Monday, December 08, 2008

Magi Klages is a Brownie again

I'm on the run this morning, but I've got time to post the news that 8-year-old Magi Klages is a Brownie again, thanks to her former troop leader, Dina Johnston, and the Girl Scouts organization. As reported by FRIDA last week, Magi was asked not to return to a Girl Scout Brownie troop for girls with special needs in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, after attending one meeting because she was considered a risk to other girls with physical disabilities. Writing in Friday's Journal Sentinel, Laurel Walker reports that:

Anita Rodriguez, vice president for organizational strategy at the southeast Girl Scouts chapter, said, “The bottom line for us is we do not discriminate and the Girl Scouts did not kick her out” but worked to find a solution.

Unfortunately, she said, the special needs troop that was tailored to the sedentary needs of the other three girls, including one with brittle bone disease, has disbanded after three meetings because parents and leaders were “uncomfortable with the publicity and how they were portrayed.”

Maybe the arrangement wasn’t a good fit for Magi and the others. Clearly, better communication and understanding all the way around was in order.


For Magi and her family, good news indeed. Full story is here.