So an update on the situation with Ridge. I personally talked to a number of boys today and Marian, the band director, did too. They all seemed genuinely surprised when asked about drinking at camp and emphatically denied and knowledge of any drinking or doing damage to the cabin. In fact, it turns out the camp counselor who called us to tell us about the problem even personally inspected the cabin to make sure it was fully cleaned before our kids left that final day. He tells us that when the cleaning staff went in 4 hours later they found the stuff.
It also turns out that the night before our band left (I left before they went to bed that final night) there were some problems with another school (a Catholic school, surprise) at the camp. The other kids were out of control and unsupervised and Marian complained to the camp. They made those kids apologize to our band at breakfast. Marian’s theory is maybe those kids wanted to get back at our kids by doing stuff to their cabin after we left the camp but before the professional cleaning crew came in. It’s hard to say for sure, but I do honestly believe our kids.
Of course, they also admitted to stuff we didn’t know about in the process of denying the drinking. It turns out that a number of our boys snuck out of their cabin and went to the girls’ cabin. No real big surprise there. But here’s the kicker: one of the chaperones caught them and then let them stay in the girls’ cabin for another 30 minutes and never told Marian that it even happened!
So all in all we’re really happy and lucky with how things turned out. They are nowhere near as bad as they could have been. Today’s rehearsal sucked though. Their focus was terrible, almost none of them took care of their personal responsibilities since camp like finishing dot books, fully learning music and work, etc. It was one of my worst rehearsals at Ridge. I stopped basics after about 10 minutes because I was so frustrated and I almost gave up on rehearsal altogether. We are way behind right now and I’m very very worried about our show. We have 8 days until our first football game performance…
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Marching Band Disappointment
This is my 3rd year working with the Ridge marching band. Without a doubt, this is the most positive I’ve felt going into a season. Without a doubt, this is the best group of kids we’ve had in the past 3 years. Good personalities, strong leaders (although inexperienced). Strong work ethic. The whole thing.
School starts tomorrow and we have our first regular season rehearsal. We have SO much to get done to have the show where we need it to be for our first game next week and competition the week after. Today we received a phone call from the leader of YMCA Camp Bernie where we had camp last week.
After we left the camp, the staff went into the cabins to clean. In the boys’ cabin the found empty liquor bottles. They also found couch cushions that had been peed on, vomit and toilet fixtures that were covered in what should have gone down the drain. Yes, the best group of kids we’ve had since I got to Ridge has now done the worst thing that I’ve experienced in that time.
Sure I am upset about the actual actions they took. They know better. They know the rules, the laws really. But it goes deeper than that. I’m disappointed that the drum major and 3 section leaders in the cabin didn’t do anything about it, whether they actively participated or not. I’m disappointed that none of the other 19 boys in that cabin stepped up to put a stop to whatever was going on and that none of them came forward to tell someone about it the next morning. I’m disappointed that all of the time, heart and love I put into the band program over the past few years means so little to the very people I thought really appreciated it. I’m just disappointed.
So now what? What’s our next step? Certainly we have to investigate and find out what happened. We have to hold those responsible financially liable for the damages. We have to send a formal apology to the camp. Then what? Do we report the students to the school administration and then the police? Legally, we’re obligated to since it was a school function. School policy dictates a suspension of not less than 5 days and not more than 10 days for first offense alcohol violation. So we’ll have kids missing the first full week of school. Our band policy says anybody caught using alcohol or drugs at camp will be removed from the marching band. We may wind up having to kick out 5-10 people. So now the entire band will suffer dramatically because of what was most likely the actions of a small minority of the band (and remember, this is just the boys’ cabin so the girls who are presumably innocent will suffer as well).
School starts tomorrow and we have our first regular season rehearsal. We have SO much to get done to have the show where we need it to be for our first game next week and competition the week after. Today we received a phone call from the leader of YMCA Camp Bernie where we had camp last week.
After we left the camp, the staff went into the cabins to clean. In the boys’ cabin the found empty liquor bottles. They also found couch cushions that had been peed on, vomit and toilet fixtures that were covered in what should have gone down the drain. Yes, the best group of kids we’ve had since I got to Ridge has now done the worst thing that I’ve experienced in that time.
Sure I am upset about the actual actions they took. They know better. They know the rules, the laws really. But it goes deeper than that. I’m disappointed that the drum major and 3 section leaders in the cabin didn’t do anything about it, whether they actively participated or not. I’m disappointed that none of the other 19 boys in that cabin stepped up to put a stop to whatever was going on and that none of them came forward to tell someone about it the next morning. I’m disappointed that all of the time, heart and love I put into the band program over the past few years means so little to the very people I thought really appreciated it. I’m just disappointed.
So now what? What’s our next step? Certainly we have to investigate and find out what happened. We have to hold those responsible financially liable for the damages. We have to send a formal apology to the camp. Then what? Do we report the students to the school administration and then the police? Legally, we’re obligated to since it was a school function. School policy dictates a suspension of not less than 5 days and not more than 10 days for first offense alcohol violation. So we’ll have kids missing the first full week of school. Our band policy says anybody caught using alcohol or drugs at camp will be removed from the marching band. We may wind up having to kick out 5-10 people. So now the entire band will suffer dramatically because of what was most likely the actions of a small minority of the band (and remember, this is just the boys’ cabin so the girls who are presumably innocent will suffer as well).
Monday, September 05, 2005
DCI on ESPN
So this year’s Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships, which took place just last month in Boston, will air on ESPN2 on Tuesday, September 6, from 10-12pm ET. Wow! Drum corps on ESPN – this is going to be awesome.
http://www.dci.org/2npse/
Check out the DCI website for all kinds of details about the broadcast, a quick tutorial about what drum corps is and more!
http://www.dci.org/2npse/
Check out the DCI website for all kinds of details about the broadcast, a quick tutorial about what drum corps is and more!
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Hurricane Thoughts
Take a look at this article from the Associated Press:
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1125722050187540.xml&coll=1
I have two separate reactions to this: 1) more bad feelings towards Bush in Europe and 2) should they be doing more to help.
First. It seems like this is another instance where Bush is harming his own reputation around the world by being an inadequate leader during a time of extreme national need. With hundreds of billions of dollars going to fight the war in Iraq (that ended well over a year ago – Mission Accomplished), we can only find ten billion dollars to help our own citizens who are dying from lack of medicine, food and water nevermind the actual immediate deaths and injuries caused by the hurricane. We spend billions upon billions of dollars helping poor people throughout the world yet this is finally bringing our lack of attention to our own poor front and center. It’s about time the general public in the United States is taking notice of the vast disparity between the lifestyles of the haves and the have-nots. Most will ignore the images and go back to their cushy lives as soon as they can, but if they think about it for 5 minutes, that’s better than nothing.
Second. “The governments of 26 countries agreed yesterday to release the equivalent of 2 million barrels of oil per day from strategic fuel reserves…” There’s no mention in the article about European countries sending cash, food or medical supplies to help those in need in the United States. We were one of the largest providers of aid following the tsunami last year, earthquakes around the world, etc., but now that the United States is in need who is stepping up to help? The American people. I’m not sure if this means we shouldn’t be so willing to help the rest of the world, but perhaps we need to get our domestic affairs in order first.
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1125722050187540.xml&coll=1
I have two separate reactions to this: 1) more bad feelings towards Bush in Europe and 2) should they be doing more to help.
First. It seems like this is another instance where Bush is harming his own reputation around the world by being an inadequate leader during a time of extreme national need. With hundreds of billions of dollars going to fight the war in Iraq (that ended well over a year ago – Mission Accomplished), we can only find ten billion dollars to help our own citizens who are dying from lack of medicine, food and water nevermind the actual immediate deaths and injuries caused by the hurricane. We spend billions upon billions of dollars helping poor people throughout the world yet this is finally bringing our lack of attention to our own poor front and center. It’s about time the general public in the United States is taking notice of the vast disparity between the lifestyles of the haves and the have-nots. Most will ignore the images and go back to their cushy lives as soon as they can, but if they think about it for 5 minutes, that’s better than nothing.
Second. “The governments of 26 countries agreed yesterday to release the equivalent of 2 million barrels of oil per day from strategic fuel reserves…” There’s no mention in the article about European countries sending cash, food or medical supplies to help those in need in the United States. We were one of the largest providers of aid following the tsunami last year, earthquakes around the world, etc., but now that the United States is in need who is stepping up to help? The American people. I’m not sure if this means we shouldn’t be so willing to help the rest of the world, but perhaps we need to get our domestic affairs in order first.
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