Every now and then the good guys win one.
Posted on 10/29/2005 11:51:40 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Bible study groups are free to hold meetings at San Diego public schools without paying fees.
The San Diego Unified School District has revoked an unpopular policy implemented in August to charge Scouting groups user fees.
It also agreed to stop charging an elementary school Bible study group, the Good News Club, and similar youth organizations.
The reversals are part of an effort by the district to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Child Evangelism Fellowship in June. The organization, which sponsors the Good News Club, alleged discrimination because it had to pay to meet at school but Scouts weren't being charged.
The district agreed and began charging the Scouts as well. That led to outcries from Scouts citywide, and prompted troop leaders to find alternative meeting sites at churches, recreation centers and homes.
Mitz Lee, a school board member whose sons are involved in the Boy Scouts, wants an accounting of how much the district charged the youth group. She wants the money refunded.
"The schools should be the point of gathering for the community," she said yesterday. "We should provide for that. This is the same community, same families, that we have to ask for future bond issues to repair schools."
Jose Gonzales, a district lawyer, said the district reverted to free use because Child Evangelism Fellowship vowed to continue the lawsuit if the fees continued. He cited the costs of litigation and protests from Scouts.
"We are trying to help everybody out. We are trying to come up with a solution that meets everybody's needs," Gonzales said.
Although the fees are now revoked, Scouts, the Good News Club and similar youth groups will have to comply with new rules when they meet on campus.
Among them: They will have to get permission slips from parents whose children are involved. Those slips must describe the purpose of a meeting and detail activities. If the forms are not maintained and made available for review by district personnel, meeting privileges can be revoked.
Mitch Weingel, an assistant scoutmaster for a University City Boy Scout troop, was relieved to learn the fees have been dropped. He estimated his troop would have had to pay $2,000 to $2,500 a year for weekly meetings.
"The expense was just going to be overwhelming for us," said Weingel, whose troop used to meet at Standley Middle School and now meets in a church.
He said the church is too cramped, and he is looking forward to returning to Standley's gymnasium.
Francesca Cherrington, an organizer of Girl Scout troops in Mira Mesa and a troop leader, has been holding meetings at her house and even at a restaurant. Like Weingel, she wants to get back to meeting at a school.
"There are so many activities we haven't been able to plan because it requires the use of a very large room. We don't have those venues in Mira Mesa," she said.
There are nearly 30,000 Girl Scouts and more than 26,000 Boy Scouts in San Diego and Imperial counties.
Erik Stanley, chief counsel for Liberty Counsel, which represented the Child Evangelism Fellowship, said he's pleased with the district's change of policy.
"We were very dismayed after we filed the lawsuit, they decided to charge the Boy Scouts," he said. The lawsuit, however, is not entirely resolved. Liberty Counsel is asking the district to cover its legal costs, as well as refund the Good News Club the fees it paid in the past. Settlement discussions are continuing.
How long before the Calif Sup Court, or federal 9th circuit says otherwise?
We need to give this plenty of play so they can't do that without an outcry. They'll wait til it looks like the Short Attention Span Theatre have forgotten it, and then they will strike.
Every now and then the good guys win one.
I may be misreading the piece but it seems they're being required to provide forms for each meeting, for each minor attendee. There won't be any "bring a friend" cases either since permission slips are demanded. Looks like a setup designed to provide fascist leftists a legal fig-leaf for revoking meeting privileges. BEWARE.
Look, I opposed not allowing a competitive bid process for rent of Balboa Park facilities when the Scout's contract was up. It only seemed fair that before any longterm lease (at token, not market-priced, rent) was renewed that other groups interested in the facilities have an opportunity to bid.
This case with schools is entirely different. If all groups meeting are required rent that's bad policy but it's fair. If only religious groups are being single out (since the article doesn't say otherwise) for rent, permission slips and meeting agenda paperwork that's immoral, abusive and unconstitutional.
I'm not satisfied this is a real rather than a pyrrhic victory.
I've been on the inside of with liberal groups that have strategized this way. They're very clever.
I agree with you. There is no need for the school to have all that "paper work." What do they think the kids will be building - weapons of mass destruction? This request is demeaning and I would fight it. Religious groups are too often ready to take just the crumbs from the government table.
The permission slips are just a way to create a shopping list for the handful of whackos that will be discomfited or made "uncomfortable" by the presence of a group with a moral foundation.
So much for free assembly. I wonder how the libs reconcile this with the concept of "diversity" when certain groups are hounded for not being, well, liberal? Where is the tolerance?
[This is group sponsored by the YMCA.]
The C in YMCA should be changed to H.
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