NakedEye Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 If housing was truly one of the considerations for finals being in Indy for 10 years, and it's fallen apart, then shame on DCI. If, on the other hand, it wasn;t a consideration, then shame on DCI again. Having finals at the same place form many years has the ability for that organization (DCI) to "wear out their welcome". And we're only in the second year of this (although last year it got moved to Bloomington. I dread the attitude of Indy schools in year 7 or 8 of this "partnership". No, of course they didn't consider housing AT ALL when striking this deal. Seriously? Jeez - give them some credit. The area is very much in favor of marching music, which is why the city really worked to recruit DCI there in the first place. Flip side of your doom and disaster scenario is many corps may develop really great relationships with particular schools who see how hosting a corps provides and educational benefit to their students. Then the corps gets to come back to the same place every year, removing a big unknown that often takes place right at the critical point of the year where you want consistency. If they have a clear idea of who their hosts are and what the facility has to offer from the previous year, they can plan and maximize the time much better. Additionally, the directors are going to stress to their kids how important it is to leave everything in great shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kstein Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I find it interesting that little towns like Marion Ohio and Butler PA could house well over 60 corps for the US Open and American International year after year with out any housing problems, but a city the size of Indy has issues. I know in our day we were told to always leave the schools cleaner than when we got there, maybe the corps of today don't follow those type of rules. Many, many of the corps going to those shows in Marion and Butler were small, and the "requirements" for those corps were pretty simple: a place for the kids to sleep. If there was any kind of place for the kids to practice (very often a parking lot), then that was a bonus. The corps today need more room at the school for their ever increasing caravan of people and equipment and they demand/require top notch practice facilities, particularly during Finals week. These are other factors that help to limit the pool of available facilities...along with many of the other reasons that other posters have noted. Karen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korsakovisjesus3 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I find it interesting that little towns like Marion Ohio and Butler PA could house well over 60 corps for the US Open and American International year after year with out any housing problems, but a city the size of Indy has issues. I know in our day we were told to always leave the schools cleaner than when we got there, maybe the corps of today don't follow those type of rules. I know it doesn't happen all the time, but as an example, Spirit came to my high school several years back and completely left the school, specifically the gym and commons area a mess. Garbage wasn't cleaned up, the floor wasn't even remotely sweeped. I think they had a rainy rehearsal that day so I can understand the excess dirt, but clearly no effort was made by the corps as a whole to make it look like no one had even stayed there for the past day/night. Now the high school is not allowed to house any drum corps indefinitely. I know most corps clean up after themselves, but it's a sure shame that the occasional few have to screw other corps out of future housing sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancerlady Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) Between corps that do not take care of their facilities to schools that go through renovations during the summer and/or get closed up to save $$$ or those who are too new to let anything happen to them we are seeing an incredible amount of housing not being available. Not to even mention those corps who look the other way at some of the non-adult like events that go on or administrations that never even knew anything was going on AT their school because of a contact that thought it was ok to let a corps come in and leave without anyone ever knowing about it. It gets even worse with schools going to year round schedules who simply cannot offer up their space because of the readiness of the building to coincide with school starting back!Welcome to the new reality in Drum Corps. How very true! I experienced first hand how hard it was when I had a hard time finding housing for a corps that came through my town to practice. I found this out THIS SUMMER, while calling local schools Not only do alot have band camps during the last months of July, but prior experiences with housing drum corps have left very bad tastes in band directors and principals mouths and they refuse to house corps again. Some have explained that they were down right disrespected or that the facilities were left a mess. A drum corps left my local High school in a MESS and now they flat out REFUSE to house anyone EVER again! I had to resort to very colorful measures to help this other corps out. Our local beautiful park has a sports complex and the local YMCA to shower. What happened to administration teaching kids to leave the place better then they found it? What happened to kids having respect? What happened? Man...we were taught "Leave it better then you found it." It is a perfect opportunity for a corps to be TAUGHT life skills. I mean this is supposed to be an educational experience right? Edited July 31, 2009 by Lancerlady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellodcd Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 How very true! I experienced first hand how hard it was when I had a hard time finding housing for a corps that came through my town to practice. I found this out THIS SUMMER, while calling local schools Not only do alot have band camps during the last months of July, but prior experiences with housing drum corps have left very bad tastes in band directors and principals mouths and they refuse to house corps again. Some have explained that they were down right disrespected or that the facilities were left a mess. A drum corps left my local High school in a MESS and now they flat out REFUSE to house anyone EVER again! I had to resort to very colorful measures to help this other corps out. Our local beautiful park has a sports complex and the local YMCA to shower. What happened to administration teaching kids to leave the place better then they found it? What happened to kids having respect? What happened? Man...we were taught "Leave it better then you found it." It is a perfect opportunity for a corps to be TAUGHT life skills. I mean this is supposed to be an educational experience right? This shouldn't be something that needs to be "taught". . .it's common decency. Leaving housing sites in any other condition than better than you found it should not be tolerated. No excuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukenorris Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 DCI should fine the drum corps if they get banned from any housing sites 2010 and forward. I am talking big fines. Like $15,000 or something like that. I am sure if Obama was in charge of DCI finals housing, and the drum corps got asked not to come back. He'd have them up at the white house for a beer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TastyWaves Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 How did i know that this would turn into "Back in the day we were so much better at everything"? lol. So predictable and funny. In any case, I can assure you that getting housed at a school is alot tougher than people realize. My school has different school and community groups in our facility every day almost of the year. Even on sundays alot. My last school required permits which must be voted on at the monthly school board meeting to do ANYTHING. I tried to help out corps a few times but it just didnt happen. And then we required union labor to do ANYTHING in there. And they liked to file grievances for everything. If they saw someone taking out trash, or fixing equipment or whatever, they would cry THAT HAS TO BE UNION LABOR!!! We couldnt even drive our own tractor on the field! lol. And then there is my favorite, "Yes! (then a month later) "No". lol Tougher than we think folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordsterr Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Of course, on the flip side, there are great success stories. Three days ago I was contacted by a show sponsor who desperatley needed housing for the Blue Stars. Usually, that doesn't work in my district, but my Athletic Director bent over backwards to help me to help the corps. It turned out to be fantastic. Let me tell you that the Blue Stars are the top notch kind of group that we would like all corps to be. They were friendly, they didn't go where they weren't supposed to go, and when they left, you would have never known that they were there. Besides that, they were great with my band students, and they were very appreciative. Finally, they painted their field not to their specifications but to what they knew my band needed next week!!! I always liked these folks. Now I like them even more!! Jordi Vilanova Westerville North HS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLamb Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I served as a host for drum corps for almost all of my 30+ years as a band director. I can tell you from first hand experience that almost all of the corps were very respectful of our facilities. They always did a very good job of cleaning up after themselves. I always found the corps members and support staff very appreciative and friendly. From my personal experiences with so many different corps (we housed as many as 4 a year) I did not witness any of these reports of corps leaving a less than desirable image. I do know that more and more schools are not allowing their facilities to be used simply because of liability concerns. It is often just easier for administrators to say NO. Fortunately I had good relationships with my principals, superintendents and ADs and this was always resolved. There are also more schools offering summer school classes and summer sports opportunities than ever before. The past 10 years have also seen severe budget cuts where many schools just simply don't allow for this because of a reduction in work force. I'm sure DCI is always working on this issue on behalf of all corps, but there will always be last minute changes and problems to deal with. I think some of the posts I have read in this thread are a bit off base and may be more conjecture than fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I-80 Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 This year's DCI Championship practically collides with the public school schedule in central Indiana. DCI - Wed. Aug 5th - Sat. Aug 8th ... DCI Championships Public schools central Indiana - Mon. - Fri. Aug 3rd - 7th ... 1st week of Fall Sports practice (multiple sports & levels) ... some go from 7:00 AM - 5:30 PM ... ... ... Marching Band practice ... some started prior to this week - Wed. Aug. 5th ... Student schedule pick up - Thu. Aug. 6th ... Orientation for new students - Mon. Aug. 10th ... Teachers & Staff report - Wed. Aug. 12th ... 1st day of School - Fri. Aug. 14th ... 1st Varsity football scrimmage Add to this .. some teachers will be in school next week (Aug. 3rd - 7th) getting ready for the 2009-2010 school year Bottom line: We're not the only game in town next week. As many posters have said we need to respectful to our hosts and their hospitality. It's a two way street. Sources: Ben Davis HS, Carmel HS, Avon HS, and Bloomington schools (Monroe County) ... ... ... Ben Davis: http://www.wayne.k12.in.us/bdhhome/ ... ... ... Carmel: http://www1.ccs.k12.in.us/chs/home ... ... ... Avon: http://hs.avon-schools.org/ ... ... ... Bloomington/Monroe County http://www.mccsc.edu/ ... ... ... Bloomington North HS http://www.north.mccsc.edu/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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