The head of the Girl Scouts is accusing the Boy Scouts of America of a "covert campaign to recruit girls," as a way to boost flagging membership, according to a scathing letter published by BuzzFeed News.
"We are confused as to why, rather than working to appeal to the 90 percent of boys who are not involved in BSA programs, you would choose to target girls," Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, Girl Scouts of the USA's national president, wrote in the letter sent to the Boy Scouts national president on Monday.
"The Boy Scouts has been exploring the benefits of bringing scouting to every member of the family -- boys and girls," Boy Scouts of America spokeswoman Effie Delimarkos tells NPR. She says that exploration is based on "numerous requests from families," but that no decision has been made yet.
The letter follows what The New York Times characterizes as a "tense phone conversation" between executives of both organizations "about possible substantial changes at the Boy Scouts."
In the letter, Hopinkah Hannan said that Girl Scout leadership has tried to engage in an open dialogue with the Boy Scouts about the matter. She said she was disappointed to learn that the Boy Scouts have been "surreptitiously testing the appeal of a girls' offering to millennial parents."