Cub scout leader shocked over town’s charge

SWAMPSCOTT – At least one local Cub Scout troop got a bill from the school district.Cub Scout Pack #55 Webelos Leader Bill Travascio said he was shocked when he opened the bill for $302.50 which is for using the teacher’s room at Clarke School for one hour on 22 occasions.Travascio, who has been involved with the scouts for five years, said in previous years the scouts were not charged to use school facilities for their meetings.”I am a scout leader in Lynn,” he said. “This is unheard of in Lynn and most other communities do not charge scouts to use the school facilities for meetings.”In August 2007, the School Committee approved new policies and procedures for the use of school owned buildings, which establishes rental fees for the use of space in any district owned building.The policy states the facility use charge is $55 an hour for elementary school classrooms when the building is open, which is generally until 8 p.m. The policy allows scouting organizations a 75 percent discount on that rate.Travascio said he spoke with School Committee members Daniel Yaeger and David Whelan regarding the new policy back in October.”They both told us not to worry about it that we wouldn’t be charged,” Travascio said. “This is a kick in the pants. I actually saw them at a School Committee meeting a few weeks ago and thanked them for helping the scouts out. Then we get this bill. It’s a kick in the teeth. I can’t believe they are doing this to the kids. If I had been told up front that we would be charged I would have made other arrangements.”Calls to Superintendent Matthew Malone, Yaeger and Whelan were not immediately returned on Wednesday.Travascio’s Pack #55 is only one of several scouting groups that meet in the public schools in town. He said several troops for elementary age Girl Scouts did not even start up again this year because Ann Padova, who is the neighborhood administrator for the Ocean Bay Girl Scouts, which includes Swampscott, said the schools charging for use of a classroom is a huge problem for the organization.”This year we lost more than 10 percent of our girls because the meetings were moved from the schools because of the fees,” she said. “Our girls in after school programs can’t walk across town to a meeting somewhere else so they had to drop out.”Padova said she spoke to Malone at length and he suggested the girls do a service project to raise money to pay for the rental fees but it wasn’t feasible.”The Girl Scouts don’t have a lot of money,” she said. “But we are active. We do service projects in town and our motto is to leave the place cleaner than we found it. This has been very discouraging for all our leaders.”