[SCA-BMDL] Fw: Disastrous New Youth A&S Policy for Pennsic
muirgens at aol.com
muirgens at aol.com
Wed Jul 7 16:58:59 EDT 2010
There is a large discussion of this topic going on currently on the Aethelmearc - Discussion list.
morgen
-----Original Message-----
From: C.J. Showers <cayeux at gmail.com>
Cc: sca-bmdl at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
Sent: Tue, Jul 6, 2010 4:54 pm
Subject: Re: [SCA-BMDL] Fw: Disastrous New Youth A&S Policy for Pennsic
http://www.pennsicwar.org/penn39/cultural.html
his can explain better than I, but there seems to be some veracity to this.
Charles
On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 4:46 PM, Kate Patterson Neely <klpneely at yahoo.com> 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,
nd
needs to be addressed - en masse - by the SCA as a whole quickly. Before it
s
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
as
originated with the very best of intentions. We all know where that paved
ath
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
f
teens acting out in classes (teachers can always opt to have their classes
dult
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
ill
now be forced to choose: go to a Pennsic where their children are not allowed
o
do one of the most important activities - or skip Pennsic and go somewhere
lse
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
amily-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
atter.
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
e
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
t
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
isk
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
isk,
exposes kids to dramatically more danger.
I'd like to ask everyone who cares about the future of the SCA, who cares
bout
our children's ability to participate in the SCA, and who cares about the
afety
of our children, write to the above emails and ask (nicely, please, but
IRMLY)
that they remove this rule. Now. This year. Not next year - and certainly
ot
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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