Payzant Seeks Ban on Scouts in School

The Boy Scouts would be banned from presenting programs to San Diego Unified School District students during class time under a recommendation Supt. Tom Payzant will present to the school board Tuesday.

Boy Scout policy forbids gay men to serve as Scout leaders, and that ban violates new district policy against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Payzant said.

Payzant’s two-part proposal does recommend that Scouts be allowed to continue to use city schools for troop meetings after the academic day is over. The state Education Code specifically permits after-school use by Scouts, overriding local district policy, he said.

Payzant’s plan will go before trustees for the first of several public hearings, where the debate is expected to rival in vitriol the testimony generated earlier this month by the sexual orientation law.

If approved by board members at their Jan. 12 meeting, the ban would become effective July 1.

Ron Brundage, president of the local Boy Scouts Council, did not return a phone call Thursday requesting the group’s reaction.

The suggested ban is the latest twist to a months-long controversy involving the Boy Scouts and government organizations. San Diego Police Chief Bob Burgreen severed his department’s ties with the Boy Scouts’ law enforcement Explorer program earlier this year after the Scouts fired an El Cajon police officer from a troop adviser position because the group learned he is homosexual.

Gay activists have called for the city of San Diego to oust the Boy Scouts from city-owned land in Balboa Park and on Fiesta Island that is used for Scouting activities.

In San Diego city schools, the Boy Scouts run two programs during regular instructional time.

At the elementary level, an in-school Scouting program is held at Baker, Carson, Emerson and King. Volunteer adult Scout leaders spend about 40 minutes in a classroom each week or so conducting arts and crafts activities and explaining Boy Scout philosophy.

At the secondary level, most city high schools participate in the group’s Career Awareness program, in which Boy Scout troop leaders in various occupations talk to students about their careers and the required academic preparation.

“We as a school felt that the (in-school) program is beneficial because there is no troop in the neighborhood,” said Ronald Marcus, magnet resource teacher at King, located in one of San Diego’s poorest areas. “It does not cost us money, and it brings in an enriched curriculum that normally our students would not receive.”

Scout volunteers cover all the classrooms at King twice a month for 40 minutes, teaching not only arts and crafts but hand signals, salutes and team building, Marcus said.

The school staff has not discussed the implications of the district’s anti-discrimination policy regarding the Boy Scouts, he said.

“My personal take on this comes from this school trying to introduce people to students of various backgrounds” through various programs, Marcus said. “Those programs should include everyone, and I do not like the idea of programs where they exclude certain kids or certain people.”

The principal at Point Loma High said the Boy Scouts line up speakers as part of career awareness.

“If we want a speaker on health careers, for example, we would contact the Boy Scouts and they would provide someone,” Principal Mary McNaughton said.

“But I think we can accomplish the same thing without the Boy Scouts” if necessary, she said. “It’s a good program, but it can be done through other venues.”

However, there must be a different approach to Boy Scout use of school classrooms or other facilities after the regular day is over, Payzant said. The California Civic Center Act, part of the state Education Code, specifically includes “Boy Scout troops” as among numerous organizations that shall be given access to school district facilities at nominal cost.

“Because of the specific statute providing Scout use, the school board is precluded from prohibiting such use,” Payzant’s report says.

Tina Dyer, district legal counsel, said trustees could ask the Legislature to modify the Education Code so that Boy Scouts would not be protected under the Civic Center Act.

“But right now we can only apply (a ban) to areas of the law that we have control over,” such as instructional time, Dyer said.