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2012 Teal Sound "Letter of Explanation"


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Now this letter just doesn't sit well with me. At fault isn't the members for not paying, but rather the organization and management for not running a well-oiled machine and having contracts in place and fee deadlines (that you stick too!). Scholarship and sponsorship programs should be developed to help those in need. Take some responsibility Teal Board of Directors/Corps Director.

This letter, while heart felt, is not the letter an Executive Director would send out to an organization. It lacks professionalism, responsibility and accountability. I would encourage Teal's Director to spend some time with Hop, Arnold, Gibbs, Orwoll... etc. Learn from the best and prepare for the future. Teal can't run how it has been, big changes need to take place.

Your criticism is rather harsh. Few Board of Directors/Corps Director would even think of sending out the letter in the first place. Everyone wanted an explanation and got one. Take from it what you want.

The real question is why did Dan A, Hop, Arnold, Gibbs, Orwoll etc allow this to happen in the first place?

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One would think that a deadline for dues payment should have been far enough in advance of the start of tour, especially if that was the only source of revenue to allow the corps to continue. If dues were not paid, members should not have been allowed to continue. If enough members were lost, or not enough revenue was raised, the corps could have done the right thing by those who did pay in full. There is no mention of what those kids can expect to get back, as I imagine their dues are gone, used for the expenses that were foolishly incurred up to July. I am also confused by her reasoning for the delay in explaining things to the parents. All these things fall under the responsibility of the director and the board she resides over. Although the letter is heartbreaking, she really never accepts said responsibility. The regret that is mentioned is in her following DCI's recommendations once they were notified of the situation, more deflection of blame and lack of accountability. If I were the parent of a kid who paid in full, I would not be satisfied with this. :thumbdown:

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Now this letter just doesn't sit well with me. At fault isn't the members for not paying, but rather the organization and management for not running a well-oiled machine and having contracts in place and fee deadlines (that you stick too!). Scholarship and sponsorship programs should be developed to help those in need. Take some responsibility Teal Board of Directors/Corps Director.

This letter, while heart felt, is not the letter an Executive Director would send out to an organization. It lacks professionalism, responsibility and accountability. I would encourage Teal's Director to spend some time with Hop, Arnold, Gibbs, Orwoll... etc. Learn from the best and prepare for the future. Teal can't run how it has been, big changes need to take place.

youre right..bottom line falls on the admin. even if it meanT no corps this summer then so be it..,unfortunately theres alot of people in the activity with more of a heart and bad business sense....BUT I do know HOP with all his success and business 1st attitude had some of the same issues early on..the difference is YOU DONT PAY YOU DONT PLAY...

Edited by GUARDLING
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Ya! I mean, what the heck? Why weren't these guys makin' calls to get that money from those that owe...oh wait, that's because its not their corps. Sorry, I forgot...

Thanks for this - I couldn't have said it better.

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TURE STORY:

When I was in college I was on the Interfraternity Council, our campus had 23 fraternities (sound familiar), about a dozen thrived and every rush got the highest quality men and received the highest dues. These fraternities had the biggest houses and were the most popular. Another 8 of these fraternities, while not being the biggest, were quite essential to our greek community and still managed to draw in a good sized membership. Then there were the last few. While having great men, they were the smallest houses and struggled year in and year out to fill a pledge class and meet their financial responsibilities.

My last year on the council one of the smaller fraternities decided to close its chapter.Before the decision was made we (IFC) met with their exec board to try and fix the problem....you know what the problem was?

In order to keep their membership numbers and compete with pledge class numbers, this particular house had no financial obligations from their members. They were so in need to keep their current brothers and to attract new members, that when it was time to collect the money, they didnt have the courage to do it. In actuality, the brothers lost their fraternity because they werent willing to keep up with their financial resposibilites and the fraternity folded because the exec board was so afraid that they would lose membership if they pushed to hard.

My point is, it sounds like Teal was happy to have their membership numbers, but was afraid to push their nonpaying members away. Im pretty sure that BD, Cavies, Phantom, Cadets, etc... hold their members to their financial commitment. But then again, they can be picky because their membership pool is alot bigger then someone then Teal.

Good luck to them in their future endeaavors and I hope to see them on a football field sooner then later.

I hope DCI looks to more corporate sponsorship to fund scholarships and bursaries for all DCI corps. Not few, but many scholarships and bursaries. The cost of college/university isn't getting cheaper - neither are corps tuition fees. We have student financial aid for college students, why would we not have a similar approach to supporting students/performers in drum corps.

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