How do we rid our activity of this behavior

[Kid Minneapolis]

I saw this on Facebook apparently this creep marched an all-age corps in New Jersey?! Something has to be done!! As a parent it makes me think twice about letting my 14 year old child march in any DCA corps until they start doing something to identify and eliminate this type of behavior. Sadly this isn't the 1st time this has happened but it could be the last if there are changes implemented to remove these perverts from the activity.

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2013/09/howell_schools_it_tech_arrested_for_manufacturing_child_pornography_authorities_say.html

[Kid Minneapolis]

There are other articles out there on this which I will post

Edited October 16, 2013 by Kid Minneapolis

[Kid Minneapolis]

http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20130927/NEWS02/309270073/

Edited October 16, 2013 by Kid Minneapolis

[N.E. Brigand]

Well, if this is the first time he's been accused of a crime, a criminal background check would presumably have been no use for a corps of which he was (formerly) a member or the school system for which he was currently employed, but there are other screening methods, and organizations that serve children should have in place policies to prevent sexual abuse. Here (pdf) is a pamphlet with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.

The quote from Kevin Serfass, that the Courier Post takes from the prosecutor's statement, is unfortunate, though it may be a case of bad editing:

“'He is a former member. And I am just as shocked as anyone else. I don’t even know why we are even mentioned in it,' he said of the Prosecutor’s Office’s statement.

The group allows members to sign up for the independent all-ages band before each season.

“'These guys come and go. Every year, we have different faces,' Serfass said. 'It’s not a permanent membership. It’s a seasonal thing.'"

I'm sure the intended point was, He's never been a regular part of the organization and hasn't been here for a long time, but it will read to some as We don't pay close attention to our membership.

[camel lips]

The Question is

How do we rid our activity of this behavior??

And I wish I had a answer for that. Sadly I do not.

This is going on all across our country. I know of at least 2 DCA corps members in just the last couple of years that have been music educators that have been arrested,,tried and convicted on various charges simular to these and worse.

DCA All Age activity mixes adults with children and wackos like this will just be drawn into it. Its like hunting over a baited field. Perhaps as the all age gets lower and looms of a age cap gets down the road you may see less and less of this sort of thing but you are still going to have staff members of adult age and how do you prevent some pervert from injecting himself/herself into the ranks? Most of these people you hear about that have been arrested have all had clean records and could pass a background check anywhere.

[Windsor]

Hello,

This man who was arrested was subject to a background check by the school where he worked, as are all school employees in NJ. He was hired and worked there for a number of years so you can take from that he must have passed the inquiry.

The statement in which I am quoted by the APP is not from the Prosecutor's release, it is the work of a bad editor at the APP who took my words out of context during a phone conversation that I had with him. I have requested several times for a correction but there doesn’t seem to be a will at the APP to get the story accurate. A word of advice - be very careful with whom you speak to in the press and how you word your conversation. The person at the prosecutors office who wrote the initial press release told me over the phone that it was decided by the team of investigators to include all organizations that this man was involved in for the purpose of getting the word out to se if there were any additional crimes committed.

It is important to note that Windsor Regiment was not and is not being investigated and there were no allegations that any wrongdoing took place in and around the drum corps. At the time of this man's arrest he was no longer a member of Windsor Regiment and I can tell you that regardless of whatever outcome of his court process he will never be allowed near the organization in the future.

I cannot speak about details of this man's arrest but I can say that after speaking with a number of members, parents of our under 18 members, and what I could gather from conversations with the Prosecutor's office, at no time were any of the members of the drum corps involved in this man's activities. No one in the organization from top to bottom had any suspicions about this man and we were all surprised at his arrest. For Windsor Regiment it is unfortunate that we are tied to this man's crimes in the APP article simply because he was at one time a marching member.

That does not however dismiss the fact that we all have to continue to be diligent in our efforts to keep undesirable activities like this away not only from drum corps, but children in general. It is my belief that because the administration at Windsor Regiment has already been doing a very good job of supervising our members and staff that at no time was there an opportunity for this man to involve any of the members in his crime.

[UNCGQ]

I would contend that you could replace the 'activity' with any other (such as high school band,athletics, etc.) and find no shortage of similar situations. It's not just a DCA problem, its a societal problem.

DCA and its member corps' are a lot less prepared to be society's detective agency than local and state educational institutions where this also exists with no shortage of regularity.

[N.E. Brigand]

A word of advice - be very careful with whom you speak to in the press and how you word your conversation.

That's an excellent point. I think usually the problem is incompetence not malice on the part of the press.

For a detailed example of media misinterpretations, albeit on a much less serious subject, I recommend this article:

An Anglo-Saxonist Gets his Fifteen Minutes: or, what happens whenthe media briefly pays attention

To wit:

"When I read the article, I quickly got a lesson in how reporters can write the story that they want to write whether or not this story is true. And yet I couldn’t find any single example in which I was actually misquoted. I suddenly understood how people can claim that their words have been taken ‘out of context’ when being interviewed. That description is not quite right: it’s not so much that things are out of context as they are re-emphasized, manipulated, and given a ‘spin’ that the original speaker never intended."

[JimF-LowBari]

I saw this on Facebook apparently this creep marched an all-age corps in New Jersey?! Something has to be done!! As a parent it makes me think twice about letting my 14 year old child march in any DCA corps until they start doing something to identify and eliminate this type of behavior. Sadly this isn't the 1st time this has happened but it could be the last if there are changes implemented to remove these perverts from the activity.

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2013/09/howell_schools_it_tech_arrested_for_manufacturing_child_pornography_authorities_say.html

Problem is if they pass a background check (IOW haven't been caught) what can be done?

And as others have said it isn't just drum corps, Central PA seems to averaging one of these cases per year in the schools.

As per any inaccuracies in the report linked to in the OP. Our local paper uses the same format in their website and getting the full story there is horrible. Usually 1/3 or so of the story is chopped compared to what is in the print edition. This has led to stories with meanings totally twisted. Would not be surprised if this is the story here.

Edit: Second (Courier) article is also horrible written (two sentences I couldn't even make sense of). Plus my VirusScan caught a flippin' AddOn the website tried to sneak thru.

Edited October 17, 2013 by JimF-LowBari

[Fran Haring]

That's an excellent point. I think usually the problem is incompetence not malice on the part of the press.

For a detailed example of media misinterpretations, albeit on a much less serious subject, I recommend this article:

An Anglo-Saxonist Gets his Fifteen Minutes: or, what happens whenthe media briefly pays attention

To wit:

"When I read the article, I quickly got a lesson in how reporters can write the story that they want to write whether or not this story is true. And yet I couldn’t find any single example in which I was actually misquoted. I suddenly understood how people can claim that their words have been taken ‘out of context’ when being interviewed. That description is not quite right: it’s not so much that things are out of context as they are re-emphasized, manipulated, and given a ‘spin’ that the original speaker never intended."

As a onetime member of the media, these are very good points.

I worked in radio.... and even though it was tougher to take spoken words out of context than it was with the written word, the possibility of doing so was still there. But regardless of the medium, any reporter who prints or airs a quote (or multiple quotes) out of context is simply either 1) not doing his or her job the right/proper/ethical way, or 2) intentionally advancing an agenda.

Kevin is right... anyone who talks to a member of the media needs to very careful about what they say, and how they say it. Especially in this day and age of the 24/7 news cycle.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Fran Haring