Date: August 27, 1996
I called Kiwanis Int. Program Director Chris Rice today
after not receiving a return call from my message yesterday.
I explained that we wanted to touch base with him to see if
he had received the information we sent a couple of weeks ago and
to see if they had any plans yet on what to do. He told me that
he had sent us a letter. He said that he planned to make some
changes in the (TK) Bulletin the next time it went out.
I asked when it would go out again. He said words to the
effect, "Sometime in the next year when I get time."
I asked what changes he would put in the Bulletin. He said
that he wasn't sure now but he'd have to see when he sat down to
write it.
I questioned how one person could do that off the top of his
head for a program in 50 states and 74 countries. I suggested a
more comprehensive way of approaching it with input from
professional educators, psychologists, counselors etc.. He said
he saw my point but that Kiwanis has lots of programs and they
couldn't do that for all of them. He also said he does not have
money for a study but that he does have some expertise available
he could call upon.
I reminded him of the scope of the program affecting tens of
thousands of children and raised the possibility of him asking
his Board for such funding. He said they are scheduled to meet in
October and he would give that suggestion some thought.
I shared with him our concern that there seems to be no
sense of urgency in addressing the problems and that we had hoped
Kiwanis (like Johnson & Johnson had done during a Tylenol scare)
would take rigorous action to demonstrate its concern for the
children and its attention to the substance of the program. I
shared with him my feeling that Kiwanis would lose a lot of
credibility if they did not do more than what he described.
Mr. Rice was very soft-spoken and cordial but just seemed
not to get it. He expressed the same opinion as the local
Kiwanis, namely, that they can't control how TK is implemented.
I acknowledged that that is true but that there is much they can
do to guide how it is implemented...through prototype handouts
school could use in explaining the program to teachers and
parents, through cautions about what has caused problems in some
programs, through reviewing why schools drop the program, through
peer-reviewed design studies etc.. He said he got my point but
they just can't do all that.
In closing, I asked him to please reconsider Kiwanis Int.'s
course of action and let me know as soon as possible if they plan
to do more.
After I hung up, I felt shocked at the indifference, the denial
of accountability, and lack of concern about the pain the program
is fostering. Like the local club, the International just does
not appear to have any interest in giving this problem the
attention necessary to fix it.
SUBJ: Kiwanis International (1-800-549-2647)