Thank You Texas

[oldschooldbc]

If your still wondering what this is all about, it simple: Would Cadets and/or Crown have passed BD this year if there were two more weeks to the season as well as an examination or speculation as to why the season is one week, and two weeks this year, shorter than every season through 2001.

Again, to reiterate what I have stated going back to the San Antonio show:

CC's marching techs have had since their first camp, last year, to teach their members to march properly. They still were marching with poor footwork and carriage last night. I also saw numerous alignment and spacing errors.

If their marching techs hadn't fixed these problems in 6 months, then another 1 or 2 weeks was not going to make a difference.

The current members of CC cannot outmarch the current members of BD, bottom line. CC needs better marching instruction, if they ever want to take home a gold medal. I hope Kevin Smith understands this tonight.

[hsreed]

Oh Lord! I give up. You win! DCI moved up everything for the state of TX. You've proven it (with no facts like everybody else has). Can we close this now?

So why did DCI move finals forward one week (and occasionally two) on a permanent basis beginning in 2002 after having it on the third Saturday of the month (or thereabouts) for 30 years?

[BOBSMYTH]

2. DCI has been losing marching members or not attracting new members for several years and they've had to make significant changes to attract new blood.

I have to disagree with this assumption.

The number of corps that participate in DCI has gone down significantly over the years and thus it would follow that the number of slots available for potential marching members has also gone down.

However, DCI has not been losing individuals who are interested in being marching members - each fall we hear reports that hundreds of potential members are auditioning for a limited number of openings.

How we get more slots for more participants is the subject of another thread. But, I do not think that there is a shortage of potential participants - whatever state they come from.

[skajerk]

So why did DCI move finals forward one week (and occasionally two) on a permanent basis beginning in 2002 after having it on the third Saturday of the month (or thereabouts) for 30 years?

I'm still waiting for you to answer my posts!

[oldschooldbc]

I'm still waiting for you to answer my posts!

I have already given my explanation:

A shorter tour means less expense for all the corps. It means less miles to travel, which means less diesel fuel to buy. It means less meals to serve, which means less gallons of milk you have to buy. It means 7-8 less housing locations that have to be paid for. It means 2 fewer weeks that you have to pay your staff. It means 2 less weeks that your volunteers have to take off work. From a cost management perspective, it simply makes sense.

But you can still charge X dollars for tour fees. Effectively, you are only getting 85% of what you should pay for, when you pay your fees.

Yes the top-line corps still have many more people try out than spots. They still cut hundreds more people than they accept. And the parents of the marchers still cut checks, without realizing that they aren't getting everything they paid for.

[skajerk]

No... I'm still waiting for his reason as to why TX is to be blamed since his main argument is that TX schools start "a week or two earlier than the rest of the country". I, and others, have shown this not to be true.

If you did not know, Texas traditionally begins their school year a week or two earlier than the rest of the country. For this reason, Texans did not participate in drum corps in significant numbers since the inception of DCI.

He has yet to respond. I also want to know how he knows no one from TX participated. Did he go to every corps and check the birth certificates?

[kansasDC]

My son is back in school in Kansas this Thursday (8/13). We had other Blue Stars members from FL that have already missed school since their schedules started this past week. It is not just TX that starts earlier than Labor Day.

[pr2000]

Alrighty...this is RIDICULOUS. I am a band director in Houston, and have taught for the last 7 years. Here is the deal...

Schools cannot start before the last week of August. PERIOD. My school district starts on the 25th this year. In the past school districts could petition the state to start earlier, and many started around August 10th ( the 2nd week or so). They changed it a few years ago so that you can't start before the last week of August. It has NOTHING to do with past or present President's, etc. It has to do with tourism. They have a strong lobby here in Texas and finally won over the legislature and had them move it back because kids only got about 8 weeks off. Band and athletics got less because that first week of school would happen so early in August. Another issue is that many schools are on 9 week grading periods, and when you start earlier you can finish finals that week before Christmas. We start about 3 weeks later now, so we get back from Christmas break and then take finals the 2nd week of January. There were LOTS of meetings where administrators argued over this issue, and much wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued. We have our first football game the 5th day of school. Fun, huh?

So let's drop this idiotic topic and move on.

Nathan

PR 2000 Lead Buick

SUTA