Boy Scouts Seek Out New Places to Meet

Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education officials decided last Thursday that system schools will no longer be allowed to charter Boy Scout troops, citing the system's nondiscrimination policy.

Local Scout troops now have until June 30 to find another sponsor. McDougle Elementary School and Frank Porter Graham Elementary School presently charter the troops.

Ron Gallagher, cubmaster of Pack 825 at McDougle, said he knew the decision by the school board was tough.

But he said each individual pack cannot make its own policy decisions because of the Scouts' policy prohibiting homosexuals from serving as members or volunteers.

A 5-4 Supreme Court decision in June upheld the policy.

"I think (the school board) made an honest, heartfelt decision," Gallagher said. "Personally, I do not arrive at the same decisions as the Scouts do, but our Scout unit has no opinion policy."

School board official Elizabeth Carter said it is because of the Boy Scouts' policy that the school system will no longer be able to sponsor their program.

"We have a nondiscrimination policy that we must abide by," Carter said. "We cannot charter any organization that violates our policy."

But Gallagher said he was confident the Scouts would still be meeting at the schools. "It is more likely than not that we will be meeting at the school," Gallagher said.

Kim Hoke, spokeswoman for the school system, said the Boy Scout troops can still use school facilities but will have to pay a fee. "The Boy Scout troops must pay a rental fee of $35 to $40 an hour depending on the space that they want," she said.

But Tom Dugger of the Occoneechee Council in Raleigh, which oversees 12 counties' Boy Scout troops, said they have an alternative plan if the McDougle and Frank Porter Graham troops cannot secure another charter by the deadline.

"We have been offered to hold our meetings at churches and fraternal organizations," Dugger said. "We would not want the young ones to miss their Scouting program."

He would not indicate which churches or organizations were offering their facilities.

But Dugger said that despite his disappointment in the school board's decision, the decision will not affect the importance of the Boy Scouts' mission.

"We are disappointed in their decision. Our mission is to help young people to grow to their fullest potential."

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