Jump to content

In The News – Drum Corps Chairman Resigns Amid Scrutiny Of His Hiring Of Disgraced Teacher


Recommended Posts

17 minutes ago, mingusmonk said:

Just because the 2 are connected is no reason to conflate them.

I stated this previously in a furiously-paced and locked thread. I am restating it here because I suspect it was buried quickly as the thread dropped off the board. Also with confidence that my post was not the reason that thread was locked.

 

Recidivism rates of adults that violate legal sexual boundaries is significantly high. High enough that we have learned that second chances in high risk scenarios (and high stakes scenarios) are simply not worth it. Period. The fact that he made it 6 years with no lawbreaking incidents is irrelevant to Fred's assignment in charge of a youth organization. Forgive all you want. Witness and embrace them within your church if you feel like it. Get him a job at VP Racing Fuels. But putting him back into this environment is not the definition of forgiveness. It does neither him nor potential victims any good.

 

As someone with real experience and training enacting Safety Plans around potential sexual predators I urge everyone to understand something. Untrained people, good leaders or not, have no business trying to engage in such processes. It is a specialized area and you have no idea what you don't know. It is incredibly naive and dangerous. Also, in regards to a safety plan, broad and far-reaching communication of the predator's past is at the core to the success.

 

We have seen played out in many subcultures and communities that have attempted to self police with no real skills or knowledge on how to do it.

5

Just a quick search to find evidence provides this recent commentary: (source: https://reason.com/blog/2018/04/11/court-says-relying-on-fake-recidivism-nu)

"Kennedy said "the rate of recidivism of untreated offenders has been estimated to be as high as 80%." Urging passage of the Illinois park ban, a state legislator claimed sex offenders commit new crimes "40 or 50 or 60 percent of the time." Studies that track sex offenders after they are released from prison find much lower recidivism rates. A 2014 meta-analyis covering almost 8,000 sex offenders, for example, found a five-year recidivism rate of about 20 percent among "high-risk" offenders but less than 3 percent among the rest. After 15 years, the recidivism rate rose to 32 percent for the high-risk offenders and 5 percent for the others.

Theis is aware of the controversy over Kennedy's Trumpesque claim. "Regarding recidivism rates," she notes, "the defendant insists that the McKune plurality's 'frightening and high' comment has been debunked." It has. Repeatedly. And courts have begun to notice. But never mind. "Regardless of how convincing that social science may be," Theis says, "'the legislature is in a better position than the judiciary to gather and evaluate data bearing on complex problems.'""

Perhaps recidivism rates as a claim against Morrison's decision are overblown.  And perhaps (and apparently factually) Moody falls into the lower likelihood of repeating that this data suggests is not only possible, but as probable as he might fall into the higher potential.

 

 

Edited by garfield
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, garfield said:

 

Fred Morrison
Executive/Corps Director
Fred.Morrison@Crossmen.org


 

Board of Directors
 

Mark Chambers
Vice President


 

Garfield:  There is a "Vice President" but no "President" - should one not then conclude that Crossmen have substituted the term "Executive Director" as the equivalent of President/Chairman, since otherwise it makes no sense to have Fred listed as "Executive/Corps Director" - it appears he wears two hats.

 

Edit:  If I am mistaken, that would be great.  Though having his wife on the Board still raises some concerns.\

2nd Edit:  And indeed, according to Guidestar, Fred is the Board Chair.

Edited by Eleran
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Eleran said:

Garfield:  There is a "Vice President" but no "President" - should one not then conclude that Crossmen have substituted the term "Executive Director" as the equivalent of President/Chairman, since otherwise it makes no sense to have Fred listed as "Executive/Corps Director" - it appears he wears two hats.

 

Edit:  If I am mistaken, that would be great.  Though having his wife on the Board still raises some concerns.

There is nothing that says an org needs a CEO or board Chair separate and distinct from the ED, but the "Executive/Corps Director" syntax suggests that might be the case here.  Fred is the executive director but it may not be an oversight that "Board Chair" or "CEO" is not listed as his title.

I will make contact and ask the question, then I'll report back.

I mostly posted it so 1. People wouldn't have to search to see the point of your post, and 2. to demonstrate that there are other people on X-men BoD besides his wife.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, garfield said:

There is nothing that says an org needs a CEO or board Chair separate and distinct from the ED, but the "Executive/Corps Director" syntax suggests that might be the case here.  Fred is the executive director but it may not be an oversight that "Board Chair" or "CEO" is not listed as his title.

I will make contact and ask the question, then I'll report back.

I mostly posted it so 1. People wouldn't have to search to see the point of your post, and 2. to demonstrate that there are other people on X-men BoD besides his wife.

 

I checked Guidestar, and it lists him as Board Chair.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Eleran said:

I checked Guidestar, and it lists him as Board Chair.

Well, that is certainly official then.

And thanks for checking there; I'm sure they tell the IRS "just the facts, ma'am" (or sir, in your case).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, garfield said:

There is nothing that says an org needs a CEO or board Chair separate and distinct from the ED, but the "Executive/Corps Director" syntax suggests that might be the case here.  Fred is the executive director but it may not be an oversight that "Board Chair" or "CEO" is not listed as his title.

I will make contact and ask the question, then I'll report back.

I mostly posted it so 1. People wouldn't have to search to see the point of your post, and 2. to demonstrate that there are other people on X-men BoD besides his wife.

 

As someone who is the chairperson of a non-profit BoD, I have the same role as President or lead exec of the organization. The absence of anyone else with that title implies that they are final decision maker unless the by-laws state otherwise. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Btw, for full disclosure, both myself and my wife were Officers and Trustees of a youth sports club which I founded several years ago, and I knew full well that it wasn't an ideal setup.  But finding people willing to give their time to organizations can be difficult to impossible, and I didn't have 40 years of alumni to reach out to, or a $1MM+ budget to deal with.  And every member knew that I was the first and last arbiter of all decisions - the buck started and stopped with me, for good or ill.  So on the one hand, I see how situations like this can arise in a corps' early days.  Unfortunately, those practices stay in place as long as they can continue that way without problems.   But on the other hand, problems eventually will arise as the corps grows and ages, and they need to move on from that initial seat-of-your-pants budget-on-a shoe-string systems.  After all, DCI considers itself the major league, doesn't it?   And as I said, everyone has been saying that BoDs  need to have actual oversight.

PS - at the end of my Club's initial 5 years, due in part to the fact that people still remained unwilling to step up to be Trustees and we therefore could not ensure the growth and necessary organizational structure beyond just "me doing everything", I wound the Club down rather than continue.

Edited by Eleran
Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, garfield said:

Just a quick search to find evidence provides this recent commentary: (source: https://reason.com/blog/2018/04/11/court-says-relying-on-fake-recidivism-nu)

"Kennedy said "the rate of recidivism of untreated offenders has been estimated to be as high as 80%." Urging passage of the Illinois park ban, a state legislator claimed sex offenders commit new crimes "40 or 50 or 60 percent of the time." Studies that track sex offenders after they are released from prison find much lower recidivism rates. A 2014 meta-analyis covering almost 8,000 sex offenders, for example, found a five-year recidivism rate of about 20 percent among "high-risk" offenders but less than 3 percent among the rest. After 15 years, the recidivism rate rose to 32 percent for the high-risk offenders and 5 percent for the others.

Theis is aware of the controversy over Kennedy's Trumpesque claim. "Regarding recidivism rates," she notes, "the defendant insists that the McKune plurality's 'frightening and high' comment has been debunked." It has. Repeatedly. And courts have begun to notice. But never mind. "Regardless of how convincing that social science may be," Theis says, "'the legislature is in a better position than the judiciary to gather and evaluate data bearing on complex problems.'""

Perhaps recidivism rates as a claim against Morrison's decision are overblown.  And perhaps (and apparently factually) Moody falls into the lower likelihood of repeating that this data suggests is not only possible, but as probable as he might fall into the higher potential.

 

 

I'm not going to derail the thread by debating google search results one by one. But I assure you that it takes more than reading a couple of hot takes to have expertise in this field. If Fred Morrison, or other leaders of our youth activity, were to be basing his decisions on a few google searches of the subject, we should be even more worried. If you want a true understanding, take the plunge into some tangible coursework, audit some classes, take some training. I'm sure there are local service providers and child welfare services that would let you do some of this at no cost. I would suggest that for anyone dealing with youth organizations.

That being said, if consulted by someone in Fred's position on what to do here, I don't know any of my trained peers that would have advised he hire Joel. If he insisted, he wouldn't have gotten away from the interaction without being advised about appropriate safety plans, of which there was obviously none.

I am afraid that I can't get into my personal details on the matter here. I understand that I can't prove to have any authority publicly on the subject.

But I will reiterate that the leaders of this activity need real education and training in order to avoid sitting with a crying victim and family and only being able to (honestly) state "my intentions were good." Trust me. They won't care if that is the truth or not. They are relying on you and their safety lies squarely on you. ("you" the activity leaders. Not "you" garfield. :-D )

Edited by mingusmonk
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Quad Aces said:

Why was Moody not allowed to teach youth at a school, but Fred Morrison thought that it was ok for him to teach in DCI, second chance or not?

While I'm obviously not condoning the actions, the answer to your question is simply because being on a DCI corps staff doesn't require a teaching license.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ll just go ahead and say it... bag any percentages found here there and anywhere, you’re still taking a chance and is it worth it? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...