Posted on 11/05/2005 5:54:50 PM PST by DBeers
MINNEAPOLIS - Complying with a federal mandate in the No Child Left Behind Act, the Minneapolis school district once again is allowing Boy Scout recruiting materials to be sent home with students.
The mandate obliges schools to give Boy Scouts the same access to schools as other community groups or lose federal aid. It overturns the Minneapolis school district's ban prohibiting scouts from distributing recruitment materials in schools.
The ban, enacted in 2000, was brought about by opposition to the Boy Scout's decision to prohibit openly gay men from being scout leaders.
This fall, Minneapolis scouting leaders reported a jump in new scout registrations. The Metro Lakes District, which includes Minneapolis, Richfield and St. Anthony, reported a 108 percent increase.
Access to boys through schools has helped.
"It's very important. It's very hard to reach boys otherwise. They don't get all together in one place," said Renee Gutierrez-Wells, who led the district's recruitment campaign.
But in David Perry's classroom at Folwell Middle School, scouting material hasn't made a reappearance. When Perry, a teacher active in a national organization that is working to open scouting for gays and atheists, found a stack of recruiting fliers in his mailbox, he quietly decided not to distribute them.
Perry offers a simple excuse: "We were not told we had to pass them out."
Lauri Appelbaum, coordinator of the district's program for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and adults, said she learned of the change from inquiring principals.
"I think it's really unfortunate that the federal government felt a need to take away local control from school boards," Appelbaum said.
In 2002, Boy Scouts of America adopted a resolution declaring "that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values espoused in the scout oath and law" and those "values cannot be subject to local option." The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the group's right as a private organization to bar openly gay men from becoming scout leaders.
The mandate obliges schools to give Boy Scouts the same access to schools as other community groups or lose federal aid.
Common sense sometimes has to be forced down the throats of these educrats. Well, not sometimes, all the time.
It's hardly removal of "local control" for the federales to dictate what you have to do to continue to qualify for funds raised by way of federal taxes.
I was listening to Christian Radio today and the commentators were talking about all the legislation that is going to turn preaching what the Bible says (or even the Koran) against homosexuality into a "hate crime."
Sounds like that may be the ultimate goal of the 'gay but unhappy' and 'lesbian but miserable' alliance.
I'm not surprised by this kind of idiocy in the Mpls. schools system. I went through it wa-a-a-a-ay back and it was getting flaky even in the '60s.
Ping
"The ban, enacted in 2000, was brought about by opposition to the Boy Scout's decision to prohibit openly gay men homosexual pederasts from being scout leaders".
There, fixed the statement so maybe, just maybe the leftys can understand what they're defending. (I seriously doubt it though)
If you want on/off the ping list let me and little jeremiah know.
Yep that pretty well describes the attitudes. Sometimes it's individual teachers finding material in their box and just tossing it out. Sometimes it's the School Principal, you drop stuff off and as soon as you leave it goes in the trash. You call and even meet with the Principal for a back to school recruiting night leaving fliers to be passed before the agreed on night only to go that night and find that the Janitor was never told about it to unlock the school and the fliers never distributed to the class much less in class.
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