Thanks Bret!
I will try to plug in. And I hope those with questions here will do so as well.
James
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I have changed my mind…and then I changed it back again. I objected, first to the SSN requirement, and then as I looked at it and thought about it from a risk management perspective, I found more to object about it. Over the past few weeks and participating in the forum discussions, I thought that they are making an effort, if not enough, to work through the issues. I already took the training (which also needs serious improvement) and was ready to go back in and go through the background check...
Then I saw the posting of the open ended authorization participation gives to AmericanChecked. Unbelievable. This is not a one time -- or even once eery three years check with very limited authorizations. It is a complete surrendering of any and all personal information and records for any purpose whatsoever. THEN EAA decided to close all further discussion. So I changed my mind back again.
YES I want to support the program. YES I understand that no program is perfect at its inception. YES I want to work from within to help make things better. NO NO NO, I will not "open my kimono" for unlimited and unrestricted access to my personal information.
Change the authorization statement to make it consistent with the limited purpose for which EAA describes and don't shut off discussion. If EAA management does this, THEN I will change my mind again and participate.
Unfortunately the closing of the other thread has left a very bad taste in my mouth and I am sure that I am not alone. If honest open discussion to voice concerns is not allowed then there are much bigger problems in EAA than the poorly thought out Young Eagles Program. It would seem that those who have concerns and are asking for change have been none too politely told to , SHUT UP AND GO AWAY !. At least this was how I felt when I read the last post in that thread. I have been sitting on the fence and hoping sufficient changes to the new program would occur so that I could willingly support it. I think my mind has been made up for me. What a shame it is to witness the probable demise of such a great program.
Clearly there is a major problem at headquarters. We were aware of this for some time, but the action today clearly tells us to "just go away". Headquarters will do as they please and if the heat gets to bad, they will simply get out of the kitchen.
The document at the link below is well worth reading. In short, the privacy rights concerns of volunteers being subjected to background checks are well-founded, and recognized as valid concerns at the national level.
https://www.privacyrights.org/volunteer-background-checks-without-giving-up-privacy
Specifically referencing the quote above, read in the Tips for Volunteers section, Tip #4.
"4. Object to signing open-ended notice and consent forms."
And, while EAA evidently has followed some of the recommendations for how organizations should proceed with background checks, they haven't followed all of them.
Perhaps you didn't read that post thoroughly. They didn't say shut up and go away -- they just said let's do discussion in a newer (and shorter) thread. Note the following quote from that post:Quote:
Unfortunately the closing of the other thread has left a very bad taste in my mouth and I am sure that I am not alone. If honest open discussion to voice concerns is not allowed then there are much bigger problems in EAA than the poorly thought out Young Eagles Program. It would seem that those who have concerns and are asking for change have been none too politely told to , SHUT UP AND GO AWAY !.
Emphasis mine.Quote:
Because of this we’ll be locking this thread and encourage everyone to join the conversation in one of the more recent threads, or feel free to contact us directly with remaining comments or questions.
To my mind, locking a 75 page thread while encouraging the use of other threads isn't a bad idea. 75 pages is awkward to roam through, not for adding a response or reading the latest post, but for trying to keep up with all that was said and continue making responses that are appropriate for that thread.
+1 on that response.
Not to be confused with my view that the EAA leadership made a big mistake in their failing to respond adequately. As the PR experts continue to advise politicians and public figures, "It isn't the initial mistake that people judge you by, but how you respond to it."
BJC
[QUOTE=lnuss;54360]Perhaps you didn't read that post thoroughly. They didn't say shut up and go away -- they just said let's do discussion in a newer (and shorter) thread. Note the following quote from that post:
Actually I did read the last post several times , but clearly my gut reaction was different than yours. We all see things from different perspectives and to me it seemed very heavy handed. It was not conducive to open honest discussion and problem solving.
I do agree with closing a 75 page thread, although there was very good information at the beginning. I am very curious as to the timing. Perhaps headquarters thought a cooling off time would be good, but as with so many things at EAA, it backfired. The 2 websites used for the Young Eagles Protection Program are untouchable for some reason. This is very, very curious. We need to get some discussion, with Bret on this matter.