[SJAAboard] ISC Insurance

[Gary Mitchell]

Rob Hawley wrote:

> Gary argues correctly that this needs to be presented to everyone on the
> remailer.  The list below is slightly different than the list I ciculated
> earlier tonight.
> 
> The plan to require background checks as proposed by Steve would gut the
> entire star party program of SJAA.  Many people would simply determine it
> was too much bother to participate (myself being among them).
> 
> 
> Steve made an argument off list based on a conversation with ASP.  He is
> missing a number of points that make the comparison to ASP irrelevant.
> 
> 	1. ASP is an organization with paid staff.  As such it has to have
> ISC insurance to protect it's managers.  Thus what ASP described to Steve is
> an incremental addition to an existing requirement.
> 
> 	2. ASP has a fixed list of people it knows are volunteering. It can
> set the people's expectations that such a check will be performed.  
> 
> 	3. ASP does a Megan's Law check. A Megan's law check only requires a
> name. Thus ASP >>could<< do it without telling anyone. Our carrier requires
> a full criminal background check. That is something that could not be
> ethically done without informing the affected parties. Libertarians and
> privacy zealots like myself will object and will not volunteer in the first
> place.
> 
> 	4. Attendance at our star parties is entirely adhoc. We don't know
> who is going to show up for our star party programs.  They may or may not be
> members of SJAA. How could we possibly maintain and enforce a list? 
> 
> 	5. Our events are different because the parents or other guardians
> are present when we are conducting a star party. Each astronomer is
> basically chained to their scope for security reasons. Other astronomers are
> set up next to them. That is not the case in a classroom.  
> 
> 	6. We are likely at MORE risk at Houge since parents frequently let
> their kids run loose in the park.  Also the density of clients is much less
> at Houge than in school events meaning far fewer witnesses.
> 
>       7. Steve talks about these $100 checks being done on a few people.
> Because the population of volunteers is very fluid it would likely require
> more than 50 and possibly as many as 100 people to be cleared, not all of
> them members of the club.
> 
> 	8. The ISC program sold by our vendor is geared to employment
> issues. If we had paid employees, we would have to have ISC insurance.  The
> coverage would be priced for the risks involved in employment and not the
> minuscule risk involved in our programs.  

This all sounds familiar, we talked about these background checks
a few years ago and decided it was too much.  Some on the board
now weren't around then.

My main question was your item 8, what exactly would we be getting
and is it worth it?  This feels a lot like that Directors & Officers
insurance issue, which would have cost us hundreds more but not
given us much.

Gary