Logo

American Legion Morris County

Logo

 

Dear County and Post American Legion Jersey Boys State Chairmen:

Thank you as always for your support of the American Legion Jersey Boys State Program (“ALJBS”). 

This is the first update for the 2026 session. We will periodically send you updates with important information and reminders.

  1. The dates for the 2026 session of ALJBS are Sunday, June 21, 2026 (Father’s Day) to Friday, June 26, 2026. All Delegates are expected to attend the session in its entirety, including arriving on-time (Sunday, June 21 no later than 8:00 am) and staying until completion of the session (Friday, June 26 at approximately 4:00 pm). Late arrival, early dismissal, and any temporary leave of absence may only be approved by the Executive Director (David Bagatelle) and are done so on a VERY limited basis. Sports games, practices, family travel, and other non-essential activities are not acceptable reasons for temporary or early departure or late arrival from ALJBS. Please note: Post and County Chairmen are not authorized to grant these approvals.
  2. For the 2026 session, the ALJBS Board of Trustees approved a slight increase in the delegate fee. The delegate fee for 2026 will be $325 (the "self-sponsored" delegate fee is $375). We have not raised the delegate fee in several years. The $25 increase for 2026 is being done as a result of the continued rising costs to run ALJBS. Please keep in mind that this fee is comprehensive and covers the delegate's room, food, supplies, facility costs, insurance, etc. We are one of the lowest cost, large Boys State Programs in the country. As a best practice, we suggest that posts pay $275 of the $325 fee and have the delegates cover the remaining $50 of the $325 fee. Not only will this reduce what the posts have to pay ($275) but it will ensure that the delegates have some “skin in the game” thus reducing the chances of a delegate no-show. It is the post’s responsibility to collect the $50 delegate portion of the fee and to send the entire $325 fee per delegate to Tammie in Department HQ. DO NOT have the delegates send the $50 payment to Tammie and do not send us parent checks for the $50. The post should deposit that check directly and remit the entire $325 delegate fee to HQ.
  3. Attached is the updated 2026 ALJBS “Standard Operating Procedure” (“SOP"). This version supersedes all previous versions of the document. Please use this document going forward. It will also appear on the ALJBS website (aljbs.org). 
  4. We are excited to announce that we plan to open up our website for registrations in January  We will inform you when the site goes live for registrations via email. Your delegates will be able to log into our website at www.aljbs.org to register for the program in January.
  5. We will be hosting several informational sessions for County/Post ALJBS Chairs in December. For those of you unable to attend one of the sessions (or if you want to listen again), access to recordings of those sessions will be emailed to you. We will let you know the dates for those sessions via email.
  6. A copy of the slide deck that will be used during the two informational sessions for County/Post ALJBS Chairs will be emailed to you after the sessions in December.
  7. Post Chairmen need to get their email addresses to Tammie in HQ ASAP. 
  8. Post Sponsorship Cards will be going out with the Annual ALJBS Letter by Monday December 22, 2025.  
  9. VERY IMPORTANT reminders:
    1. Read your emails from HQ (Tammie) and from Ted Howarth/Dave Bagatelle. They will contain important information about the 2026 session.
    2. Check and refer to our website at ALJBS.org. The website is the single source of truth and will always contain the most correct and up-to-date information regarding the 2026 session.
    3. Utilize our SOP. It will be your guide to sponsoring delegates for ALJBS in 2026.
    4. Post Chairs need to get me their email address ASAP. 

 

If you have any questions regarding the process or program we encourage you to first check our website. You can additionally reach out to the ALJBS Admissions Team at admissions@aljbs.org, or reach out  to Tammie Abdrabou at Headquarters at tammie@njamericanlegion.org.

 

Lastly, thank you again for all that you do for the ALJBS program. With your support, we look forward to making the 80th Annual Session the best yet!

For the Good of Jersey Boys State,

 

Ted and Dave

 

Ted Howarth, President

David Bagatelle, Executive Director