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Sexual Assault: Spirit of Atlanta 2021


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9 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

well depending on how the next 4 minutes of football go, they may try to blame that

Can you explain this to me in a more dumb down way? I'm not as smart as all of you ;-;

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12 minutes ago, JoeJoe_Trumpet said:

Can you explain this to me in a more dumb down way? I'm not as smart as all of you ;-;

at the time i typed it, Georgia had a 1 point lead over Alabama in the National Championship game. but then Georgia scored, then had a pick six, so now Georgia is the College football champion...so now Spirit can't blame the game. Lord knows they'll blame everyone else

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10 hours ago, Lance said:

Kathy is just confused.  The goal should be to train teachers/educators of any kind about issues of abuse, which is what we're talking about here.  

Mandatory reporting with proper training is something that's absolutely VITAL to adults who work with kids for a living.  If a good system is in place, teachers are one of the first steps in facilitating experts who will take over after the reporting phase.  Make it a crime to not report abuse in DCI, which is how it is in a lot of school districts across the country.  Or just expect more of these stories to get swept under a planet-sized rug. 

Kathy's not confused.  You're talking about reporting.  I'm talking about investigating, counseling, advocating, and adjudicating.  Educators of all ilks are trained in reporting, as you note.  They have an important role in the process.  Investigating, counseling, advocating, adjudicating, etc. are very specialized skills that require a deep knowledge base.  My point is that the current model in drum corps (if I'm understanding correctly) puts more responsibility on corps staff (i.e. for investigating and adjudicating) than it should.  Mandated reporting can be taught in a few hours.  I know this because I take the training every other year.  Functions like advocating, counseling, investigating are specialized skills that require a lot more than mandated reported training.  This I know because one of my reporting units at the university I work for is the student conduct function.  Even though I've had oversight of student conduct for decades, I have to defer to the experts in my operation since I don't have the detailed knowledge and skill they possess.

The DCI model gives responsibility for all the above to corps staff.  My experience in education leads me to believe that it's not realistic to think that corps staff can adequately fill all roles.  Reporting...yes.  Investigating, adjudicating, etc...no or at least not consistently.  The model I'm talking about is that corps staff do the reporting and DCI or a contractor provides the victim advocacy, investigation, and adjudicating.  

I think I insulted a few people (BrassTeacher, for one), and for that I apologize.  My intent was not to say that music educators as a whole aren't smart enough or dedicated enough or caring enough to do the right thing.  My experience with educators is that most will go to the wall to support their students.  

I believe we're all on the same side.  We all want members to have a great experience in a safe environment.  I'll leave it there.  

Edited by LoveKathyG
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4 hours ago, LoveKathyG said:

 

The DCI model gives responsibility for all the above to corps staff.  My experience in education leads me to believe that it's not realistic to think that corps staff can adequately fill all roles.  Reporting...yes.  Investigating, adjudicating, etc...no or at least not consistently.  The model I'm talking about is that corps staff do the reporting and DCI or a contractor provides the victim advocacy, investigation, and adjudicating.  

I believe we're all on the same side.  We all want members to have a great experience in a safe environment.  I'll leave it there.  

Again, this requires DCI to function as the organization's Governing Body.

Something they don't seem to have any interest in.

If they did function as a true governing body, they would establish mandatory, enforceable  rules all corps must follow.

As far as being on the same side, DCI's actions or inactions give the impression that,

while they may, at times, talk a good game, DCI (the 12 corps) is unwilling to do the "heavy lifting"

needed to address things like the SoA situation from happening again.

There are several cliches that come to mind when it comes to how DCI handles difficult/controversial matters:

Kick the can down the road

Sweep it under the carpet.

In my opinion unless/until DCI is in financial or or legal jeopardy, nothing is going to change.

 

 

 

 

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I think at this point we have probably exhausted mandated reporting. I think there are two areas that do need attention.

1. We’ve talked about training staff, but what happens on the corps level to train marching members about sexual assault and harassment? As part of orientation is there anything that covers what defines sexual assault and harassment, that no means no, and what the consequences are of misconduct including the reality of law enforcement being involved? My guess is that codes of conduct are covered in other areas, what about this area?

2. What about supervision? I find “Rookie Talent Night,” troubling.  There is no excuse for it getting as vulgar and out of hand as it did.  I know very well that high school and college age young people can be off color, but this event was extreme and involved illegal behavior if minors were present. There is no way that this event should have gotten as out of hand as seems to be the case.

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3 minutes ago, rpbobcat said:

Again, this requires DCI to function as the organization's Governing Body.

Something they don't seem to have any interest in.

If they did function as a true governing body, they would establish mandatory, enforceable  rules all corps must follow.

As far as being on the same side, DCI's actions or inactions give the impression that,

while they may, at times, talk a good game, DCI (the 12 corps) is unwilling to do the "heavy lifting"

needed to address things like the SoA situation from happening again.

There are several cliches that come to mind when it comes to how DCI handles difficult/controversial matters:

Kick the can down the road

Sweep it under the carpet.

In my opinion unless/until DCI is in financial or or legal jeopardy, nothing is going to change.

 

 

 

 

I finally remembered the term I was looking for last night….

Conflict of Interest….

DCI sets the penalty knowing full well that the more a corps is penalized the more it will hurt DCIs income (ex if no SoA at a show then less SoA fans). Also DCI is run by corps reps so (scratch my back I’ll scratch yours) the reps would be less likely to go for hard penalty because they might be the one in the cross hairs next time.

DCI needs to be TOTALLY out of the investigation and penalty phase otherwise their policy is a sick joke…

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51 minutes ago, JimF-LowBari said:

Also DCI is run by corps reps so (scratch my back I’ll scratch yours) the reps would be less likely to go for hard penalty because they might be the one in the cross hairs next time.

The makeup of the DCI BOD is not entirely corps-affiliated people. 

That should be confirmed next time DCI issues a news item.  They just completed their annual January meeting (the "Janual", held in a 5-day virtual format this year), and one of the agenda items was BOD elections.  We will all know the composition of that BOD as soon as DCI stops hiding under their desks.

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12 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

I’m still looking at this with the thought that any penalty given a corps will also hurt DCI. That has to be at the very least in the back of the mind of anyone connected to DCI. So how much is DCI willing to hurt itself when giving out penalties.

I guess that depends on whether DCI really believes their mission is to be an educational youth activity, or to be a business laser-focused on squeezing 2-3% more blood from that same rock each year.

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12 hours ago, BrassTeacher said:

Also, I can vouch for at least one drumcorps (Music City) that has similar, but not as extensively worded policies in place, as well as in-person training for all staff

That's probably due to one person, who has been responsible for cleaning up a MUCH bigger mess in a similar activity.  That person put together policies that WGI now uses.  If only DCI would do the same...

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