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Former Youth Protection Director on the dangers in Scouts BSA


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Obviously we will need to let this play out.  I've seen much, much lower level individuals come out with claims after being laid off including calling regulatory agencies.  Most of the time that was just false acquisitions (or misleading statements) made by an upset individual.  Clearly other times they are completely legitimate.  We will have to wait and see.  

1) We don't know for sure who this is and the timeframe it is based on.

2) We don't know what evidence the individual has and if it is opinion based or evidence based (or some combo)

3) If it is someone that recently left BSA ... why did they leave?  If they were responsible for youth protection and it was failing under their watch, why not come out earlier?

I have a ton of questions.  No matter what, this isn't good for the BSA.  How bad it ends up will really depend on the details that start coming out tomorrow.

 

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I don't think anyone said that.  What they said is that we shouldn't just do weekly meetings and eliminate the outdoor program.  Honestly, scouting without an outdoor program is not scouting ... its s

I second all of that. Factor in this little story, as well. Add it to the consideration of “who [you] are dealing with” and “Don’t send your Eagle badge back to National. It does not seem to care.” Yo

Not replacing MJ with another external CSA expert is a disaster of a decision.  It is fueling the anger in each of these speeches.  If MJ wasn't working out, they should have hired a new CSA external

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8 minutes ago, CynicalScouter said:

I did not want to outright accuse him of that but the timing is…interesting.

Imitation is the sincerest form, etc. However, my oldest son does not subscribe.He says, “Imitation is the sincerest representation of an utter lack of originality.” This was born when his cousin showed up at event wearing the same pair of Cole Haan wingtips my son wears. 

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15 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

No matter what, this isn't good for the BSA.  How bad it ends up will really depend on the details that start coming out tomorrow.

Remember, this is no solo presser out of the clear blue. This is Jeff Anderson orchestrating the attendance, context, timing, publicity, presenters and to significant degree (I bet) directing content. Not his first ro-dee-o. 

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I have to wonder; if this individual had the job noted, and he held it into this year, where has he been up to now?  When all the stuff hit the fan, was he casualty and lost his job, or did he lose his job due to not being successful with YP?  Lots of questions, particularly if this is a sour grapes attack because he got let go?

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Found these:

Michael Johnson is a member of Board of Directors of the Zero Abuse Project

"Michael Johnson was the Youth Protection Advisor/Director for the National Office of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) from July 2010 to December 2020, where he advised on efforts to improve youth protection policies, training, and procedures to ensure the safest possible environment for BSA youth.  Johnson is credited with acting as a change agent to strengthen BSA’s “Youth Protection” program, and he spearheaded the BSA’s efforts to provide ongoing support to survivors and a trauma-informed response to victims of abuse in the organization."

Michael Johnson is a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Washington Joshua Center on Child Sexual Abuse Prevention.

"...Michael Johnson is a Prevention Consultant and Trainer. He formerly served as the Youth Protection Director for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), where he led the organization’s efforts to continually enhance and improve youth protection policies and procedures and ensure the safest possible environment for its more than 2.3 million youth members. An internationally-recognized expert on child abuse detection and prevention, and a 28-year law enforcement veteran, Johnson oversaw youth protection for BSA from 2010 to 2020. Prior to joining BSA, Johnson served for nearly 28 years as a Detective and the Lead Child Abuse Investigator in the Juvenile Division of the Plano Police Department in Plano, Texas. ..."

 

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Mike Johnson was very briefly my SE. From what others told me who worked with him more, he is a "straight shooter" who cleaned up a lot of messes his predecessor created. On the face of it, it does not look good. But as others have mentioned, if he was fired and "screwed out of his pension" that will hurt his testimony as it will appear vindictive.

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1 minute ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

. But as others have mentioned, if he was fired and "screwed out of his pension" that will hurt his testimony as it will appear vindictive.

Truth wins out over impure or questionable motive, especially when a bombshell lands in the hands of people eager to magnify, disseminate, leverage and propagate the choice morsels. We shall see.

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I hope BSA’s board is ready to meet today to discuss:

- Validity of MJ’s claims and what action to immediately take in terms of BSA leadership 

- Hiring crisis PR firm … as regardless of the validity they will need to respond today

- Hiring an external agency to investigate the claims 

To me, those are the three immediate actions and it must come from the board not the current leadership.

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8 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

I hope BSA’s board is ready to meet today to discuss:

- Validity of MJ’s claims and what action to immediately take in terms of BSA leadership 

- Hiring crisis PR firm … as regardless of the validity they will need to respond today

- Hiring an external agency to investigate the claims 

To me, those are the three immediate actions and it must come from the board not the current leadership.

Here's the problem: the BSA remains in absolute and total denial about all of this. They still insist their YP is best in the world, no problem, it is perfect, nothing needs to be fixed or changed. We've seen scouters in this very forum repeat that line: BSA has the best YP. We're fine. That was all in the past.

It is going to be really, really hard if not impossible for them to wrap their brains around the idea that, no, it is still a problem and it is happening in THEIR WATCH.

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6 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

To me, those are the three immediate actions and it must come from the board not the current leadership.

You guys know the landscape and the historic MO of this operation in this context and many others. Do you think they do that with any measure of efficiency and sound judgment? I’ve not seen a lot that I would say meets my standards or what I would want and expect if I were on the board of such an enterprise. They seem to have “stupid in buckets,” as a buddy once said. (I’m so ripping off that line from this point until my dirt nap.)

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