Here is an official statement from Jobs Daughters International:
[h=6]Over the last week there have been several posts with regard to the situation in Texas with Job’s Daughters.
We are writing this as an official response from the Supreme Guardian Council and the Board of Trustees of Job’s Daughters International (JDI).
Please be aware, the situation in Texas involving the then Grand Master occurred in 2006. It is interesting that this situation is still receiving so much emotional response after all this time. Some of those that have posted on this forum thus far were not directly involved with the situation in 2006 and are not aware of all the facts or considerations.
By posting this very detailed letter, JDI hopes to enlighten the readers and allow us all the opportunity to move forward in a positive and helpful way.
When discussing something as serious as a Youth Protection Program it is important to understand at least a small part of the organizational authority structure of Job’s Daughters. It is the misunderstanding of our structure which caused much of the confusion and emotion about the actions taken in 2006.
In 2006, we had 4 Bethels in Texas. Jurisdictions with so few Bethels do not have an official state structure, are not incorporated at a state level, and are governed under the authority of the Supreme Guardian Council. It is that structure that allowed several unfortunate communication missteps to occur.
The Grand Lodge of Texas began it’s communication with our local adult volunteers about the Grand Lodge desire for Job’s Daughters to implement a youth protection program. No one would expect the Grand Lodge to understand our structure and, in fact, we learned the hard way that many of our own adult volunteers were not aware of the authority hierarchy of our organization and the legal implications it holds. The Grand Lodge of Texas believed it was communicating with persons of state authority to implement such a program and our local adult volunteers believed they had the authority to create and adopt a Texas youth protection program.
To quickly react to the Grand Lodge request some of our local Texas adult volunteers did some great work to create a local program that included an adult background check. Once this came to the attention of the JDI Board of Trustees we counseled with our attorney as to the legality of such a program. Our corporate attorney advised the JDI Board of Trustees that such a local program did not have the proper legal structure to comply with federal privacy laws and that would put our organization at risk of lawsuit. His written opinion was that any program would have to be under the control of the governing body, in the case of Texas that meant the Supreme Guardian Council and specifically the JDI Board of Trustees. Holding private information that included Social Security numbers and criminal histories at a local level without proper access controls and governance is very risky. Additionally, we were advised that we were not able to piggyback off of the DeMolay program or a Boy Scout program, as some were suggesting we do, because sharing background check information between incorporated private entities is illegal in the United States.
Once we had the legal opinion of our attorney, the JDI Board of Trustees had to have the local Texas adult volunteers cease their plans. That put our organization very behind based on the Grand Lodge prescribed timeline. We went forward with a rapid ‘pilot’ program in Texas in the winter of 2006 to try to comply with the Grand Lodge request. Additionally, we officially asked for a timeline extension until after our annual Supreme Session in August because to move into a formal program we had to pass legislation to define the authority said program. Unfortunately, our ‘pilot’ and extension request did not satisfy the Grand Lodge at that time and recognition of our organization was withdrawn.
Realizing the importance of a Youth Protection Program for all our jurisdictions the JDI Board of Trustees went ahead ‘full steam’ and implemented a program that is now in effect in the United States, Canada and Australia. Our Bethels in Texas kept operating without Masonic support for several months, keeping the faith that recognition would be re-instated, but eventually all 4 Bethels found they could no longer function with so few adult volunteers.
It is important to discuss one other factor that has affected our Youth Protection Program implementation – money. There are serious monetary issues involved in the creation, implementation and enforcement of a Youth Protection Policy. A corporate ‘Sexual Misconduct’ insurance policy had to be obtained, attorney fees paid, training materials created, office equipment purchased, office personnel hired and contracts with a background check company negotiated. It is worthy of note that in the 4+ years we have been developing and implementing this program we have incurred expenses of well over $450,000. Job’s Daughters, unlike some other Masonic Youth Organizations, does not receive sizable monetary donations at the Supreme level from any Masonic organization. Our financial situation prescribes that we pass on these costs to our members and adult volunteers. This fact alone does not allow us to be as nimble as other organizations.
JDI does not hold any contempt toward the Grand Lodge of Texas or the previous Grand Master. The Grand Master acted with the best interest of the Texas Grand Lodge in mind. Our only disappointment was, and still is, that the prescribed timeline was not achievable for our organization based on when the appropriate officials received the official notification. Even though our Texas Bethels have closed, we fully recognized the importance of a Youth Protection Program and continued with our plan.
We are proud that our new JDI Youth Protection Program and insurance structure has been in operation for almost 4 years now. We are complete in ‘catching up’ all our 6,000 + United States adult volunteers with organization training, youth protection training and background checks. This has, of course, been a very worthwhile effort. It has had its severe challenges, but we have faced those challenges head on and we are a better organization for it.
It is our sincere hope that someday the Grand Lodge of Texas will see fit to lift the edict of non-recognition that is still in effect. The SGC has been actively working on that effort and that work continues today. The SGC and BOT are the ones that ‘have the ball’ on this effort and rest assured that work has a high focus with us. Only after that edict is lifted can any other work occur with regard to JDI in Texas. We anticipate that work may take longer than some may desire, but it will be worth it when we can put this behind us and move forward. We respectfully ask that you are patient as we conduct this very important task.
Please know that negative posts on a site such as Facebook can actually harm the effort, so we encourage each interested party to consider how a comment could affect the effort to move forward in Texas.
In the next couple of days we will be setting up and advertsing a special e-mail address where interested parties can give their information and receive updates on the progress. We think this may help us keep accurate and positive information flowing.
NEW NOTE: e-mail address NOW AVAILABLE .. for anyone who wants Job's Daughters to expand and not limited to Texas!! Information that will be helpful to include will be your name, address and phone number and the location of where you want JDI to expand to. It is of particular importance to know if you live or have ties to that community. Your e-mail will be passed to the proper person(s) who are assigned to work on those promotional areas.
wewantjobies@jobsdaughtersinternational.org
It would be fantastic to have Job’s Daughters return to Texas. But in this effort we know we will all have to practice the ‘patience of Job’.
Sincerely,
Bobbie Hoglund, PHQ
Supreme Guardian 2011-2012
Shelly Cole, PHQ
JDI Board of Trustees - Youth Protection Program Coordinator[/h]