the one person who is going to hold her kids out of school out of this, the one who is going to alert of all of the media is the former chairman and treasurer of CFO.

Personally I am glad to find some common ground with people who have been on the opposite side for other issues.

This all comes back to - we are all parents and all want what's best for the kids (usually ours and all the others in the district as well). Sometimes we disagree on what this means.

But in this case I've yet to find a single person who agrees with the principal's stance. His tone seems arrogant and condescending, even insulting, to me. The parents are becoming united against him rather than with him.

I heard that he's in the Wheatland Elementary attendance area. Does anyone know whether they have this rule at that school?

[momto4]

bob said:

The principal stated that the earlier start time is putting time constraints on his PE teachers and maintenance/set up crew.

Now there should be a simple solution to taking pressure off these two groups and keep the scouts happy.

There is another letter that he issued that I saw once but have not been able to get a copy of. He is not willing to meet with anyone to discuss the issues or any type of compromise or workaround. From what I can tell, his decision is final and not to be discussed. I think the PE teachers and maintenance are just examples and the rest of the issues are something apparently too complex for us to comprehend

[bob]

I can understand that but pulling your kids out of school to protest a decision by the principal makes no sense.

[title1parent]

I just emailed a friend in District 308, will let you know about their policy. I dont understand the issue with the PE teachers and custodial staff. We let our custodian know we need 2 tables on certain days. Not a big deal. We have been doing Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts after school for years. This is really strange.

[gatormom]

bob said:

The principal stated that the earlier start time is putting time constraints on his PE teachers and maintenance/set up crew.

I really can't understand any constraints the scout meetings would have on the PE teachers. School events and PTA events take priority over all scouting events. There should be no conflicts.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of having to find a new place to hold a cub scout pack meeting because the PTA decided a month before to take your date for another event knows that school and PTA always get priority.

ETA: After reading the principal's response more carefully, there are PE classes in the multipurpose room. With groups immediately after school, he states that they do not have adequate time for clean up between lunch, gym, scouts, and then evening rentals.

[movingforward]

momto4 said:

bob said:

It's funny that the one person who is going to hold her kids out of school out of this, the one who is going to alert of all of the media is the former chairman and treasurer of CFO.

Personally I am glad to find some common ground with people who have been on the opposite side for other issues.

This all comes back to - we are all parents and all want what's best for the kids (usually ours and all the others in the district as well). Sometimes we disagree on what this means.

But in this case I've yet to find a single person who agrees with the principal's stance. His tone seems arrogant and condescending, even insulting, to me. The parents are becoming united against him rather than with him.

I heard that he's in the Wheatland Elementary attendance area. Does anyone know whether they have this rule at that school?

The only ones hurt by taking children out of school for an ADULT protest are the kids. That is not the proper channel IMO to express our dissatisfaction with administration.

The policy of school rentals should be consistent throughout the district IMO.

Having scouting and other rental programs (foreign language is at our elementary as well) offered at school directly after school is a great way to encourage participation and to assist working parents with scheduling.

I agree that it is nice , for a change, to be on the same side of an issue with some folks. I'm just not in favor of protesting by taking away learning time from children.

[bluemoonoden]

I have two boys in scouts and this is the first I have heard of it. I hope I am wrong but I wonder if the principals decision had more to do with political correctness. The scouts have been widely criticized for their opposition to having atheist and gay scouts and leaders. There have been a few court cases about it. Might this be a possibility or am I just reaching?

[title1parent]

Blue, I dont think that is the case. I emailed my principal and he said he would look into it, however was not aware of the policy. However, as GatorMom mentioned, the Brooks principal did say they have PE classes in the MPR and they dont have time to clean up after those classes. We do not have that issue at our school, and therefore the custodial staff has adequate time to clean up the lunchroom after lunch is over.

I know that the room rental paperwork is due soon, and this should be determined. I know my GS troop was looking into using a room right after school.

Regarding District 308, my friend said that at her ES, they don't allow any organization to use the school. It is only for school and PTA activities.

[momto4]

Apparently we have the option of using a room at Granger (if they don't need it for Granger student activities) starting at 4pm. In the nice weather that's probably fine, just spend some time outside and walk across the street at 4. Not as good in the cold.

We also have the opportunity to rent Indian Plains starting early enough to go straight there, but that would be too far to reasonably walk with little scouts or in bad weather. Many troops would need more than just the leaders to drive, and troops with kids under 8 would just be a nightmare with all those booster seats!

From what I can tell the principal's word is considered final and there will be no room rentals for scouts until 5pm next school year.