(This story by Matt Hongoltz-Hetling was published in the Valley News on Oct. 13, 2017.
[M]embers of the Upper Valley’s scouting community say a national decision to open the Boy Scouts of America to more girls is bound to affect local troops of both Boy and Girl Scouts, though it’s too early to say who might benefit, and who might suffer.
“When I first heard the news it was a little dizzying,” said Josh Gilman, who’s been involved with Troop 232 in White River Junction for 15 of his 23 years. “I didn’t know what to make of it. It was such a historic decision.”
Gilman, who works for a small organic land management company in Lyme, said his early concerns about the logistics of integrating girls into the program quickly dissipated.
“I thought of all the conversations I had with female friends who were envious of the opportunities I was afforded,” he said. “I agree with the decision wholeheartedly. I’m happy that when I have kids, regardless of gender, they’re going to be able to become a big part of the organization that had such a big impact on me and my life. I’m happy I can share that.”
Each local group will face a critically important decision of whether to make their packs coed or gender-segregated when the change takes effect in 2019.
While Cub Scout dens will remain all-boy or all-girl, they will be grouped under packs that can either consist of all-boy dens, all-girl dens or a mixture of the two. While the Boy Scouts have maintained coed programs for years, the change will give girls a path alongside their male peers to gain the rank of Eagle Scout.
Gilman said he was unsure whether Troop 232 would pursue coed packs.
“I don’t think they’ve made a decision yet,” he said. “It’s a big decision to make.”
Josh Charbono, the cubmaster of Lebanon’s Cub Pack 279, said the national announcement was a big discussion among group leaders during a Wednesday night meeting.
Charbono said he welcomed the change.
“I thought it was for the better,” he said. “It’s a way to bring more Scouts up, and I like to teach.”
The sisters of Charbono’s existing Cub Scouts often participate in his activities, in some cases learning how to tie a knot or catch a fish better than their brothers. He said he’ll be relieved to be able to formally recognize those achievements with merit badges.
But Charbono said he hoped that new members would bring parent volunteers along with them, because the group doesn’t have enough den leaders as it is.
“We don’t have a wolf den leader. We don’t have a lion den leader. We don’t have anyone to run them,” he said.
The change has the potential to stretch the existing volunteer staff even more thinly. Right now, a Cub Scout den can consist of up to 10 boys under the leadership of a single volunteer.
But the same number of kids would need to be split into two dens, with two volunteers running parallel activities, in a mixed-gender pack.
Women who have grown up without having access to the Boy Scouts said they’ll welcome the option for their daughters.
Hartford Selectwoman Becca White, whose father is involved with area Boy Scout troops, said she spent some time as a Brownie when she was a girl, but she quickly lost interest.
“I think it would have been great growing up with the option of Boy Scouts,” she said. “My dad had a good experience with them.”
She said that she might have been more engaged if the Girl Scouts emphasized camping and outdoor activities to the same extent as the Boy Scouts.
Patricia Lotito, of Swanzee, said she enrolled her two girls in the Girl Scouts, but eventually pulled them out because she didn’t like the left-leaning politics of the leaders.
“It’s a feminist organization,” she said.
The Boy Scouts’ relatively conservative culture was a better match for her family’s values, she said, and she would have liked to have had her daughters, who are now 18 and 21, join her three sons in their packs.
Tricia Mellor, executive director of the Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, which covers the Twin States, said the group does craft its curriculum with the understanding that their girls will face extra challenges in a male-dominated corporate culture.
“For many years people have accused the Girl Scouts of being far too liberal,” she said. But she predicted the group’s political leanings are actually likely to insulate it from any mass exodus of members to the Boy Scouts, who maintain a conservative image despite a recent move to include transgender people in their membership.
“I actually think the American Heritage Girls,” a youth development group based on conservative Christian values, “are more likely to be affected by the Boy Scouts than the Girl Scouts,” she said.
Still, Mellor said that her group, which saw an 8 percent membership gain last year, did receive calls from members who wanted to know whether the Girl Scouts might react by inviting boys into their ranks, or seek a merger with the Boy Scouts.
The answer to both questions is no, Mellor said.
“We’re remaining fully committed to the girls that we serve,” she said. “We’re part of a global organization that’s dedicated to girls. We’re staying strong and moving forward.”
Susan Henderson, who spent her childhood as a Girl Scout Brownie and returned to her West Lebanon troop as a volunteer, said she anticipates some of her girls may want to serve in both organizations, but that she was confident the Girl Scouts programming, which recently expanded to include a new emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math skills, would prove its worth.
“We can compete with the Boy Scouts,” she said.
Charbono said area residents interested in joining the Boy Scouts should email him at jandscharbono@hotmail.com.
Henderson said those interested in joining the Girl Scouts should visit www.girlscouts.org and follow the registration instructions.
