March mom

The incident situation appears to have been reported to DCI, police authorities, and child protective. in the situation you mention, did that person not report to authorities? cause i could see gross negligence in that case but don’t understand how if he did report/follow up with cps and police how that’s negligent...

I had to re-read the email several times as it’s quite lengthy and jumps all over the place at times. it’s quite lengthy because some of the information contained in it has nothing to do with her or her son situation. There is a half page of quotes from the cadets about their commitment to member safety and adhering to the policies etc. etc. and her feelings about those statements as it pertained to her son. however it’s important to point out that those quotes were in reference to a completely different type of situation involving members and staff’s, not 2 minor members and were taken out of context. I also want to point out some twisting of words that were used and i can DEFINITELY see where one could have different perspectives on the interpretations . At one point in the email the mother writes that she received a response from YEA that “child protective in Indiana would be handling all further communication and investigation”. The mother then writes, the worker told her that they did not request there not be contact and check ins on them. i need to point out these are two very different things. One is an organizational approach and looking at the legality of the total situation and allegations being lodged against them versus the mothers opinion that the organization should’ve reached out to her and provided aftercare. It’s clear from the response that she got that they did not wish to have direct communications with them and I could be entirely wrong in my quick assumption that this would be to avoid direct communication with persons alleging they had a part in this minor/minor offense. I also would support the director not disclosing to their staff this child’s incident/situation for the Feb. audition. This child is still a minor and relaying information such as that can also have legal consequences. I do feel it’s important to point out that the mother requested a settlement. In her emails she states they received a small cash settlement along with a nondisclosure agreement . does it matter the amount of the settlement? I again would like to point out that settlements and nondisclosure agreements are used very often. Settlements and nondisclosure agreements offer a way to resolve an issue without assigning blame. From what I can tell the cadets felt they handled the situation appropriately ( and from what i can tell with this one sided amount of info, they did). but given the controversy they have already gone through I can see why they may have agreed to the settlement. I need to thoroughly state that her child went through a nightmare ordeal and every parents worst nightmare. The authorities have the information regarding the alleged perpetrator. But it’s important to remember that, that action is separate from what she’s trying to hold cadets responsible for. I personally feel that her making every detail including her sons first name, where he’s marching, every action that happened during the incident and making it public to the entire drum corp community could potential make any anxiety and PTSD that he has more significant and i feel so badly for him. as a parent of a marcher, I have kept a close eye on these boards over the past 18 months. I would say that I am on here at least twice a week during active seasons. I’m familiar with a lot of the bantering, opinions of some versus others, so while i may be posting for first time- I just felt it was important to point out the things that I’ve noticed before the lynch mob attacked, as that could potentially lead the activity, that’s already been through a lot of negatives,further downward. it’s just when persons are emotional and feel a certain way about the situation, that’s when perceptions actually can be different and then interpreted in their own way. what happened to her son is absolutely horrible. would it have been nice for cadets admin‘s to reach out over the months and see how he was doing? yes. obligated too when there are looming legal threats? no. But the cadets did report the situation to all authorities promptly and can not be held accountable for members actions against other members. ( and no, i am not a cadets fantastical, lol. nor does my child march the cadets.)

There’s a few things that stand out: 1- The two persons involved were both minors. That is not something you publicly announce. 2- there was both a criminal and a child protective investigation. The child protective investigation was determined as Unsubstantiated/ with no findings and report was closed. it is not clear from what I read if there was an actual arrest? The words testify and testimony which are court related words are used in the email, but I do not see any other reference that would indicate there was a court or trial proceeding, but either way, what would a DCI investigation do that criminal/CPS investigation was not already doing? there are many times that independent investigations hold off until the formal investigations are complete ( which appears to be 4/30/2019 by review of the cps record) It appears that both child protective and the police were contacted immediately . 3- approximately six months after this incident, and still during the open cps report, this person returned to the cadets for an audition. It appears that after he was cut, further resolution was sought. 4- various photo evidence, showing the other child after the incident was outlined. However his presence such as the group photo at finals or some of the other times he appeared in photographs does not mean that he was without supervision/monitoring. 5- I 100% agree that this must of been agonizing to have gone through and the other child should not have had the ability to return to the room. I am definitely not defending that point. I am however struggling to see where the cadets failure was. 6- The writer of the email indicates that she was not contacted until CPS contacted her. She also writes that the guardian asked why she was not contacted... But I am left wondering if the guardian was contacted first? as this would be reaching out to notify of the incident . 7- I am glad that this child found another place to March . 8- I am disheartened that the writer of this email chose to disclose the name of her son and then the physical characteristics and month/year of the other child.