Leaderboard

My appeal to Dan Acheson: Act. Now and Decisively. Get rid of those you KNOW have no business being in this activity. Or get out of the way and let someone else do the job if you aren't up to the task. The survival of the activity may depend on it. Do we need to name names so the press can pick up on it and shame you into action? Because there are still people out there, and you know it.

Nice to see some positive recognition for how one organization has handled crisis communications. These are lessons other groups would do well learning from. I would hope all organizations in our beloved activity would deal with these issues "with grace and integrity." Well done YEA Board/Admin/Leadership.

Drum corps has never existed in a vacuum. From Civil War colorguard, the post WWI VFW, CYO and American Legion, the baby boom, the flight to suburbia, the completion of the interstate highway system which helped corps to tour nationally, the late 2000s financial crisis: all of these have shaped what drum corps was and what it was becoming. We are in the midst of a seismic cultural shift in awareness of abuse of power in general, sexual abuse specifically and the almost reflexive tendency of people and institutions to ignore or cover up malfeasance and handle it in-house. I probably don't have to go through the list of people and institutions, but they run the gamut from secular Hollywood to the halls of religion. Common among the situations, however, is that those who abuse depend upon the fact that they hold both short-term and long-term power over the ability of their victims to do the things they love, or to make a career; the abuser has a respected, charismatic, and often autocratic position and thus the victim is afraid not to be believed, and the victim is afraid that the institution they also love will suffer damage if they speak out. All three of these elements which create the conditions for abuse to happen are present in drum corps. It would be highly unusual if drum corps was exempted from this reckoning. The Hopkins #metoo moment catalyzed the specific investigations into different organizations. But I believe the question is not 'What is wrong with drum corps?' as if drum corps was a unique case; but, 'How do the conditions which are present in drum corps today aid and abet abuse of power by individuals, just as we see in every other area of society? What checks and balances can be put in place to minimize or eliminate the perpetuation of such abuse?' This is a far different question than asking about individual actors. I certainly hope that DCI is able to find the proper ways to address living in the cultural moment. We have seen two extremes in response: the current YEA leadership to the positive, and Roman Blenski to the negative. I think the jury is still out on the current DCI leadership. Whatever one may think of Dan Acheson, he has led the organization through turbulent times and may be able to do so again. Whatever happens, I don't think the 'drum corps activity' will disappear. But again, far from simply focusing on actors, the above questions, 'what conditions exist which allow an atmosphere where abuse is probable to flourish,' and 'what changes and checks and balances are necessary to dispel this atmosphere?' are urgent, no matter how painful.

No category for epic musical failure?

I saw this on Facebook and thought it might be appropriate to this thread...PRIORITIES a bit misguided...

DFTK, period. If you at some point in your past did FTK or tried to FTK you do not deserve a second chance to work with minors. End of discussion. This is not hard. They can have a 2nd chance at life as a welder or mechanic or salesperson or literally anything but not working with minors in drum corps. Why is this even a discussion?

http://bfy.tw/Jh8D

Life would be less confusing if the Oregon Crusaders moved to Orange County and participated in Open Class. Or would it be more confusing?.

Setting the minimum age to 18 seems like a weird form of victim blaming. Comes off as "abusers will be abusers, we should make sure any charges put on these abusers does not additionally include charges involving minors."

I tend to agree. The OP on Reddit is apparently a parent that did not take the time to be involved in their kids lives until after tour. This Genesis staff issue was vetted with DCI, and communicated to parents and members before tour ever began. The recent additional communication parents was just that - another attempt by a caring director to communicate openly with the families. We should be more circumspect about holding anonymous posters in such high regard. It borders on slander to spin only part of the truth and inflame people. I have spent a good part of the last 4 years volunteering with Genesis, and have taken the time to meet and know the vast majority of the staff. They greatly value the quality of experience for the youth. The post on Reddit is full of innuendo and was meant to spin people up. Too many took the bait.

This thread title scared the crap out of me. I'm glad after delving into the details that Yea handled the situation the best it could given the circumstances. They were above reproach actually. Keep up the great work new YEA! board and CEO :-)

I’m a Catholic and I’ll tell you who I’m directing my ire toward...the diocese that has harbored and protected people like this. If he’d been charged, at least YEA would have known.

Sounds like YEA! handled as well as can be expected, given that it was sealed testimony of the AG before a couple weeks ago (and before then sealed in Church archives)

Since her timeline is dynamic and will change, and not everyone is twitter savvy, here is the relevant YEA/PA AG news, read from the top down.

I just looked at the thread title...oops. Eat 'em up Boston!

Tim K is a good and reserved guy, and I assure you , what he can do with the bread is pretty well too.

You can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning!

I invite you to the world or reality where you can't take actions as you describe with out proper documented evidence. I get that things need to be cleaned up but if you think that DCI can just run roughshod over the activity and kick people out based on hearsay evidence you are bonkers. They have to follow a process that includes investigating all allegations of abuse/neglect and reach a finding before they can act. If they don't they will get sued off the face of the earth.

Totally in the 2010s, my friend. Have you contacted the Board for the corps where you have evidence that they're employing someone whose past should disqualify them? Have you done it using your name so that they can contact you for more information as to the specifics? If you've done this, and gotten no response, then absolutely, escalate it to DCI along with the evidence you have that this person(s) are well-known to be problems to the activity and be prepared to back it up. The reality is that DCI's operational structure WAS designed in the 70s. If you'd read the post, you'd have seen that I personally think it's in need of an overhaul. But realists work with the world as is, and DCI's ability to hunt down undesirable elements from the activity and get rid of them by fiat is much more limited than the pitch fork brigade ($1 to Garfield) would want to believe. It is primarily THE INDIVIDUAL CORPS' responsibility to make sure that everyone working with them is someone who doesn't bring baggage to the room, and to fully investigate the people they're hiring. I've suggested before that everyone seeking staff positions sign a document that lists their former employers in the drum corps, band, and scholastic world and giving their potential new employer the right to ask their previous employers detailed questions about that individuals time on staff, including passing on information that would indicate a problem recognizing boundaries with the members, volunteers, and other staff members. Right now, most states' employment regulations severely limit a company's ability to seek out this information, because it could be seen to be defamatory. Even more to the point, a criminal background check (which most corps run on every hire) will not turn up some of the information that would prove useful - for example, if a staff member has a history of hitting on or having relationships with adult members of his or her previous corps: that behavior wouldn't be breaking any laws, but could be seen as violations of ethical protocols that would put up a red flag. Do the corps do this now? No, because in most states, they can't. But this activity should aim to hold up a higher standard and those who want to teach in this activity should know that their behavior on staff will be open for discussion for any new corps they want to work with. If you want to change something you start by being proactive, not by being retributive.

Dan seems to only make a move when things blow up in the media. Maybe Dan is a part of the swamp itself. I have a hard time he hasn't known about pioneer's issues prior to this season. It's time to be proactive instead of reactive. Enough of playing defense.

Listen to recordings of Scouts in the 90s...especially 95, 97 and 99 and hear the crowd. The vast majority loved those shows. You can't please everyone, but it feels like Scouts have gone opposite. Some loved recent shows but it feels like most are indifferent. I personally WANT Scouts to get back to the macho, bombastic, over-the-top style. That's what so many fell in love with.

Wow! Big news out of Madison! http://www.madisonscouts.org/2018/09/madison-scouts-welcome-james-elvord-artistic-director/

1. Bloo 2. Boston 3. The Cadets 4. The Cavaliers 5. Spirit 6. Music City Honorable mention: Pacific Crest

The earliest I've seen for the term "drum & bugle corps contest" was from 1901. So the answer is probably 1902.🙂

I agree. Once you get in the top six, you have to claw your way up. The higher you get, the harder it gets.