INDIAN ISLAND, Maine — The Penobscot Indian Nation’s Boys & Girls Club and police are investigating allegations of “inappropriate behavior involving a youth club member and another youth,” the club’s board of directors said in a statement released Wednesday.
A sign on the door of the club’s facilities late Wednesday afternoon states that the club is temporarily closed.
Benjamin Collings, chairman of the board of directors, said “the accused youth is prohibited from attending any programs or activities” held by the club until the investigation into the accusations is complete.
“The safety and well-being of the young people we serve remains our No. 1 priority and we will not tolerate alleged inappropriate or illegal behavior on the part of staff, volunteers or Club members,” Collings wrote.
Collings said the Boys & Girls Club requires background checks of all employees and volunteers who have direct contact with the youths they serve. He said the group also “offers a variety of prevention programs for club members, ages 6 to 18, to help them resist negative peer pressure.”
Collings said the Boys & Girls Club was working closely with tribal leaders and referred further questions to police.
Penobscot Nation Police Chief Robert Bryant referred questions to Penobscot Nation Tribal Chief Kirk Francis, who did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Carla Knapp, the chief professional officer for the Boys & Girls Club, also did not return phone messages requesting comment Wednesday.
The Boys & Girls Club on Indian Island was founded in 2000. The club is staffed by eight employees who host and organize activities for more than 200 members, according to the club’s website.
The club serves both members of the tribe and nonmembers.
Real nice. This needs to get cleaned up.
This really needs to get cleaned up and the Director of that Boys and Girls club should resign, she is at fault if you ask me. This is disgusting!!! How can this happen when your supposed to be staffed just saying??
First of all, we do not know all the details of what was done and when. Whatever was done must have been done out of site of staff and maybe after hours etc. To my knowledge that building is a multi purpose building with many groups coming and going. To suggest that the director should resign is absurd. I happen to know that she and her board and her staff have made a very nice and safe environment for children of all cultures for many years. Sounds like you have a vendetta against this person who probably averages 70 hours a week on site and at home. Let the investigation find the facts and take the necessary action.
Wow looks like you’ve been conned by the director, yes she is a hard working person, but she has no business being the director of the Boys and Girls Club. She has allowed her father to be on the board of directors which is her first judgement in error, considering allegations against him. For a long time now the website for the club has been down.
The Nation for too long has had their own internal investigations, that needs to stop now and allow an outside investigation find out what happened.
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Glad to see this is actually getting looked into and is not just being investigated or heard by the Tribal Council. I know of another Boy’s & Girls club/Youth Program were one of the Youth Workers purchased cigarettes for an underage kid that attended the program. Nothing was done about it because of who the worker was. Another co-worker, who actually had the education in the field resigned from her position because no disciplinary action took place.
The penobscot nation will now sue the state of maine, I am sure that because of the indian wars of 1 to 2 hundred years ago we are now all to blame for this tragedy.
Nothing like stereotyping and perpetuating negative connotations.
How did you come to that conclusion? I was stating facts from history.
The last of the Indian Wars in Maine was the French and Indian War which ended in 1763. That was 249 years ago. If you are going to be making stupendously boorish statements such as this you should at least get your facts straight.
I do not normally respond to moronic comments or imbeciles, but your comment is so unintelligent that I had to this one time. I was 50 years off, but you have made my point all the more relevant. Take your facts and put them where you will. Don’t bother to respond, because I will no longer discuss any subject matter with such a misfit as you.
LOLZ! You suggest the Indian Wars were still going on in 1912 and I am the moronic one? Priceless!
@ redoak Although I agree we dont have all the details and those should not make assumptions, I do however have to say that I’m sure that she and her board may “plan” or “discuss” providing a safe enviroment but I NEVER see any of them at the club which I happen to enter on a daily basis! So how can one MAKE and/or insure it is a safe place when they are not present? Sounds like YOU may have a personal connection or you are one of the many RELATED to board members of her or her husband who also is employed there. And as far as working 70 hours….I’m sure she is a hard worker and does her best but driving in at 9:45am and leaving at 3:45pm is hardly 70 hours! lol
First of all I have no relationship or knowledge of the staff, I can only imagine how they must feel. This has nothing to do with staff this has to do with a tragic situation involving youth and my heart goes out to all involved.
Most Directors spend several hours fundraising and building relationships that are not office hours. In addition they spend several hours writing, managing grants working with outside agencies etc. That is not any easy task considering the economic times. It is not common for a Director to play with the children when they have the responsibility to sustain the program. It is common for a board to be present at monthly meetings, special meetings, fundraising events and special events. They usually have other jobs and cannot be visible to the corporations daily operations but are dedicated to the corporations mission statement and volunteer their expertise and valuable time.
redoak2,
It’s great you are defending the director for I’m sure she
is not to solely blame! However, when
you take a director’s position it is your job to make sure all is well!
Especially when working with children! I agree with iiriverborn, I never see
any of the board members nor her or her husband in were the kids are. In fact
every time I have been there all the workers were sitting down-now that is the responsibility
of the directors, to insure their staff is working. Ironically it seemed that
there were always more workers than kids there the few times I had actually
gone through the gym this summer. I asked one of the summer workers if the kids
were on a field trip or something, a little girl said “no we don’t go on field
trips”? I thought that was a shame since they have a bus just sitting out
there? Now that I think of it I have
only see one staff member outside the club playing baseball with the kids this
summer. I believe he was the only one besides another parent I seen when the
kids played basketball this spring and had heard he was personally transporting
them. Hmmm… anyway we should be thinking of ways to better occupy these kids so
they are not inclined to doing things they are not supposed to, rather than
waste energy pointing fingers. I pray for all those and their families affected.