Seattle Public Schools to End Affiliation with BSA

Chief Seattle Council and the Boy Scouts of America have refused to end their discriminatory membership and employment practices. They have instead opted to accept that Seattle Public School (SPS) must end its affiliation with BSA. See prior posts at:

• http://huhwot.blogspot.com/2014/05/open-letter-to-seattle-public-schools.html
• http://huhwot.blogspot.com/2014/06/seattle-public-schools-believes-it-does.html
• http://huhwot.blogspot.com/2014/06/seattle-public-school-continues.html).

Implementation details are expected to follow, and will be posted as they become available. It is expected the youth will experience little operational change to their outdoor program as curricula, insurance and other course materials are readily available from other sources. Chief Seattle Council was unavailable for comment.

Here is the letter received today:

Dorsey, Larry
To: Geoffrey McGrath
Cc: Sechrist, Calandra; Ruiz, Bernardo; Boy, Ronald D

Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 4:02 PM

Mr. McGrath,

Thank you for working with Seattle Public Schools in your efforts to make our schools better.  Over the past few weeks we have conducted many meetings and have done a great deal of investigation regarding your concern.  As you can imagine, every course is structured with many layers from personnel to supplies so there are a number of issues that are being considered as we conduct this inquiry.  Further, as you may know, we are in a transitional period as our Superintendent has accepted a new position and we are in the process of hiring a new Superintendent for our District.

With that said, I would like to give you an update on the current status of this investigation and the next steps for the District.  At this point, we have concluded that we shall advise our Superintendent to end any affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America in relation to credit-earning courses.  We will continue to follow federal law and allow organizations to use our facilities after school hours pursuant to our facility use policy. We are currently working with our Risk Management and Curriculum and Instruction departments to determine the instructional material and insurance needs of an outdoor recreation credit-earning course.  We will keep you updated on the progress and thank you again for your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,


Larry Dorsey        
Ronald D. Boy
Assistant General Counsel
Seattle Public Schools
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence
2445 3rd Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98124
(206) 252-0114

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

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