Sexual Assault: Spirit of Atlanta 2021

[JimF-LowBari]

4 minutes ago, BrassTeacher said:

I can't tell if you're baiting me or not, so here's the answer:

Depends upon the school, but these things were stressed in multiple classes, even BITD:

1. DFTK
2a. Avoid being in a room alone with any student
2b. Always have a witness when talking to a student alone
3. Do not socialize with students away from school, unless it is a planned, chaperoned, school activity 
4. Do not add students on social media
5. Do not call, text, or email students (unless it is your school account). If you must call a student, make sure the parent(s) is/are aware (They really want their All-State results ASAP)
 
That is the gist of personal student-to-teacher interaction 
Do you REALLY want me to go through EVERY detail and policy regarding how field trips, football games, concert performances, etc. are expected to be handled? I don't feel like typing 10 pages of details unless necessary

I worked IT and have no idea so was asking for a non-angry response so we could learn.
But after seeing REALLY and EVERY I see I wasted my time.

Edited January 10, 2022 by JimF-LowBari

[year1buick]

6 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

Spirit has responded. I will say that as I stated earlier, it was very measured and certainly not specific enough. 

https://spiritofatlanta.org/16536-2/

As the phrase goes, a day late and a dollar short. Both them and DCI. 

[JoeJoe_Trumpet]

*the 2021 summer tour, inappropriate behaviors occurred among performing members of Spirit of Atlanta that the organization neither condones nor tolerates in any way." - Spirit

    "the independent investigation found that Spirit of Atlanta, among other things: Failed to properly investigate or respond to credible complaints of misconduct. Failed to articulate, internally and externally, the job duties of persons in authority and those charged with the duty to keep participants safe. Failed to properly train performers, staff, volunteers, administration and its board relative to Spirit of Atlanta’s and DCI’s Code of Conduct. " - DCI

 

Spirits response was a joke.

[BrassTeacher]

1 minute ago, JimF-LowBari said:

worked IT and have no idea so was asking for a non-angry response. 
But after seeing REALLY and EVERY I see I wasted my time.

Sorry you feel that way. Your wording in your first response seemed inflammatory, hence my "I'm not sure if you're baiting me" comment. 

Not sure why you consider your time wasted, you got the response you wanted without me having to scan, cut, and paste 10-20 pages of policy manuals. Policies that are made quite clear that you can be immediately terminated if not followed.

Perhaps you would not be upset if someone made a statement such as, "It appears all people in IT have no idea how to properly interact with other human beings"?

[year1buick]

The fact that it took the victim reporting this publicly before DCI and Spirit would reveal their actions on this is incomprehensible and indefensible. Especially considering we’re a couple of months into the audition season. Or perhaps that was their point? 

[Weaklefthand4ever]

Feathers are getting ruffled and people are reacting rather than responding. It does not serve us well to attack each other when from what I can tell, most (if not all of us) are responding from the same place of concern. 

Look....I'm ######. This is my corps family. I'm angry at the leadership for not acting. I'm angry that they saw fit to sit on their hands KNOWING that DCI was actively investigating and did not just put it out there and say "This is what is happening...it's being addressed and we know we %/*€ed up" months ago. And let me clearly state once again that NONE OF THIS should have ever happened. It is entirely inappropriate and not in line with what the corps stands for and repsresents.

What I don't agree with is people attacking each other when their intentions are good. Just because we aren't always the best at communicating doesn't mean that we can't pause for a moment before we hit the reply button. 

Sorry for the well intentioned rant, but I'm a drummer and we aren't good at keeping our mouths shut. You all THINK that we dut to keep time but it's really just to keep us from dropping the F-Bomb every 4 counts.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Weaklefthand4ever

[JimF-LowBari]

16 minutes ago, BrassTeacher said:

not sure what happened to brassteachers post but I’m replying to my reaction if someone said IT people don’t know how to interact with other human beings.
 

I’d laugh as I know some shining examples of that. 
My skin has gotten pretty thick over my 40 year career. Got called a liar by a contractor on a 30 person conference call comes to mind. I calmly explained my statement (while giving the finger to the phone). Others checked what I said and person called me a liar was removed from the project. Turns out her skin was so thin she flipped because i contradicted her. And my co-worker (who could see my one finger salute) had to walk away before she broke up laughing 

Edited January 10, 2022 by JimF-LowBari

[Weaklefthand4ever]

3 minutes ago, year1buick said:

The fact that it took the victim reporting this publicly before DCI and Spirit would reveal their actions on this is incomprehensible and indefensible. Especially considering we’re a couple of months into the audition season. Or perhaps that was their point? 

Precisely. Im pretty ###### at my corps family right now.

[mingusmonk]

22 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:

Spirit has responded. I will say that as I stated earlier, it was very measured and certainly not specific enough. 

https://spiritofatlanta.org/16536-2/

Interesting to publicly claim open communications with the victim in spite of her stating the exact opposite. Basically calling her a liar. That ain't the way.

[Bob984]

Like most corps, Spirit of Altanta has a board of directors.  The board is the overseer, and has the right/obligation to terminate anyone who does not handle their responsibilities, especially including anything involving the well-being and safety of the members.  The main problem that I see is that other than one member removed after a month of abusive behavior, nobody else was held accountable, and also events reported about the rookie talent show were ignored.  DCI has placed the corps on a 2 year probation with expected steps during that time.   What concerns me is that it is likely that individuals (staff) who did not properly respond to things possibly remain in their positions.  Had this happened in a school environment, there would have been disciplinary action (and likely removal) involving multiple members, and any adult (including the director) who did not respond fully to what was going on would be subject to termination.  Termination of any and all staff/management who did not respond properly and promptly should be a quick responsibility of the board here.  Doing so will send a clear message to staff and management that they have a serious responsibility to respond promptly, properly, and professionally, to anything reported to them by anyone in the organization.....members, staff, support staff, etc......you can put a million pages of documents together on "policies", but if there are not consequences for individuals/all involved when incidents such as these occur, the documents are meaningless.  I do not see where DCI demanded investigation/actions involving all involved....just policies "moving forward".  If I were a parent of a young SOA prospect, I would want assurance that the individuals who failed to act and or/"downplayed" things are no longer there.  I also think that DCI needs to have a "do not hire" list....when someone is removed from staff/management for reasons such as these, they should no longer have the opportunity to show up at another corps......ditto with member misconduct.......