mint

I think these are the most compelling factors for students moving from Madison to the Cavaliers: An increase in competitive success A greater challenge to take on A desire to be a "blender" in a group versus a leader A similar level of historical prestige (in the same way that the Cadets, Boston, etc have such alluring histories) Geographic proximity Friends in the Cavaliers who previously marched Madison (and, thus, can offer an insider's scoop on how the two groups compare) With Madison having a slightly younger, more inexperienced cast these past two seasons, I think vets feel obligated to serve as leaders if they returned. Some are eager to take on that role and do so with such passion. Others, however, would rather march at a group where they just get to "do their job" and blend in with the rest of the ensemble on the field, vs being burdened with any off-field leadership roles. In that sense, I feel like Madison has done a tremendous job at awakening students to the breadth of their potential (thanks to all the leadership training each member undergoes). It just so happens that, after becoming more self-aware, many students discover that their growth would happen more rapidly elsewhere; on the other hand, many students discover that Madison doesn't offer enough to satisfy their cravings for growth. If this is all true, it feels like the next step for Madison, then, is to find more ways to keep their students hungry. I'm hopeful that a more robust, competitive show this summer can do exactly that. All of this is to say: I think that the Madison students going to Cavaliers are simply seeking a more intense experience that better aligns with their personal desires. While the all-male brotherhood of the Cavaliers may resemble their social environment from Madison, I think this is an unimportant factor.

Can someone on here explain––in as OBJECTIVE terms as possible––what about Chris Komnick is sooooo bad? I figure that since at least half of this thread thus far is just a bunch of old folks reiterating their same complaints, the rest of us new folk can at least learn WHY we're being subjected to this lol

Troopers Percussion Staff: https://www.troopersdrumcorps.org/single-post/2019/11/11/2020-Percussion-Staff-Announced

Pacific Crest's entire Design and Educational Teams: http://www.pacific-crest.org/about/staff/?fbclid=IwAR3VxWXS-vnz8HiM8e44Af0sN7TDCN5Gtw5jrr3E89DGO-hOazht4LNz4dM Troopers' Color Guard Staff: https://www.troopersdrumcorps.org/single-post/2019/10/30/Full-Color-Guard-Staff-Announcement Academy Percussion Staff: https://www.arizonaacademy.org/staff/percussion-staff/

Not sure when this was posted or if it's even "new," but the entire Cadets' instructional staff is on their website: https://yea.org/cadets/staff

Madison's Brass Team: http://www.madisonscouts.org/2019/10/meet-the-2020-brass-team

Cavaliers' Percussion Team: https://cavaliers.org/news-blog/cavaliers-announce-2020-percussion-team Cavaliers' Brass Team: https://cavaliers.org/news-blog/cavaliers-2020-brass-team Troopers' Visual Team: https://www.troopersdrumcorps.org/single-post/2019/10/23/Announcing-the-2020-visual-staff

Madison Scouts' Visual Team: http://www.madisonscouts.org/2019/10/meet-the-2020-visual-team/

The Academy, 2008-2011: Glen Crosby (may have been caption head for longer than this time period) Madison Scouts, 2019: Derrick Shannon Oregon Crusaders, 2013-2016: Mike Stevens (may have also been caption head before 2013)

Updates since I last logged onto DCP three weeks ago: Cavaliers: 10/16: Design Team Colts: 10/15: Percussion Team Crossmen: 10/15: Percussion Staff Madison Scouts: 10/9: Percussion Team 10/18: Color Guard Team Mandarins: 9/20: Design and Caption Manager Team Spirit of Atlanta: 10/6: Design Team

Colts' Visual Instructional Team: http://www.colts.org/2019_295.html

Crossmen Visual Staff: https://www.crossmen.org/blogs/-br--br--nbsp--nbsp--nbsp-news/2019/09/24/2020-crossmen-visual-team-announced

Mandarins' Design and Caption Manager Team: https://www.mandarins.org/2019/09/19/mandarins-announce-2020-design-and-caption-manager-team/

Spirit's Visual and Guard Staffs: https://www.spiritofatlanta.org/meet-the-2020-visual-and-guard-teams/

If you’re like me, you’ve been checking DCP constantly these past few weeks to see all the changes happening with World Class corps staffs. Unfortunately, the "Staff merry-go-round" thread is no longer a viable source for any information as it has been derailed by irrelevant topics for 40+ pages. Therefore, I’ve started this thread to be your one-stop shop for staff updates. I will try to update this post as corps continue to share new updates. You can help by posting new updates in this thread as you see them! WORLD CLASS: Academy: 9/10: Design Team and Caption Coordinators 10/30: Percussion Staff Blue Devils: Staff Roster (no formal updates have been published, but their staff roster lists new staff for 2020) Blue Knights: 9/3: Brass Leadership 9/4: Visual Leadership 9/5: Color Guard Leadership 9/6: Percussion Leadership 9/7: Design and Education Leadership Blue Stars: 9/3: Design Team and Caption Heads Bluecoats: 9/5: Instructional, Design, and Production Teams Boston Crusaders: 9/3: Design and Educational Teams Cadets: 9/3: Administrative, Design, and Educational Teams 9/25: Guard Staff 10/28(?): Entire Instructional Staff Carolina Crown: Cavaliers: 10/16: Design Team 10/21: Percussion Team 10/23: Brass Team Colts: 9/3: Music Team 9/4: Music Advisor 9/6: Visual Design Team 9/19: Brass Team 10/1: Visual Instructional Team 10/15: Percussion Team Crossmen: 9/17: Design Staff 9/24: Visual Staff 10/15: Percussion Staff Genesis: 9/17: Design Staff 9/19: Administration, Design Staff, and Caption Heads Jersey Surf: Madison Scouts: 9/6: Design Team 9/10: Director of Recruitment/Music Education Consultant 9/18: Caption Leadership 10/9: Percussion Team 10/18: Color Guard Team 10/24: Visual Team 10/28: Brass Team Mandarins: 9/20: Design and Caption Manager Team Music City: 9/12: Design Team Pacific Crest: 10/24: entire Design and Educational Teams Phantom Regiment: 9/5: Design Team Santa Clara Vanguard: 9/3: Brass Staff 9/4: Corps Director 9/5: Design Team and Caption Leadership Seattle Cascades: 9/3: Corps Director 9/4: Educational Director 9/6: Design Team 9/9: Administrative Staff 9/27: All Instructional Staff Spirit of Atlanta: 9/15: Percussion Staff 9/17: Brass Staff 9/18: Visual and Guard Staffs 10/6: Design Team Troopers: 9/4: Design Team 9/5: Caption Heads 10/23: Visual Staff 10/30: Color Guard Staff 11/11: Percussion Staff You can also view all these updates in this corps staff tracker article posted on DCI’s website. Let’s try to keep this thread focused to staff changes—tangential discussions are free to be held in their own separate threads!

Daniel Montoya The rest of the design team is listed here: http://www.madisonscouts.org/2019/09/madison-scouts-announce-2020-design-team/

I am well aware of five cases of sexual harassment/misconduct involving OC students and/or staff from the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In each situation, any justice served was motivated primarily by instructional staff. On the contrary, the executive corps director either took no action whatsoever or acted appropriately only after pressured by other staff members to do so. The new tour staff this year had only two items on their agenda: to do their jobs and to do their jobs WELL. I wouldn’t be shocked if they wanted to expand their roles in the organization—not because they were bloodthirsty for power, but because they likely could run it more effectively. (Imagine showing up to a new job with more experience and more proven success than your boss... wouldn’t you feel justified in your desire to be promoted?) I wouldn’t be shocked if the new tour staff’s competence simply threatened the mediocrity of the corps director and the board chairman. I don’t question that the corps director was, generally, a nice person. I also don’t question that he was the right leader to take over back in 2007 when the only goal was to simply field a corps. Now that they’ve been in a higher echelon of competitive success, I think the role has since grown to be too big for him to fill, and I think his pride prevented him from admitting that. If he had the strength to admit his deficiencies, he would have stepped down in August after the staff urged the Board of Directors for his resignation. Instead, he and the chairman of the board held onto their roles until they were left with no choice but to shut down the corps for 2019. Again, no one wanted this to happen—we just wanted an OC managed by trustworthy, capable people. Though the corps director and board chairman were nice people, their actions (or lack thereof, in some cases) spoke louder than their nice words, ultimately proving them to not be the leaders that this corps needed anymore.

I uphold everything I've said, but I'm all ears for a differing perspective, if you care to share your thoughts.

Unfortunately, none of this is true. The tour administration this year, some of whom were new, were absolutely fantastic. They had no agenda besides doing their jobs (and doing them well!). I wonder if their competence threatened the complacency of the higher administration, whose mediocrity ultimately drove the corps into the ground. OC would be fielding a corps this year (and retaining virtually all of their staff and 30-50% of their vets) if the higher administration simply took accountability for their inadequacy, which ranged from complicity with sexual harassment claims, to mismanagement of money, to general unprofessionalism. Instead, the higher administration refused to step down from their roles. The instructional and design staffs and, consequently, the marching members, left in protest. How could anyone return to a place led by an administration that neglects both the members' safety and their success? No one wanted this outcome. We all wanted OC to field a corps. But for as long as their CEO and board chairman are still there, shutting OC down is the necessary move. There is no permissible compromise to member safety.

The instructional staff resigned over the sum total of it all. The issues cited to the board related to sexual misconduct and harassment; sexism; negligence of the welfare of corps staff, members, and material resources; general inefficiencies; and general unprofessionalism. (Believe it or not, the lack of vegan meal options was not high on this totem pole.) The entire instructional staff resigned when it became apparent that the higher administration (read: the BOD, the corps director) would never make the changes necessary for the organization to become a stable, safe place for its students or staff members. In a situation like this, the only solution is to purge any and all higher administrators who actively created these issues and/or were complicit with these issues taking place. As the BOD seemed unwilling to fire or even admonish Mike Quillen, the executive corps director and CEO of OC, the staff chose to leave en masse. I imagine that the incoming staff had no idea of the scope of these issues prior to signing on. As mentioned by other posters in this thread, DCI jobs are hard to come by. I don't blame anyone for taking such an opportunity. That being said, these new staff members must realize that their new roles go beyond teaching music and movement. They now have the added responsibility of holding OC's higher admin to the highest standard possible. Honestly, these new instructors would be wise to resign ASAP and avoid this scandal altogether. But if they are set on staying, they owe it to themselves, their students, and the organization to ensure that Mike Quillen and Phil Marshall follow through on the promises of change made in their recent letter.