Jeff Ream Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 Its more widespread than you think. I know of a assistant band director in my local area that has had at least two long term affairs with NOW older girls that he started when they were in their teens. Its a case where everyone knows he has done these things,,its been reported to Law Enforcement and investigated and nothing ever became of it. He still holds his job till this day and still holds a relation ship with one of the girls he started the affair with when she was 17. I know of another that is under indictment on multiple counts of statutory rape that is awaiting trial that has had to resign their teaching position as a band director and with the DCI corps they teach at. The disposition of that case should be coming up soon as it happened last October. There been at least one among our ranks that has paid his dues for Telephone Solicitation of a Minor. There have been other stories reported on DCP as well. Ed, I'm quite aware of how much it goes on given my ties to the band world.it's a 60 minutes episode waiting to happen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted October 12, 2012 Author Share Posted October 12, 2012 lOVE IS CRAZY THING. My wife is 6 years older than me. She met me when I was 20. Do the math. If she met me few years earlier she would be a sexual predator. We have been married 27 years now. My High School Sweetheart was 6 months younger than me so there was a period of time where our relationship was classified as statutory rape under the law. What were we suppose to do. Stop what we had started all because of some silly dates???? Ive got a son that is 21. I have had to warn him the last few years about the young girls at church to be careful if they are close to the 18 year mark not to get involved with them because of the legal aspects. He understands the risks. Ive got a daughter that is 15.5. Ive had to warn her that all boys are bad and corrupt and that she is not to get within 5 feet of them till she is 33. :) Don't get hung up on dates. They really don't mean that much when comparing youngish adults to oldish young adults. key word adults. I have a daughter too, and having been falsely accused of relations with a minor when I was 22, it's scary as hell. thankfully, being even more full of it then than I am now, when I testifed before the school board, the words " if you're going to accuse me of sleeping with a student, at least pick one that weighs less than I do" came out of my mouth....but it also proved my saving grace. yeah my wife is 9 years younger than me. but she was an adult...hell more adult than me...when we met. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Its more widespread than you think. Sadly I'm not surprised anymore, latest locally I heard of is about halfway between where Jeff and I live at a small private Church based school. In this case, multiple charges of coming on to male students from a male music instructor over years. More we hear, more we need to be vigilant.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 I would be greatly concerned if I was a parent in Nevada right now. I know of a drummer that I marched with that is now a drum instructor at one of the high schools out there. He has a clean record and passed the back ground check. He is 22 years old and has plowed more teenage girls than I shake a stick at. He just hasent gotten caught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scerpella Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Anyone who has been involved in the activity for any length of time is aware of incidents of improper behavior between staff and membership, some occurring at the highest levels. There are more than a few people who have served jail time for this from both the juniors and seniors. The first question is whether this happens in a higher proportion in drum corps than it does in education in general. Based on my own anecdotal observations and the stories recounted here, probably not. Second question is what the activity is going to do about it. Given that drum corps staffs are not typically vetted in the same way a certified teacher is since they are private organizations without any certifying body, the question then becomes should they start? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 given the posts removed elsewhere, but given all that is going on in the real world with this issue as well as seeing how DCA is cracking down on things, I feel it's a relevant topic. I'm told a DCA corps ( and no, I won't name names) had a convicted sex offender in their ranks. In this day and age, that's stupid not only for the corps to allow, but for DCA ( and DCI) to allow.With DCA getting younger in membership, and needing to get younger in marketing, this MUST be an issue that's addressed. I can tell you, in my region, I know fo several people over the last few years busted for messingwith kids that had ties to DCA corps. that's suicide. Do corps need to do background checks on not just staff ( and if they aren't already they're idiots), but members, board, volunteers etc? same for DCA/DCI with judges? Maybe I'm too sensitive to it. After all, I can't turn on the news without hearing the name Sandusky. Far too often I log onto Facebook and see posts of "don't break rule #1" or "DFTK". someone maybe an hour east of me was justbusted for relations they had with a minor.....and it startedwith a drum corps. Then the scuttle flying around from last summer mentioned earlier ( and I did look that persons name up, and yes, they were listed). what is DCA and it'scorps doing about this? You want to kill a circuit? Rock star parties at a hotel pale to having to deal with this. Spot on, Jeff. Act 34/151/88. Any one of the three (State Police Background Check, Child Line Child Abuse record, FBI Fingerprints for the uninitiated as to what those three things are) would keep things clean or at least cover the ##### of a corps. All three run 60 bucks- you're expected to have all three for teaching in PA schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 Anyone who has been involved in the activity for any length of time is aware of incidents of improper behavior between staff and membership, some occurring at the highest levels. There are more than a few people who have served jail time for this from both the juniors and seniors. The first question is whether this happens in a higher proportion in drum corps than it does in education in general. Based on my own anecdotal observations and the stories recounted here, probably not. Second question is what the activity is going to do about it. Given that drum corps staffs are not typically vetted in the same way a certified teacher is since they are private organizations without any certifying body, the question then becomes should they start? When I worked with kids outside PA, I had copies of my PSP/ChildLine background checks available for the perusal of parents and the Director. I made it clear that they could see them at any time. If I were to work with a corps- I would also do the same in a heartbeat. We call this "professional behavior" where I live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny Drum Corps Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 If you guys want to push all of this we better go over to DCI and WGI as well. I know that it is happening there. Major corps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 If you guys want to push all of this we better go over to DCI and WGI as well. I know that it is happening there. Major corps... I mean really if we are going to start banning corps for bad behavior where are we going to start with the rules? Is it going to be with drinking? Smoking weed? Script abuse? Wife Swapping? Infidelity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearlsnaredrummer77 Posted October 12, 2012 Share Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) This is an important topic. I know of examples of it back when I was a marching member. Drum Corps (DCI & DCA) need to act pro-actively in this regard. In addition, there should be formal "no tolerance" policies required by each corps. This is only for the self-preservation of the activity. All it would take would be one "Sandusky" to collapse the whole deck of cards. I also wonder about sexual harassment... I certainly saw numerous examples of this from staff members directed at marching members during my marching career. At my job, we are required to take bi-annual training. Edited October 12, 2012 by pearlsnaredrummer77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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