A Message from DCI CEO Dan Acheson

[MusicManNJ]

1 hour ago, cixelsyd said:

Then maybe it is you who "have hunkered down trying to keep information from coming public."  Do tell.  Sunshine is the best disinfectant.

Right... like anyone who knows someone who has been victimized is going to "out" them. Many are scared of retribution or being shamed or the usual dose of victim blaming. 

[MusicManNJ]

54 minutes ago, garfield said:

When I search variations of "New Jersey school refuses drum corps" I get this current and very damning result:

http://www.leaderherald.com/news/local-news/2018/07/drum-corp-deemed-successful/

Nothing about any public mention of schools refusing to house or host drum corps.

Never said it was in the press (other than UPENN). Start calling them up for verification. Hell call YEA they have a list. Again, you asked for people to share and I have based on my experience. 

[MusicManNJ]

1 hour ago, garfield said:

 

I actually asked for verification and you've only presented supposed experience, with no verification.

YEA! was having housing issues long before 2018.

Which housing sites?

Verification is not one person's insistence.  I asked for verification and you haven't presented any.

 

Then you can verify by calling any number of districts in New Jersey and ask them if a) will you rent your facility to an drum corps? and b) how much will you charge.

And if you happen to find anyone that says yes and for $2,500 call the Cadets and Cadets 2 because the would LOVE to know.

[cixelsyd]

13 minutes ago, MusicManNJ said:

Right... like anyone who knows someone who has been victimized is going to "out" them. Many are scared of retribution or being shamed or the usual dose of victim blaming. 

Then why should Dan Acheson be expected to do the same?

[JimF-LowBari]

31 minutes ago, MusicManNJ said:

Right... like anyone who knows someone who has been victimized is going to "out" them. Many are scared of retribution or being shamed or the usual dose of victim blaming. 

If the victims won’t come forward than nothing can be done. Look at the Cosby, PSU, Weinstein etc. Went on for years until someone came out. For PSU the local Harrisburg press found the parents and then it came out

[MusicManNJ]

21 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

If the victims won’t come forward than nothing can be done. Look at the Cosby, PSU, Weinstein etc. Went on for years until someone came out. For PSU the local Harrisburg press found the parents and then it came out

And the same may be happening here. The press is speaking with more victims. When they are ready... the stories will be told.

[MusicManNJ]

40 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:

Then why should Dan Acheson be expected to do the same?

It is a question of what did he or any of the DCI leadership know about any of the issues under investigation. Maybe DCI should launch an investigation. Maybe they can... maybe the can't. But they should. It worked for YEA.

[cixelsyd]

22 minutes ago, MusicManNJ said:

It is a question of what did he or any of the DCI leadership know about any of the issues under investigation. Maybe DCI should launch an investigation. Maybe they can... maybe the can't. 

Maybe they have.

[Liahona]

2 hours ago, MusicManNJ said:

Ask YEA how easy it has been for them to get housing for their shows. It was not. 

I will attest and agree with your point that this was a extremely difficult thing for the Cadets themselves to get housing this past season.  I spoke directly to the interim CEO at the Cadets. As a matter of fact they had secured housing and even lost it in the middle of the season. The last I recall is they skipped a local show because they were too far away from the show site.

 

[Weaklefthand4ever]

I've put a great deal of thought into this topic since the GH "scandal" broke months back. I put "scandal" in quotes for one simple reason. Though deplorable and shameful to the activity we all love, I truly don't believe that anyone who has been around this activity for any length of time truly believed that something of this nature wasn't going to come to light at some point in time. In every large organization involving underage participants, there is the potential for abuse. Take that same group and put them on tour for two months and the potential increases significantly. Does that mean that we throw the baby out with the bathwater and shut the book on DCI? IMHO, the answer is no. In almost EVERY large organization there are examples of scandal and abuse. If we closed down every business which has any report of misconduct (we can stretch this to misconduct of any sort if you so choose,) there would be almost no businesses left. I have worked in the corporate world for over 20 years at the Sr. management level and some of things I've heard, and unfortunately witnessed were outright disturbing. Someone said in a similar thread that it's a Risk vs. Reward scenario. I cannot agree with that statement simply because the risk to those who are abused cannot be offset by the reward of the experiences of those who never were. It's simply not a fair comparison. One bad experience cannot be outweighed by ANY number of good experiences when seen through the lens of a victim (nor should it be.) I personally never experienced any issues nor heard any rumors during my time marching but I am not naive enough to believe that things didn't happen and won't possibly happen in the future. You can only mitigate to a certain point.

On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 7:16 PM, Slingerland said:

The CEO of any non-profit reports to their Board. In this case, the Board is still predominantly made up of individuals who are salaried employees of member corps...which is the beginning of the problem.

Excellent point. This is in serious need of restructure though I can't be certain that this isn't common in the non-profit world. I don't think we can hold DCI up in comparison necessarily with other organizations as it is a unique activity. 

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 7:49 AM, garfield said:

What would DCI, the organization, need to look like to accomplish that kind of "Tour Management" for the whole activity?

When will drum corps be able to not waste creative energy on getting kids and equipment safely and happily down the road?

"What a wonderful world..." drum corps could be.  IMO

/AGREE Indeed what a wonderful world it would be. I've worked for some extremely large companies with HUGE vendor / outsourcing populations. We always had a group that handled the management of those companies in every facet of how they worked within the confines of our company standards. Things always tend to work better when the vendors are left to control and discuss how they will accomplish the best possible outcomes for their employees and not have to worry about every detail of how the business moves as a whole. 

23 hours ago, karuna said:

No one is buying the "I was powerless to act" nonsense.  They had a duty to report suspected abuse.  They failed.  They need to go.

In many states failing to report is a crime.  Failing to report when abuse is actually proven is often a felony.  

 

I don't disagree that things should be reported and investigated. I do, however, have some experience with this at a corporate level. You can (and should,) report and investigate (if that is within your scope of responsibility,) an allegation of misconduct. However, there are simply put, situations where the circumstances of what is reported make it very difficult to take much action. In my world, if someone comes to me and states that they feel an offensive and/or hostile work environment has been created, it is my job to report that situation to HR regardless of any evidence. Even if that individual does not WANT it reported, the fact that they brought it to me puts the need for action squarely on my shoulders. But if someone's uncles, brothers, sisters, third cousins fourth roommate tells me "I heard through the grapevine that so and so did such and such," that makes it a difficult call. I can ASK that individual to report the situation to HR, but I have no specific guidance / directive to do so. The best path in that situation is generally to report it directly to my supervisor. It's a very fine line and having something credible to report is far different than stirring the rumor mill, and we all know how the rumor mill goes on here as well as in our own business lives. 

There are several changes which need to take place in the activity. That is a true enough statement. I don't know the inner workings as well as others seen to know here. I also don't have the time, nor the inclination, to source, verify and fight about legalities. That being said, there seem to be a lot of assumptions about who knew what and when and I am simply not of the belief that it is my job or place to pass judgement on a situation that I am not in full knowledge of the FACTS about. I've been on the bad side of that little trap before and it's not a pleasant place. I think the biggest overall change is that DCI, much like most companies, needs to be proactive rather than reactive and that's a HUGE change for any organization. I worked for AT&T for 20 years at the corporate level and spent all 20 of it peeing on fires that we created ourselves. The approach was always to react because "You don't want to overreact to something that hasn't happened yet or the investors will flip their $%#%." It eventually got to me enough that I retired and went to work for a much more progressive company which attempts to pre-plan for contingencies. 

Hire an outside firm to consult on how things should be run to give the best (and safest,) possible experience to the kids and staff shoud look. I wish Jim Cook were still around. I always found his insight and common sense to be a breath of fresh air. He hired the experts to do what they did best and didn't seem to ever put much faith in what he THOUGHT he knew. At least that was always my interaction with him.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Weaklefthand4ever