[SCA-BMDL] Fw: Disastrous New Youth A&S Policy for Pennsic

Tue Jul 6 16:53:58 EDT 2010

The most up to date information can be found here:
http://www.pennsicwar.org/penn39/GENERAL/news.html

-Thomas Ouswood

On 7/6/10 4:46 PM, Kate Patterson Neely wrote:
> This was posted on the SCA card weaving list. Can anyone verify it's accuracy?
> If so, should we have a coordinated Barony response?
>
> Ceindrech merch Elidir
>   Make Your Voice Heard. Enroll in http://www.ProgressiveSecretary.Org.
>
>
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: owyn_sca<kevins.studio at gmail.com>
> To: SCA-Card-Weaving at yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tue, July 6, 2010 12:23:04 AM
> Subject: [SCA-Card-Weaving] Disastrous New Youth A&S Policy for Pennsic
>
> Just saw this on LJ.  I think that this is an issue of critical importance, and
> needs to be addressed - en masse - by the SCA as a whole quickly.  Before it is
> too late, ideally.  Please forward this to as many lists and locations as
> possible.
>
> (start quote)
> New Pennsic University policy this year:
>
> No youths under the age of 18 may attend activities in an A&S venue without
> a parent or legal guardian.
> Among other things, that means classes in public A&S tents.
>
> Someone wrote to the Pennsic Mayor, and his response was:
> "As an official staffer, please refer them to Mistress Chai, Deputy Mayor of
> Cultural Affairs. She and Ardenia, Deputy Mayor of Event Resources and
> Society Youth Officer, worked this policy out after much deliberation."
>
> Chai is at culturalaffairs at pennsicwar.org
> Ardenia's is eventresources at pennsicwar.org
>
> In another e-mail, someone suggested the following addresses as well.
> SCA Board of Directors:
> Ombudsman for Legal Committee:
> Baron Aaron Palomides of Buckminster
> Aaron L. (Rusty) Lloyd
> alloyd at director.sca.org
>
> Ombudsman for A&S:
> Dux Lucius Aurelius Valharic
> Tom Noble
> tnoble at director.sca.org
> (end quote)
>
> Folks, this is a disaster in the making.  I'm relatively sure that this idea was
> originated with the very best of intentions.  We all know where that paved path
> leads, however...  The effects of this decision will be far reaching and could
> endanger the future of Pennsic and even the SCA as a whole.
>
> My understanding is that the reason this decision was reached was not because of
> teens acting out in classes (teachers can always opt to have their classes adult
> only, and can have problem people removed - adult or child - if need be).
> Rather, it sounds likely that it was related to ongoing concerns about child
> safety and the whole mandatory background checks to run childrens' activities
> thing.  Folks, the A&S tents are about as public as public gets.  Kids are
> probably safer there than they could be just about anywhere else.  They are
> *certainly* safer there than wandering around Pennsic aimlessly, bored, with
> nothing to do because they've been barred from most of the SCA-oriented
> activities.
>
> I see a host of negative effects springing from this.  Parents of children will
> now be forced to choose: go to a Pennsic where their children are not allowed to
> do one of the most important activities - or skip Pennsic and go somewhere else
> for their family vacation.  Bundled into that decision will be the question of
> "what will my teen be *doing* instead during all those hours when s/he would
> have been taking classes?"  This decision changes Pennsic from a family-friendly
> event, critical to the growth and future of the SCA given our current
> membership, to an event almost actively hostile to families.
>
> It also screams to teens that we don't trust them.  And that they don't matter.
> Right now, those teens and pre-teens are our *future*.  They represent the SCA
> that will be, in ten or twenty years.  But only if we nurture them.  Only if we
> show them how much fun it can be.  Only if we treat them like they matter.
> Decisions like this actively push these kids away from us.  This will breed
> nothing but frustration, anger, and resentment.  We will lose them.  And in
> doing so, we will lose the future of our Society.
>
> Lastly, despite this policy there will still be hundreds and hundreds of kids at
> Pennsic.  Many of those would have been taking A&S classes for much of each
> day.  With this decision, they cannot.  Frustrated, bored, what are they going
> to do with their time instead?  I'd suggest that having packs of bored teens
> wandering around (more packs?) aimlessly can't be good for everyone's stay at
> Pennsic.  And even more importantly - it puts them at *substantially* more risk
> for a host of problems than they would be at if they were in the structured,
> supervised continuum of A&S classes.  This decision, rather than reducing risk,
> exposes kids to dramatically more danger.
>
> I'd like to ask everyone who cares about the future of the SCA, who cares about
> our children's ability to participate in the SCA, and who cares about the safety
> of our children, write to the above emails and ask (nicely, please, but FIRMLY)
> that they remove this rule.  Now.  This year.  Not next year - and certainly not
> after they've moved this from a "trial test" to a mandatory rule at all SCA
> events (which I hope is not planned, but you never know).
>
> We need to nip this in the bud.  Please help.
>
> Owyn Claerwyn
> Seneschal, Mountain Freehold
> Concerned SCA Parent
>
>
>
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