This is a thread to discuss youth protection in the context of railway museums. I wanted to point out that the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has a great set of policies on their website that cover so many potential issues including youth protection. This thread is a great place to objectively discuss these policies and how they relate to preservation. Please don't make personal attacks, I should not have to say it but I do.

I also like that Rochester & Genesee Valley has everything only in one place. I like the transparency.

http://www.rgvrrm.org/policy/

The issue of child safety is an important one. The United Methodist Church has a Safe Sanctuary program in place that is easily duplicated and adapted by any organization.

I know someone who was abused. Her emotional life was almost destroyed and she lost the ability to trust adults.

I personally support Tom’s decision to delete the earlier thread and invite a serious focused discussion.

Wesley

In two previous threads the majority of the posts were nothing more than attacks on various individuals and mentioning names. In this current remake nearly all of the posts are discussing the terrible moderator. Barely any conversation about protecting young people at all. I started this thread to demonstrate to a friend that exactly that would happen and you folks didn't let me down.

Those of us who have been here a long time remember the time we surfed on over to find RYPN shut down under threat of lawsuit. This site has been a valuable resource over the years. Any day of the week I would delete a thread labeling John Doe from XYZ museum a pedophile and being critical of how the museum handled it. Especially when the person making the post includes the fact the named person was never charged/convicted. The value of the whole exceeds the need to be talk smack about the person and/or museum.

Thank you for your understanding.

Thanks, Tom, for bringing this up. This is an extremely sensitive subject worthy of serious discussion.

Here are the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's FAQ:

https://www.dhs.pa.gov/KeepKidsSafe/Cle ... nteers.pdf

Phil Mulligan

Hi all,

To actually discuss policies rather than how this is moderated would be better. More on that at the end.

I have been involved with youth sports, youth education in a volunteer role, and railroad museum functions as a volunteer and a volunteer manager for most of my adult life. As part of that, I generally get background checked normally at least twice per calendar year. There has been some discussion here about background checks and it is a good practice BUT it is not a panacea. Background checks only alert you to behavior that has been caught and due process proceedings engaged. It is possible with good counsel to have an individual avoid official record reporting and in some cases, people just fly below the radar for years before getting into trouble.

An even bigger piece of advice is really to get to know your people and don't avoid open communication among staff and volunteers. If you really try to know and engage you will better be able to manage and work toward common goals at the same time. Don't be an Ostrich with your head in the sand and think this can't possibly be a part of your museum/organization as it has been clearly demonstrated that it has and can be.

You might consider policies not to have anyone under 18 years of age volunteer without the direct supervision of a custodial adult. Also NEVER put yourself in a position of being alone with anyone under age. I won't even meet a member of the opposite sex alone without at least being in a public setting or in an office with a door that is open. There is way too much room for differing accounts of events with that method of operation. People get unhappy when things don't go their way and can be pretty vindictive. That is just food for thought.

One other thing that is slightly off-topic is in addition to background checks you should consider requiring credit checks of anyone handling any financial transactions about a set amount you are willing to lose. How many of you have heard stories about PTA and church personnel making off with sums of money over a long period of years to purchase their needed lifestyle?

Ending here with a brief discussion of Interchange moderation. It seems to me that more of the time is spent here in what I will term "disagreements" with a group of posters that have diametric viewpoints on most things and as such, there is some heavy-handed moderation. My view is that it is hard to want to have any real substantive discussion here due to the way things are. So much of what goes on here really doesn't better the cause of railroad preservation which is sad. I guess that discussion is best had at HRA and AAM meetings and conferences. It would be nice to have the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints more frequently but I guess we have folks that just can't be any different than the political types that we must avoid discussing here. End of Rant.

I saw three threads disappear:

1. The first thread was about the recent death of a well known person in the steam preservation world. The second post in the thread was a link to factual information about the decedent's conviction on child molestation charges. I support the moderator(s) decision to remove that first RYPN thread per De mortuis nil nisi bonum ("of the dead, say nothing but good").
   
2. The second thread seemed to be a response to a discussion about the decedent that is happening on a different, pay-to-post discussion site. The RYPN thread starter seemed to be under the absurd impression that the existence of a discussion on the pay-to-post board indicted everyone involved in rail preservation. I support the moderator(s) decision to remove that second RYPN thread under the principle of if you have an issue with what's being said on another board, go post about it on that board, not here.
   
3. The third thread quickly devolved and ended with a post from someone who proclaimed that most allegations of child molestation are untrue. I fully support the moderator(s) decision to remove that third thread under the principle that off-topic bull crap does not belong on a forum for discussing trains.

I also applaud Tom Gears for linking to the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum's policies - everyone here should read RGVM's Youth Protection Policy. There is a lot of good advice in that policy. Don't put yourself into a position where allegations can be made against you and understand that a lot of behavior that was common 10 or 20 years ago --initiation rites, bullying, verbal insults, etc -- is no longer acceptable in the year 2023.

Since I wasted the time writing elsewhere, I can just copy/paste here.



In that other forum, at least one person proved my point exactly by describing, in quite profane language, how the police stopped him from committing extreme violence against someone for merely making suggestions to his children.

Sorry, somehow this got posted twice, but once is plenty.

I'm going to start out by making a claim for which I have no quantitative proof: While there no doubt is some kind of problem with sexual deviance somewhere in rail preservation, I submit that it's a whole lot worse in the various stripes of the music business. As a private violin teacher, I had to adopt a SOP very similar to the one that Randy Minter explained so well:

"You might consider policies not to have anyone under 18 years of age volunteer without the direct supervision of a custodial adult. Also NEVER put yourself in a position of being alone with anyone under age. I won't even meet a member of the opposite sex alone without at least being in a public setting or in an office with a door that is open. There is way too much room for differing accounts of events with that method of operation. People get unhappy when things don't go their way and can be pretty vindictive. That is just food for thought."

Many other private teachers had to do the same thing, particularly the male teachers. Whatever you may decide about protecting young folks, you need to protect yourself as well. This has definitely reduced the quality of violin instruction, but I won't stray any further off topic by explaining the minutia of learning to play a fiddle.

In my own case, I was taught to drive a locomotive when I was so little that I had to stand on the seatbox to see out the window, and I got an informal, impromptu version of Head Start from a Panhandle & Santa Fe telegrapher/station agent 65 years ago --- Even though these experiences helped me in school and in my work life, I'm sorry to say that this isn't a good idea today unless the youngster is a direct relative of somebody involved in this learning process.

1st of all... there should absolutely be policies in place. I also think there needs to be management that has the backbone to tell an employee / volunteer "the way you are behaving around _______ is kinda creepy." - if you see something, say something. Don't make sexual jokes about / around minors, don't physically touch minors when instrucing / teaching, etc.

And those policies should also go towards people of age as well. Female's, minorities, minors, and LGBT should all feel welcomed, comfortable and safe at your organization.

In the past, as Director of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Boulder City, my "Friends of" organization affiliated with the Boy Scouts "Explorer" and other programs, which were co-ed, and had in place programs for adults working with youths. It provided up with a framework for training and certification for adults working with youth.

We encouraged parents/gradians to volunteer with their children, and required it in cases of very young volunteers.

Assuring youth safety is an significant issues... but we need to encourage the young to participate... how many times do we look about and only see old grey haired men, then complain that the younger generations don't care? And increasingly the grey haired old guys can no longer climb into machinery to maintain it... They are our future.

Unfortunately, many parents are either unwilling or unable to sit in on a private music lesson, OR a museum work session. Yes, in that case the young person loses out, but the way things are these days, sometimes it can't be helped. In some ways society is getting better, but in that way it's going downhill.

I recall that years ago my home museum was welcoming of under-18 volunteers, but wanted them to be with a parent, or an adult guardian authorized the parents to act in their place, in case of an incident requiring medial attention.

Later on, I recall the discussion within our operating department that we may offer to assist our passengers/visitors getting on and off the cars. But never touch them without their approval. Especially, don't touch their children. If someone grabs our hand it is okay; but never touch them first.

At some of our special events we utilize youth volunteers supplied though Junior ROTC programs,etc. I am aware that these organizations require releases signed by parent or guardian and very specifically check the youth in and out of our property and make sure an authorized parent or guardian is picking them up. I work the front gate during many of these events and our instructions are not to allow these youths to be picked up at the front; but require the parent, etc. to use the staff entrance and meet with the group leader at a specific building where the adult leader is located.

Tom, thanks for mentioning us (RGVM). At the time we adopted that policy we realized what good are policies if they are not available to your members? Thus we published not just the Youth Protection policy; but all of them on our website. We take a couple of moments during our annual rules class to specifically talk about both our Operations and Youth Protection policies; as a way to ensure that a significant number of our active members are cognizant of them.

I think it is important for groups to post bylaws and policies. Personally, over the years as a board member, there were multiple times I found myself questioning "how do other museums handle this <issue>?" - usually something in bylaws. Unfortunately, I have found a lack of transparency from many organizations - in other words, at least nothing publicly available online (before I get flamed; its been a few years since I went looking for anything...)

As a non-profit, the trustees/directors/whatever are entrusted by the public to have "fiduciary" responsibility - essentially ensuring that money is properly handled with respect to the mission of the organization (and whatever federal/state/etc laws are followed). I think people can loose sight that its not just making sure the right paint gets applied; but also that one is properly taking steps to reduce/eliminate risks. With the youth protection policy; the goals are simple: protect youth members and protect the organization.

If as the board, the bylaws/policies are hidden and members cannot see them; then that is an issue. They should not be used as a secret text to quote to other members - if the public has placed trust in the organization, then the guiding rules of the organization should be available to the public. (While I'm not a lawyer, iirc some states may require this...)

Thanks for the positive feedback on our policy page. As Dave said above, we've worked hard not only to put these policies in writing, but make our members aware of them so they can put them to use (and give us feedback on updates). All members in good standing automatically agree to accept and work by the policies as they are published, in accordance with our museum by-laws.

Our Youth Protection Policy came about after a disagreement between one of our adult volunteers and a minor volunteer. The board's reaction was to craft a Youth Protection Policy and task our department superintendents and project managers with enforcing it. As inspiration, I drew upon my years of experience as an Assistant Scoutmaster and District Program Chairman with the Boy Scouts back home. Much of the policy is cribbed from the BSA policy, as it specifically covers interactions between adults and minors.

https://www.rgvrrm.org/wp-content/uploa ... y_2018.pdf

As Dave explained, we bring up the policy at our Annual Rules Class and remind everyone that is they interact with minors at the museum in any capacity, they are governed by the policy. We task enforcement of the policy to our superintendents and project managers. If you're interacting with minors on a regular basis, you need to be familiar with the policy (as does the minor and their family). Simple as that.

If your group is interested in adopting a similar policy, please feel free to copy our and adapt it to your specific needs. Be warned, the policy does not need to list and identify every possible type of interaction. What your policy does need to contain is what do to when an issue arises, and how it will be dealt with. Of course, a policy like this does not shield you from the law, but having healthy policies in place and enforcing them can help head off any possible conflicts or situations before they become harmful.

-otto-
President, RGVRRM