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On A Water Break Crisis Management
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In this powerful bonus episode, On A Water Break tackles an emotional and timely subject: how the marching arts community responds in moments of crisis. In light of the recent Texas drumline tragedy and the devastating California wildfires, we explore the systems, support networks, and people who rise up when everything is on the line.
Alicia is joined by rotating hosts Ricardo and Nicole along with Band director Spencer Milligan for an urgent and candid roundtable conversation about safety, preparedness, and how programs can act before tragedy strikes.
We also feature an inspiring interview co-led by Christopher Rutt and Alicia with Peter Ye and Allison Avina-Wyant from Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles. When their campus was impacted by wildfires over winter break, their band and color guard programs faced immediate disruption. Hear how they worked together—with help from the Santa Monica High School staff and band parents—to continue their seasons and keep students connected through music and performance.
From forming partnerships and sharing rehearsal spaces to securing donated instruments and navigating circuit policies, their story highlights the resilience of the performing arts.
Topics Covered in This Episode
🎵 The importance of proactive safety policies across indoor and outdoor circuits
🛡️ How visibility and communication can save lives at competitions
📣 The role of band parents, school districts, and circuit leadership in protecting performers
🤝 How community partnerships—like the one between Palisades and Santa Monica—can turn a disaster into a comeback
💡 How circuits like FFCC, SCPA, and WGASC are supporting programs in crisis
Organizations & Programs Mentioned
📍 Palisades Charter High School (Los Angeles, CA)
Support them: https://givebutter.com/paliband
Instagram: @paliband
📍 Santa Monica High School
Instagram: @samohiband
📍 FFCC – Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit
Website: https://ffcc.org
Instagram: @ffccflorida
📍 SCPA – Southern California Percussion Alliance
Website: https://sc-pa.org
Instagram: @scpapercussion
📍 WGASC – Winter Guard Association of Southern California
Website: https://wgasc.org
Instagram: @wgasc_official
📍 Townsend Junior High School – Instrument donor
https://www.chino.k12.ca.us/townsend
📍 Evolv Technology – Weapons detection system mentioned in the show
https://www.evolvtechnology.com
📣 JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Are you a band parent, performer, or educator? Share your thoughts in the comments about how your circuit or school is handling safety and preparedness. We want to hear from every corner of the activity.
📱 FOLLOW US
IG / TikTok / Threads / Facebook: @OnAWaterBreak
💌 Email: onawaterbreakpodcast@gmail.com
Want to be on the show? Visit the link in our bio or DM us!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Tragedies in Marching Arts
00:00:01
Speaker
everyone and welcome back to a special episode of On a Water Break. We are doing a bonus episode talking about the unthinkable tragedies that happen and what we have to do when we face them in the marching arts.
00:00:16
Speaker
Head off the mess and go. Welcome to On a Water Break. The podcast where we talk everything marching arts.
00:00:28
Speaker
Everyone, bring it in. It's time for water
The Texas Drumline Competition Incident
00:00:31
Speaker
break. Hi, I'm your host, Alicia. And as many of you know, our community recently faced an unthinkable tragedy.
00:00:39
Speaker
at a drumline competition in Texas. and You know, what should have been a day filled with music, passion, camaraderie, turned into a devastating event, profoundly impacting students and band parents and everyone involved.
00:00:51
Speaker
In the face of heartbreak, we've also witnessed remarkable strength and compassion from the entire marching arts community coming together to support one another honor the life of the victim. ah Today, we're opening an essential dialogue about crisis management in our activity, how we respond, how we protect our students, and how we move forward together.
Interview with Palisades High School Staff on Wildfires
00:01:12
Speaker
Later in the episode, we'll have an important interview with staff from Palisades High School in California as they share their experiences and insight from dealing with the recent wildfires that impacted their program and community.
00:01:24
Speaker
But first, let's see who's on the sideline with us ah for this special roundtable discussion about today's topic. ah Ricardo, how's it going? Hey, you know what? I am good outside of this topic. um Life is good right now. I am currently on my like two-day spring break that I actually get before I have to go and do work stuff and you know pushing towards the end of the season. So,
00:01:49
Speaker
Life is good. Never a real break, especially for admin, right? Oh, no, that never happens. yeah Never happens.
00:01:58
Speaker
Nicole, I know you were just in my neck of the woods this past weekend. How are you doing? I'm good. I am in at week eight of judging, which is pretty much, I think that lines up with like all the weeks of all the shows.
00:02:10
Speaker
So yeah, going into week eight and getting stuff ready for the cookout still. If you haven't gotten your tickets, please go get them. I need to do that. Yeah.
00:02:22
Speaker
Let's see. And that's pretty much it. Like just try to stay very like engaged and, and what have you, like, this will be the first time I've ever done every weekend judging.
00:02:34
Speaker
And I'm actually glad we're having this conversation right now too, because like, it kind of feels like, well, yeah back in my day when you get home from school and like, if you're watching like Punky Brewster or something, if it's about a serious topic, it's like on a very special level.
00:02:49
Speaker
punky Brewster. i feel like this is a very special on a water break. So I'm glad we're getting ready to talk about it. Yeah, I agree. um And then we have one more special guest who last minute joined us for the day. And I'm going to scooch over so that I can introduce my partner, Spence.
00:03:06
Speaker
This is Spence Milligan. You want to say hi. Hello. You want to introduce yourself or tell us who you are? You want me to? I'll let you do it. Spence is a high school band director of 26 years and is going to bring his perspective in as we talk about
Safety and Crisis Response in Marching Arts
00:03:24
Speaker
the show.
00:03:24
Speaker
So, you know, as we begin today's discussion, addressing addressing the event that impacted our community, the shooting that occurred um at the Dremeline competition in Texas, the incident kind of shook us all, parents, instructors, administrators, everyone who experienced it firsthand.
00:03:42
Speaker
But it's also sparked a vital conversation across circuits nationwide about safety preparedness and crisis response protocols. We'll talk about how these moments test our systems, inspire heroic actions from the band parents, oh my gosh, and the staff, and remind us how important it is to plan for the unthinkable.
00:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, Alicia. So, you know, it's crazy. found out through our On a Water Break group text. Like, I think somebody sent a message out, like, did you guys see that this is going?
00:04:15
Speaker
And, you know, sprung into all of my many different hats that I wear. You know, I am on the board of directors for the FFCC here in Florida, um which is one of the largest circuits in the country. um I'm a school district administrator now. I'm still a high school color art director and was a show host.
00:04:34
Speaker
for a few days after this competition was happening. And I still kind of wear my school administrator hat a little bit just because we're in this transition year. So I'm still answering a lot of the questions and stuff. And you know immediately the first thing that I did once I saw that message was I went to our FFCC board of directors chat and it was like, hey guys, I don't know if you've seen this. I don't know what's going on. I don't know if anybody's actually around there judging right now, but we should probably talk about this.
00:05:03
Speaker
And there was instant action from the rest of the board. It was like, okay, let's have a meeting. Let's talk about this. And we actually met the very next day um to start talking about how the FFCC is going to handle this and what is our policy for this um and trying to get information out to all of our member groups because everyone was concerned. I mean, this was our safe space. And unfortunately, we live in a time where It seems like daily, all of our safe spaces, places that we would think are free from violence, are turning into just the wild, wild west.
00:05:41
Speaker
you know And now that we're in hindsight of all of this and we understand you know the mental strain that the shooter was in at the moment and you know whatever that encompasses, like it truly made us feel vulnerable.
00:05:59
Speaker
it It was another one of those moments where it goes, oh my goodness, that could have been me. And once you start thinking about it in the context of that could have been me, then as an educator and as an administrator, the next thought is, how do I protect my kids from this?
00:06:18
Speaker
So I will tell you guys that personally, you know, we had the meeting for our board of directors um and we established a task force and there were three or four of us that were on that task force in different capacities. And we kind of just set out to look for stuff.
00:06:33
Speaker
I set up meetings with our safety and security people for our school district, like the very next day on Monday when I got back to the office and I was like, hey, let's talk about this. Let's talk about how we can defend this. And, you know,
00:06:48
Speaker
I would encourage everyone to have these conversations with the people whose jobs so it is to sit around and think about this all day, because as scary as it is for us to think about, it could be us. It could happen to us next.
00:07:01
Speaker
um There are people who are actively planning if it does happen to us and what you should do. And they were a wealth of resources. They gave me the school district policy on what should happen in this.
00:07:13
Speaker
They gave me some ideas about how we could improve the safety and security at our show that was coming up a few days after this. And we were able to go back to the board and talk about this and have these conversations so that we could share with all of our show hosts for the rest of the season and for the rest of time, unfortunately, how to react in these situations.
00:07:37
Speaker
yeah I think it's really important to get ahead of it. And I think, and good for y'all, you know, for like literally jumping to attention. But it happened in Texas and you're in Florida.
00:07:48
Speaker
You know, and a lot of people did. i being on the judges side of things though, like I... just was like, okay, I really hope that the next show I go to, that they were on top of it.
00:08:01
Speaker
And that's where people were utilizing Competition Suite because literally the next day, if not that night, we were getting notes or, oh, hey, this is what we're doing.
00:08:12
Speaker
Even from some from some circuits that I don't, you know, I've maybe gone into one time, but like it still went to all of the judges. So I was really happy to see that everyone was taking a full opportunity of being very proactive at it.
00:08:26
Speaker
I think a lot of circuits responded very quick. I was kind of like paying attention to what circuits responded and when and how and kind of reading everybody's reaction.
00:08:37
Speaker
But I think, Nicole, you touch on something that I have been thinking about a lot with this, that we can't, unfortunately, we can't react to this anymore. We have to be proactive about it and have plans in place before stuff happens, because unfortunately, it's going to happen again.
00:08:55
Speaker
As the saying goes, stay ready, don't get ready. Yeah. So and the conversation doesn't have to stick to just indoor season. Marching band competitions can definitely learn and plan from this winter.
00:09:07
Speaker
But, you know, in terms of the indoor season, I think there were really good examples of how circuits should handle it And there were some really bad examples of how circuits should handle it out there. And I think hopefully everybody is still paying attention to that. But, you know, from your perspective, when you take students to competitions this fall, is this something that's in the forefront of your mind when you take students to shows?
Future Safety Concerns at Competitions
00:09:30
Speaker
Do you think about that? Well, it will be. This has kind of been a game changer because we've not ever had this experience that I know of in 26 years. In this activity, it's always been something else.
00:09:42
Speaker
But we do have those large crowds, and especially indoor, where you can't move as fast or get out as fast. So but thinking about this fall, it'll definitely be in my mind as I plan and look forward to it.
00:09:55
Speaker
So i think it's ah I think it's changed the game just because it's crept into our activity. Yeah. Ricardo, you had talked about, you know, kind of coming up with plans. What tangible safety security measures have you seen your local circuit make to move forward and hopefully prevent Well, the first thing that we did was we had to realize that we were dealing with, you know, multiple school districts and multiple school district policies across the board for each one of our shows.
00:10:26
Speaker
um The only shows that we were truly in control of is our state championship show, which is huge. I mean, it's four days, you know, it's as big as WGI. So what happened when I went into the meeting, um they just, the safety and security people from my school district, fortunately their office was downstairs from mine. So I just walked down there and had a meeting.
00:10:50
Speaker
um But, you know, it's figuring out what are the vulnerabilities of a show. What are some things that expose um weaknesses at a show?
00:11:00
Speaker
And I don't know if anybody's ever really truly paid attention to it. Like in Florida, most of our school campuses are open. They're open concept plans. Like there's gates and stuff that you go in and doors, but then everything is just wide open and you kind of move about freely.
00:11:17
Speaker
And with all of the the things that have to happen in a Winter Guard show, like we have to get props in and we have to have places for outdoor warmup because that's the thing that we do here in Florida. and There were all of these doorways that were exposed.
00:11:29
Speaker
And so the first thing they asked me was, how are we taking care of these doorways? Like how many doorways actually need to be open? And are you placing people at these doorways? And is there some type of security measure for, you can't come through this door if you don't.
00:11:45
Speaker
And I was like, you know what? This is the first thing that we can address. We can say, okay, you know, use the minimum amount of doors that you need for your show. Every single door on the campus does not need to be open.
00:11:58
Speaker
You need to make sure that we have adults at each of those doors, not just necessarily a student volunteer, you know, because those students are easily pushed over, not in a violent way. But, you know, if someone is just trying to bust in, they're not going to have any type of authority say, hey, you're not supposed to be here or have the means to be able to contact someone in security that's available to kind of de-escalate that matter.
00:12:22
Speaker
um and making sure that people are are identifiable. If there's a student and they're in costume or if they're an adult that's a chaperone, you have wristbands, you have things that can identify you. And these certain areas are only for students and performers and the people who are taking care of them. This is not an open public area for just everyone to walk around.
00:12:44
Speaker
And then the other measure was thinking about the actual entrance to the gym. Like how many entrances you have open? How are you checking to going through things like that? And in our school district, we have been blessed this year to have the Evolve.
00:12:59
Speaker
Shout out to them. Hopefully they'll give us a little sponsorship. But the Evolve Weapons Detection System. So we have an off-duty police officer, like a school guardian that is on campus for every event. Like that is a standard now in Florida. Like you cannot do anything where there are going multiple people involved without having some type of security on campus.
00:13:22
Speaker
ah But they check um everyone that comes through that door. We have one door in, one door out for our spectators. Everybody that came in had to go through that weapons detection system just to make sure.
00:13:33
Speaker
Like a metal detector? It's more sensitive and a sense of, you know, it's not going to ding your phone or keys, but it can tell if there is like knives or there's guns or bomb things that could, could ignite to make a bomb.
00:13:52
Speaker
I, Yeah, I'll even tell a story. I was doing a school visit a couple of weeks ago when I was delivering art supplies to a teacher. And as a school district administrator, still had to go through this system because one of the the guardians was like, oh, I don't care who you are.
00:14:06
Speaker
i don't care where you work at. I don't care that your badge is blue. This is the protocol. And I just said, oh, OK, thank you, sir, for doing your job and keeping our kids safe. And I go through this system and I had pencil sharpeners for art, for sketch pencils.
00:14:21
Speaker
And the guy was like, where are you going to that bag? And he went through and searched my bag of, it was clay and sketch pencils, for real. And he went to look at and he was like, okay, I guess this is okay. And I'm like, wow, this is for real.
00:14:37
Speaker
like It's tiny little, less than an inch long blade, but the the machine picked it up and like it dinged it as something that could be harmful. And we've got sabers and rifles- already coming into buildings.
00:14:51
Speaker
So I think a system like that would be amazing. You mentioned maybe just for spectators coming in and out of the school building, but that would be... probably the best preventative tool that schools could have. Cause let's be on an adult standing at a door versus someone that has bad intentions. It's not going to do it's not going to do what we hope it does. You know what I mean? right Even if I was thinking as you were talking, like, do they have radios? Do they have a way to communicate with each other? If something happens, that would almost take it a step further make it feel a little more secure. yeah,
00:15:28
Speaker
You brought up something that I've been thinking about a lot and I've talked to Spence quite a bit about, but who, when it comes to these circuits, and Ricardo, as an administrator, this is a good question for you too, who has the liability here? Who's responsible when it's a circuit that is running the show and making the rules, but a school is hosting it and we've got all these different school districts, different insurance policies,
00:15:56
Speaker
At the end of the day, you know, who is responsible for security that day? So it kind of it like I'm not a lawyer. That is not my ministry at all.
00:16:08
Speaker
Which i do have a quote to share from a liability attorney, but ah I'll let you hear it. But, you know, it goes on whoever signing the lease for the facility. That is who is involved. And we have done it multiple ways in the FFCC where the FFCC is truly hosting an event and they sign the Facilitron lease and they have to make sure they provide proof of insurance and all of that other stuff.
00:16:33
Speaker
They're responsible for paying for the security and all of that. With most of our local shows, the school itself that is hosting, the whole school takes on the responsibility of all that. They are taking up the lease.
00:16:46
Speaker
It's usually the booster operation that's doing that. But again, as I said, in Florida, we have a state law on the books that like we can't have any bet without a guardian being present.
00:16:57
Speaker
So, you know, that's a given. um Even before that law was on the books, it was our school district policy that we always had to have like an off duty sheriff's officer or a school resource officer at any time that there were gonna be an event where there was a mixture of people from other schools or that there was adults on campus that weren't technically certified to be on campus.
00:17:19
Speaker
You know, anything outside of a rehearsal or practice, if there's an event going on, there had to be some type of security guard there on on campus to make sure things are going right.
00:17:30
Speaker
So I would have been here. um It's Jeremy, the producer. Hi, guys. um It's sort of interesting. I didn't think I had anything to say or contribute to this conversation, except for when Ricardo started actually talking about it from a public safety standpoint.
Security Responsibilities at Events
00:17:47
Speaker
And in my other life outside of marching band, I do public events. That is my main gig. And I do large scale, tens of thousands, you know, size events, but also small community events you know, included.
00:18:05
Speaker
So in any public event, there has to be a level of security, right? Like that just has to be understood. And whoever is producing that event is responsible for that level of security.
00:18:21
Speaker
Now I can say from the public side, again, like when you're talking about um maybe circuit championships, right? Where now you're getting into thousands of people at a show, I don't know if you know most people that would listen to this, like their local indoor circuit show might have a thousand. i don't know you know. what I'm saying? So like there is numbers within your community that if it was a public event and all of these are public events, these aren't school events, right? Because it's ah if it's a school event that's also different, then it's a public event because people are paying to come in. It is now a public event.
00:18:59
Speaker
So there's permits that should maybe be talked about within the community. if there's a thousand people coming in and out more so again, because you're not having the local community come into the school. This is not a football game.
00:19:16
Speaker
Okay. This is not the people in the community. This is people from hours away, States away, right That are now coming in. That's a, that's a completely different. It is a public space, a public event at that point. And you should be working with your local authorities to do that.
00:19:36
Speaker
so um If there's in a lot of local municipalities, there's a number like if your event is over 200 people, boom, it is this, right? And we've gotten away as color guard or as marching arts people that our um our shows aren't necessarily in the public eye. So it kind of is far away. But In the insurance liability world, and I've spent a lot of time there having done public events, in the insurance liability world, a public event is a public event is a public event.
00:20:10
Speaker
And that's all that there is to it. So but i I think if anybody would learn from this, it's to really look at it, not from a it's a rah-rah football game on a Friday night.
00:20:23
Speaker
No, you're hosting a public event. And that's a different perspective. So ah Thank you for letting me jump in. I didn't feel like a tribute, but now look at me. Jamie, it's funny that you say that because like you say, rah-rah, public event, football game is kind of separate. Like I feel...
00:20:41
Speaker
Personally, that like at our football games, because we don't necessarily know how rowdy a crowd is going to be, we have so much security. I mean, like at any given time, if we're playing our rival, which is literally you know four miles down the street and you know very affluent neighborhood, we have...
00:21:02
Speaker
15 sheriff's deputies on the campus walking around patrolling, in addition to our normal guardians, in addition to all of the school administration, in addition to all of these teachers who are also taking upon themselves to work at the football game and and be around supervising these students.
00:21:18
Speaker
And you're right. I mean, think if anything, this event definitely showed us as a community that no one is quote unquote safe from anything. you know We as a color guard and pageantry arts world are not typically violent people. And guess what?
00:21:38
Speaker
This person wasn't part of our community, just happened to wander in. So that means at any point in time, anyone is vulnerable. Anyone is susceptible to this kind of violence. So, you know, it does go to say we should be looking at what those local policies are. That was the first thing that my safety people told me. They were like, well, here's what our policy is on this.
00:21:58
Speaker
And they gave me the actual policy for what to do. I don't know that I want to share that on a podcast because someone's listening. I don't want them to, you know, know the secrets, but... um We have to talk about it. We have to think about how that is going to affect our performances from now on out so that we can keep kids safe.
00:22:17
Speaker
I was going to say our district level administration ah reached out. We had a show. Our show was roughly two to three weeks after this major event. And right after the event happened, ah my supervisor reached out to me and says, hey, what can we do?
00:22:33
Speaker
So they provided two more security officers. for us just through our district level. And then, you know, if you add, if any of the circuits were able to provide one because ah hundred dollars would take care of at least one, that's what they charged to the moonlighting guys, roughly a hundred bucks. So you could have several officers. We ended up with three at our show. We had 65 groups there.
00:23:00
Speaker
And then we also had radios for about 10 parents. And then I had a radio for security as well as my 10 parents. i had two radios that day, but that was just kind of the things that we were able to do and do very quickly and very inexpensively to provide that security.
00:23:17
Speaker
I think, and this goes to a bigger issue. So I'm going to kind of take this off topic just a little bit. But when we asked that question of who's responsible for the security It should be everyone.
00:23:30
Speaker
I think the host school should have to have somebody there. The circuit should want to pay somebody to be there. The administration of the county or whatever should want to make sure that people there And i i am of the opinion, and especially as a band parent myself, I don't give a damn who's supposed to pay for it. Somebody's going to pay for it and have these people there because for the longest, our circuit required the one security officer.
00:23:58
Speaker
We hosted shows for years that I never even saw the person ever as the show host. So if something's happening in the gym, where are they?
00:24:09
Speaker
And I think this is one of those examples where I said, you know, there were some circuits that handled it the right way and some that didn't. But the circuit should want to provide security on top of whatever the school required to have because it's our performers and it's our kids that we're keeping safe. And I would take that a step further to talk about safe sport where, you know, the background checks that we're requiring, we say, well, if you work for the school system, you've already had one.
00:24:35
Speaker
no you haven't. Not all school systems require it for coaches. So I think that's another step or another area where circuits should be taking on some financial responsibility to make sure that we are truly protecting everybody.
00:24:50
Speaker
And they're changing that. That's going to, they're changing that to something else so that it's even more like it gives you more credibility. You know what i mean? Even safe. Yeah. So good yeah, good. I get love to hear that.
00:25:03
Speaker
I forgot, Nicole, you're like on some boards. You can make some things happen. Yeah. So, well, this is a good chance for us to cut to a commercial break. And when we come back, we're going to hang out with the staff from Palisades for a little bit and continue talking.
00:25:28
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Impact of Fires on Palisades Charter High School
00:26:49
Speaker
Hey guys, and Alicia here with a special edition of On a Water Break with an interview with Peter Yee and Allison Wyant, band and color guard directors from Palisades Charter High School in Palisades, California.
00:27:00
Speaker
Their school, along with thousands of homes and businesses, were lost in the devastating fires that ravaged parts of Los Angeles. As we take time to consider crisis management in the performing arts, Peter and Allison can share their unique perspective on how they handled this early season tragedy.
00:27:18
Speaker
Peter and Allison, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us. Thank you. So we know many people didn't have any sort of warning or time to react before the fires got to their area. Did you guys have any sort of idea that this was going to affect your school?
00:27:33
Speaker
No, I mean, we were on winter break and this came also right after the Franklin fires. And so I remember during that, um a lot of students were like, oh man, there's fires near us. Like, why aren't we canceling school? Because, you know, kids usually just want to cancel school.
00:27:47
Speaker
And so when this one happened too, i remember seeing it and thinking, Like this one's a little closer, but it would have to like it would have to go through a lot before it got to the high school.
00:27:58
Speaker
And so when it actually like just like I remember that Tuesday, just watching the news, getting texts from Allison and like a lot of people, ah was like, oh, my goodness, like this really is going through like the whole neighborhood. It's getting to the high school.
00:28:09
Speaker
Yeah. And so luckily we weren't on campus. I know LAUSD was in session, so they had to evacuate. with like buses and everything, but we luckily we're still on winter break.
00:28:20
Speaker
So we didn't have to do a ah direct response that day. i Well, I'm so glad that you guys were at home at the time, but still the unknown of what you don't, what's happening at your school must've been terrifying.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, totally. I remember just like, yeah, Allison was sending me like photos that she was seeing on social media. Thomas, our middle school band director was sending me photos. Like I was just looking at every news thing. I was trying to look at all the videos pausing like exactly when they would like pan over the high school just trying to see exactly what the fire was affecting. Sorry, Chris, i I was just gonna ask, were you guys personally affected? Like how close do you live to the area?
00:29:00
Speaker
i was not. yeah I live in the valley, so I was pretty far from all the fires. Yeah, and I live in downtown LA. My parents, I went to Palisades Charter High School, but my family doesn't live anywhere near the school either. They were relatively close to the evacuation zone in West l a but it never got that bad over there.
00:29:21
Speaker
Good. I'm glad you guys were safe. Yeah, seriously. How soon did you know the extent of the damage? Were you able to get onto and campus to see what was left? We still haven't been able to get on campus. um I think they're trying to organize it so teachers can see Last thing I saw, they had like a bus tour happening. Yeah.
00:29:43
Speaker
or they're letting some teachers just drive through the area. But I think you need a lot of equipment and stuff to even just see the damage. So all I know is just reports from my administration or what I've seen online. And what can you tell us about what you've seen or what you've heard from your administration?
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah. So luckily, the ban room looks like wasn't affected. Even our sheds, our wooden sheds, which were by the street, is what we were most worried about. I saw a video where someone was actually inside, and it looked like there was a lot of ash going through.
00:30:14
Speaker
And so we're going to need have to try to assess like what's been contaminated or damaged there. But as far as the band, I think most of our stuff has been unaffected. But then you see the news reports like the backside of the school, which is on the opposite side of the band room.
00:30:29
Speaker
That's where all the pictures are from because those buildings are straight up just like burned down. The bungalows are gone. Yeah. Wow. Wow. that's That's just unbelievable. Yeah. I can't imagine because my wife's a band director and, you know, if if her school was involved in a fire, I just I could not imagine, you know, seeing the loss of that school, even if it's even if her band room was saved, just like the loss of some part of that school just be has to be hard on on the staff, but also hard on the students.
00:31:01
Speaker
How are they holding up?
Student Resilience and Program Continuity
00:31:02
Speaker
It's a mix. Most of them are really resilient and really especially the band students wanted to return. And so Allison can talk about the color guard, but I remember with the drumline students, this was already a weird season where we weren't sure if we were going to have a season, but we managed to recruit a lot and we were going to, we were really excited. We were going to have like this like um season with a lot of new members, a lot of a couple of veterans.
00:31:26
Speaker
And so when we met with them, I think one of the, was we were just like, are we going to even have a season at this point? And pretty much all of them wanted to continue to have a season. They wanted to get back together and play music still.
00:31:41
Speaker
And they wanted to do a full season as much as we could. i asked them when they wanted to start rehearsing and most of them were like, if we can rehearse today, that would be great. So a lot of them are finding like, especially music and getting together as like a good thing. Yeah. And it's, it's a weird situation where there's some students who have been like terribly affected where they've lost their homes.
00:32:05
Speaker
And then it's also some students who haven't been affected at all. And so it's a weird situation to navigate right now. But overall, the students have just been resilient and ready to go back.
00:32:16
Speaker
They've had good spirits. And just the community has come together to support each other where we can. What does school look like for you guys right now? Are you doing virtual or how is that working?
00:32:26
Speaker
Yeah, um we're all virtual. So we're trying to find a way to get some rehearsals in. So Color Guard, Alison was awesome because we were managed to get Color Guard rehearsing pretty much straight away and just like the promise of a full season for the students.
00:32:44
Speaker
Drumline is still working on getting rehearsals, but we're like 90% there. So we almost we have our space secured and we should be there on Monday. And everything else is just online. So like Win Ensemble, we're trying to find, we're trying to go to one festival and we're just going to rehearse, find a place to rehearse basically a couple of days before that festival and then have that one festival and then seeing down the line if we can try to do like a spring concert also.
00:33:11
Speaker
But everything else right now is just online. Yeah. So since you opened the door, i definitely want to ask Allison about that Color Guard season. Got it. Yeah. A lot of you have been asking me, you know, like, oh, what do you need? But that's been like a weird thing because I don't know, really.
00:33:29
Speaker
um What? You said you were most worried about the sheds, the wooden sheds. What was in those that had you concerned? Yeah, pretty much all of our color guard equipment and most of our front ensemble equipment.
00:33:43
Speaker
So like, okay. Yeah. A lot of really large, expensive instruments. And all of our floors. Yeah. Did you say that those were definitely destroyed? Not destroyed, but definitely got like ash and stuff all covered in there. For sure. Thanks.
00:34:01
Speaker
but So Allison, you figured out a way to continue your Winter Guard season for the students with really not not any sort of delay or break, right? Can you tell us about that? Yeah. so i along with being the director at Palisades, I'm also ah six to eight minutes down the street from Palisades.
00:34:20
Speaker
And I've been working with the director there for about seven years now. And I also am a performer and in leadership in his independent winter guard. So we're very close. We've been friends for a long time.
00:34:32
Speaker
And obviously, we've had a great working relationship. We just recently finished a fall season at Santa Monica where we had the biggest color guard we had had since I started teaching there. Awesome. And we are always pretty late to starting our season at Santa Monica for winter just because of how it is there. A lot of the kids tend to travel during winter break and...
00:34:57
Speaker
We tend to start pretty slow and they always tend to have their first show pretty, pretty late in the season. So at the time when the fire started, we actually started to begin the process of staging the show.
00:35:11
Speaker
over there And then once the fires had happened, we decided that I was going to talk to the band director over there and see if there was a potential of getting a rehearsal space for Palisades because they actually had, we had hired a person to stage our show, which was also coincidentally the director at Santa Monica.
00:35:32
Speaker
And he's been doing our drill for the past couple of years. And we initially we had talked about potentially finding a rehearsal space for the color guard for Palisades to continue as their own guard.
00:35:44
Speaker
And then the band director there, Terry Sacco, mentioned that we should just consider combining the guards. And at first I was actually really hesitant to that idea because I thought, you know, like it's like,
00:35:56
Speaker
like I feel like the students might feel a loss of identity if we just dissolve what we had already been working on. like we Myself and then my technique and technician, Caesar, at Palisades, we came up with a schedule to start everything and be more proactive about the winter season than we had in previous years, just because the guard was starting to grow and we were starting to get a lot of more new kids.
00:36:19
Speaker
we wanted to make sure And we had also been like competitively doing... better every year. So we wanted to make sure that we also got on top of this a little faster to make sure that we got that momentum. But obviously, like that had that changed after we had no idea where we were going to rehearse. So after I'd been presented with that option, I basically been told that they couldn't promise any sort of indoor space, but maybe we could be outdoors.
00:36:42
Speaker
And then I kind of just kept thinking about it throughout the day. I was like, well, we're pretty much stuck with two options. And it's that we attempt to continue the season that we started on our own.
00:36:53
Speaker
with, with our floor and all of our equipment being in the sheds that we cannot access. And we're not sure when we would be able to and then try to continue our season. We would have to pull out of the preview show we had signed up for, as well as the classification show, and then maybe even a second show.
00:37:11
Speaker
So we'd have to pull out of a lot of shows because we, wouldn't be able to reasonably finish our show within that timeframe. And also just in case we didn't know how much this was going to affect everybody in the guard and how long it would take for them to recuperate. Because at the end of the day, we didn't want to feel like we were rushing the students into the season. Obviously the season was going to go on regardless of how everything went with the fires up there. And we couldn't expect everything to go on hold for the entire circuit. But also at the same time, like we can't just...
00:37:44
Speaker
we have to acknowledge and give grace to the kids and the families who were affected by that. And so it was it was just a lot of unknowns that we didn't want we didn't want to deal with. And also we have a couple graduating seniors in the Guard. And like I thought about it if I was in their position, i think I would want to go with a more stable season, even if it had to be combined with another school.
00:38:07
Speaker
And then on top of that, We just wanted to see what the kids thought first and see if they felt like this was a good idea as well. So we put together a meeting and basically presented them with the two options where we were saying that you we have the choice of going with our own season or either going with our own season or combining with Santa Monica and doing a season with them.
00:38:29
Speaker
and it became by the time we had the meeting, which was a couple days later after we had gone through those two options among staff, it became more of a less of a choice and more of a, this is what it will inevitably happen if we just try to continue our own season, which is that we will probably not be able to finish our season or we will end up with a season that would end up being unsatisfactory to the membership and the staff.
00:38:54
Speaker
That's pretty much how we were able to get that going. And then because Santa Monica has a program where kids leave campus in the beginning of the day, they have, it's called a PBR or PBL, Project Based Learning, which is where they go to a separate campus and And they have their classes over there. And then they might have some classes on the main campus.
00:39:22
Speaker
So like in the past, we've had color guard members at Santa Monica, they'll show up for zero period. They'll be there for the first hour of the day at the high school. And then they'll leave the school because they have like an ID that says that they belong to this. And then they have like a certain amount of time to get to the other campus. So there are no strangers to letting kids in and out of school between zero and first period.
00:39:43
Speaker
So I think that really helped with the logistics of making sure that kids were allowed to come in and leave if they were a member of the Palisades portion of the guard. Yeah, so basically the way that we were able to clear it so fast was just I have a good working relationship with the director at Santa Monica, and we were just able to communicate, and he was more than willing to restage the beginning of the show to let in as many kids as who wanted to join, and we ended up with having seven really strong returning members together.
00:40:12
Speaker
being integrated into the program. So now we're a color a combined color guard of 20. It sounds like, if I'm understanding correctly too, that just canceling the season was never an option for you guys, right? No matter what, you were going to give these kids a season.
00:40:26
Speaker
No. Yeah, that was never an option. Just in the sense of, I feel like This the one of the captains that I have, she's been in the guard all four years and her first year was the year we came out of COVID.
00:40:42
Speaker
And it's just very apparent like how that from teaching before COVID and teaching after COVID and staying with the schools that I had taught at that time, it just felt very want.
00:40:55
Speaker
We didn't like break down. that apart again. like It took us four years to completely recover from COVID. We didn't want to have to do another setback for another four years.
00:41:07
Speaker
And also I think it just would have completely like destroyed the morale of the program and like specifically the color guard. Because we do have that one exiting senior who's been here for all four years. We have another exiting senior as well who's been here with us almost as long. And then on top of that, we have like a lot of new underclassmen.
00:41:27
Speaker
So there would just be a really big gap if we were to just completely cancel the season and not move forward in any capacity. Yeah.
00:41:40
Speaker
um So same same same general question for Peter. How did how did the conversation, how did you guys to talk about wanting to continue to try to have a season? And then how did you guys, how were you able to get the equipment that you needed to be successful?
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, so basically, um Allison was like, I'm having this meeting with all the color guard students. figure out like, or let them know how the season is going to go. And I think that day I was like, okay, I need to meet with all the drumline students now. So I sent them a thing. I'm like, Hey, we're just going to meet on zoom tomorrow.
00:42:13
Speaker
Let's talk about our season. And so we met on zoom and i had actually also reached out to the Santa Monica drumline and he was open to also doing some sort of combined thing.
00:42:24
Speaker
It's a little different with drumline though. They were a little further in their season. didn't really have the room or the instruments to put everyone in. And we had a lot of, we're like more than half, I think are just rookies on the line this year.
00:42:40
Speaker
And so really, I think we would have only been able to integrate like a three to five seniors and people who had been in drumline before people who could learn the show really quickly. Cause their first show was also, I think it might've been last weekend.
00:42:54
Speaker
And so ah like, here are our options. Either we have our seniors join Santa Monica and we have, you know, you guys have a great season. And, or we just try to continue on with our own season, try to find a space, try to find instruments, try to,
00:43:11
Speaker
continue with the music and everyone wanted to just have our own season. And so I think once, once we heard that, then we knew it wasn't an option to cancel because all the students wanted it.
00:43:22
Speaker
um And so that day, like we just sent out an all call mostly for instruments. min um The parents were on that meeting too. So they were asking how they could help. We compiled a huge spreadsheet of instruments that we would need and people just started reaching out and Sean McDermott, who's on our visual staff.
00:43:42
Speaker
um He also wasn't even helping out um really with Drumline for the past couple years, but came back this season, um reached out and was like, hey Townsend junior high has almost a full front ensemble that we can use. And I was like, that is amazing.
00:43:57
Speaker
And so I reached out or she reached out first and I forget and Either way, Anra sent me the list of like all of the instruments, and I just saw the list. was like, oh my goodness, this is everything really that we need.
00:44:13
Speaker
And so, yeah, it was great. So we, yeah i mean, I'm just super thankful for ah the Townsend like music team because Anne and Chris came out, drove the trailer out. I felt bad too, because there was so much uncertainty. We had scheduled one Friday and the day before they called me and said that we might be able to go back on campus to see our, our equipment.
00:44:35
Speaker
And so I called to her, I was like, Hey, we might need to cancel this because I don't want you to drive out here, deliver everything. And then turns out we actually have our stuff. But that call pretty much with the administration, my administration pretty much turned out To be more complication, we're still like today, I haven't been able to go back to campus to even see what's going on. So the thought of also going onto campus, renting a truck, moving it somewhere, and the students I don't think would have been able to access campus either. So instead of having your team of truck loaders that you do in Drumline, you would have me and maybe a couple of facilities guys trying to fit this truck.
00:45:13
Speaker
And so we just decided that just being able to have the instruments, um we had a guarantee with Townsend. And so we just, I called her um texted her again um and was like, basically scheduled it for the next week. So super thankful just to Ann and Chris and your flexibility with that.
00:45:31
Speaker
Yeah, and then Santa Monica had an old battery set that they were planning on selling. And so that was really easy to pick up because they're right down the street from us. So all the students just showed up one day in our cars, packed what we could in our separate cars.
00:45:46
Speaker
had to like shove like a tenor drum into my tiny car. We made it work, though. Slowly, slowly working through it. And it's been a great season.
Student Participation and Community Support
00:45:55
Speaker
um Something really special also is that our students are actually arranging the show, too.
00:46:01
Speaker
And that's something that we had decided before this season. Because like I said, we had a really weird transition from last season to this season. A lot of things happened with the students and drama and other things that happened with high school where we pretty much lost like half our drumline and and then recruited that half of it again.
00:46:20
Speaker
We weren't really going for a really competitive season. We figured this was the season to just have fun and let the students you know write the show because we had these two seniors who had been doing Drumline all four years and are just like phenomenal at writing and also learning from staff. So we knew it would be an easy thing where not only would they be good at arranging the music, but they would also accept any um input that we gave them. so Yeah, I think this season is just going to be really special. Even I think just being able to make it out to one competition and perform their music.
00:46:54
Speaker
That's that'll be amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Indeed. Yeah, that was. Yeah, it was such a good um actually backing up when we were supposed to deliver the week prior.
00:47:06
Speaker
it was actually a blessing in disguise that we couldn't do it because the president had flown out to LAX like the time we were going to be there. And everything from l LAX over to Malibu was just shut down.
00:47:19
Speaker
So yeah it would have been a nightmare traveling because where Townsend is is in Chino Hills, which is like in lay terms, it's the other side of the world. So we were very thankful.
00:47:31
Speaker
You know, and in the end that they're like, we get to push it a week. No problem. But no, we were so thankful that we were able to help and to deliver the instruments. And then and then Peter sent my wife and a quick little video of the front ensemble warming up on the roof of a car park.
00:47:52
Speaker
And just like, dude, making it happen, doing the gig. And it was really, really cool to see. I hope all that equipment is working. And because, you know, it's got several decades of junior high kids hitting on them. So, yeah.
00:48:07
Speaker
Yeah. And we got lucky because one of. no we were lucky just because. One of our students family owns, had just like an office park where we store the instruments or just an office space with a ton of extra space because they went remote since COVID.
00:48:23
Speaker
And then right next to it, they own the parking lot also, someone else in the family. And so we had the space, we had the rehearsal. spot and it's even across from a park so we also did some stuff in the park right across the street but now we're working on getting ah getting everything at our local middle school at paul revere middle school so that had to go through a lot of like la usd kind of applications and everything but that's finally getting cleared so we should have a spot next week That's wonderful. That's absolutely wonderful. And we're looking forward to seeing you guys at whatever show you guys decide to make it out to this year.
00:48:58
Speaker
I also work for SCPA. And so I was told that they were, they waived the two show minimum for you guys, which is fantastic. So if you wanted to go to championships, you guys can, we're just, we're just so happy. Like it's a real true inspiring story for the rest of us watching you guys band together and, and try to, to, uh,
00:49:20
Speaker
to do what you're supposed to do to add some normalcy to this whole horrific experience. Yeah, absolutely. And definitely just like huge thank you to SCPA. Yeah, because I just wasn't sure what was going to happen when I kind of sent that email. was like, here's our situation. But I was so thankful that, you know, that they waived the two show minimum. um Because, yeah, like we're talking, you know, the success really this season especially is just not about the competition aspect of it. It's just getting out there and having the students perform.
00:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. um Looking to the future, which I don't know if you're even thinking about the future or if you're just living minute to minute, do you think you'll be able to move into your fall season as you normally would? or are you going to have to make changes?
00:50:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's a hard question. And it's something I've been thinking about recently more. And it's just something we don't. And that's like the answer to a lot of questions still is just, I don't know.
00:50:13
Speaker
i think we'll continue to plan as usual. I know that school overall, I think is just dealing with enrollment and I don't want to speak for the school or anything. So yeah, but just like what I've been hearing, I don't know what the numbers are going to be like next year. I've lost a couple of students in my classes.
00:50:32
Speaker
It seems like my band students haven't been as affected or like I haven't lost as many students in my band classes as I've heard from other teachers teaching their classes. So it seems like we'll still have a group next year based on who's still here this semester.
00:50:49
Speaker
But like I said, I don't know if they'll make a decision before the next school year, if that'll affect anything. It's just hard to tell. Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, and Allison, ah what class and what circuit does the color guard perform in?
00:51:03
Speaker
We performed with WGASC, which is the Winter Guard Association of Southern California. They've been super great as well. They, like SCPA, they waived a policy rule in which a combined unit needs to work.
00:51:19
Speaker
If two high schools are were to combine and become combined unit for competition, they need to be within the same district. And that's a rule that is implemented in WGI as well. And that's why they follow that rule. And the whole circuit, like it was, it was pretty much an, it was a non-issue when I asked and they said, obviously this is like a really, really widely known tragic event. No one's going to give any pushback about this at all. And of course they said that they would waive it for this particular instance because the schools are so close together. Palisades is a charter school. So even though,
00:51:57
Speaker
even though it has been affiliated with LAUSD in some regards. And in the past, it very technically doesn't have a district per se. So by those means, they technically wouldn't have been able to combine with anyone. So yeah, WGSE has been very, very graciously accepting of this whole situation.
00:52:20
Speaker
That's wonderful. And what division are you guys competing in? We were planning on competing in Scholastic AAA, which was actually something that we had to discuss with the Palisades students. current The Palisades Guard is currently about two divisions below Scholastic AAA.
00:52:36
Speaker
um And so because of that, we had to pretty much let everyone know that Santa Monica was in a higher class and the level of expectation at Santa Monica is a bit higher than the level of expectation at Palisades as a result.
00:52:51
Speaker
So when we were transitioning from our own show to being integrated within Santa Monica's show, there was that understanding that you might not necessarily be on the same part that you were at previously and in the old show. So just because you're a weapon in the show that we were writing doesn't guarantee that you were going to be a weapon in this new show, just because now there's a lot of other kids who are already on weapon or they might have.
00:53:13
Speaker
a wider skill range or they also I wasn't the one designing the show anymore. It was all up to Juan Gonzalez, who's the designer over there. So as much as I could give input on what I would like to see and what what skill set that I think that the Palisades kids could handle, i was ultimately up to him.
00:53:33
Speaker
So it was a lot of planning on that and a lot of transitional things. But ultimately, it's been a really good transition. That's great. I'm just so happy to hear that that has gone smoothly and everyone's just getting along and getting the job done. That's really great to hear.
00:53:51
Speaker
I think my biggest takeaway from this entire conversation is just how important it is that we have community and that we have those people that we can lean on Because in any tragedy, there are people that step up to the plate and help each other.
00:54:07
Speaker
But our world is so small in the band world that having good community and having people you can lean on that will step up to support you in moments like this, it matters a whole lot.
00:54:18
Speaker
So, you know, my last question for you guys really is, is what advice would you share with other directors out there when they face their own crisis, whether it's a fire or a flood or whatever, you know, what have you learned from this experience that you would pass along?
00:54:35
Speaker
I think for me, just like you're saying, community is the most important thing. Yeah. I wouldn't want to leave this talk without definitely mentioning my parents, like the band parents,
00:54:46
Speaker
They were one of the most active group chats that I got on my phone. And because they were just constantly sending each other like ways they can help out, asking about each other. and just like, yeah, like like they were constantly sending resources. They're like, hey i found this grant or like this guide on how to access like insurance.
00:55:06
Speaker
And so the parents were amazing in that. And I think just just being prepared to just ah talk to your community, your students, your parents, and see where everyone is at. um Yeah, almost like not being afraid to check in is I think what I've been learning.
00:55:20
Speaker
And yeah, just letting people know that you care about them and really going through something like this just makes you realize how important all music is for the students. And something that was told to me also by someone else who works in the Palisades.
00:55:35
Speaker
um Dwayne Milburn, who's a UCLA professor, he reached out to me and asked me how I was doing. And he was just telling me about how or texted me about how just in times of crisis, music is really important.
00:55:46
Speaker
And it will really bring everyone together. Yeah, and I think the main thing is just community. And then like you're mentioning the band community, the amount of people that for the first few days, especially like I was just sorting through emails because so many people were just emailing me asking me how they could help.
00:56:02
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, I think give yourself some time, you know, let your, like sort through everything, take your time getting through what you need to do one step at a time if you can. and just, you have your community and just don't be afraid to reach out and check in on people and ask for help in both ways.
00:56:21
Speaker
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, We want to thank you both so much for taking time out of your day to speak to us today and to share your experiences with us. How can listeners donate
Supporting the Palisades Band Program
00:56:34
Speaker
to your program? And are there any specific needs that you need at this time that we could try to help out with?
00:56:40
Speaker
Yeah. If you want to donate directly to our program, you can go online um to givebutter.com slash Pali Band. So P-A-L-I-B-A-N-D. Those funds will pretty much go directly to us. We also have a SnapRays fundraiser up right now.
00:56:55
Speaker
And that's fun because you can donate items to students if you have any connections with the students. They take a little portion out though. So if you want to give directly to the band, Give Butter is best. And then, yeah, as far as specific needs, we're still trying to fill out some extra front ensemble equipment as far as like mics go.
00:57:15
Speaker
And I think we're settled on most of electronics, but like mics, rehearsal equipment, even just like metronome speakers, you know, things that you just need to rehearse.
00:57:25
Speaker
And then, like I mentioned in our sheds, we're just not sure what was affected in there. So there's a lot of color guard equipment and most of our front ensemble and some battery equipment in there.
00:57:37
Speaker
And we're just haven't been able to access it. It was a wooden shed outside. and I know it's been hit with a lot of smoke and ash. So we're not sure what's really going to be usable once we can assess it.
00:57:49
Speaker
But those are our main needs right now. Excellent. Excellent. Well, there you have it guys. Once again, this has been Chris and Alicia with Peter and Allison of Palisades Charter High School. ah Stay tuned for more episodes about crisis management with On a Water Break. Thanks, guys. Have a great day.
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Speaker
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00:59:32
Speaker
Welcome back. That was an awesome interview with the Palisades staff and just such a... reassurance and, you know, reminder of how important it is that we can lean on each other and we step up for each other when we need it.
00:59:47
Speaker
So, and I want to
Effective Communication During Emergencies
00:59:48
Speaker
talk about, you know, kind of bigger picture from both of these interviews and crisis management. But first, I really want circle back and to something Ricardo said earlier when we were talking. Ricardo, you, and it's been on my mind, you mentioned the competition suite and how like information went out at the show. And I think, Nicole, you talked about it as well.
01:00:09
Speaker
So you know what what types of communication are most effective when stuff like this happens and we've got critical updates or emergency information that needs to go out. Like you guys think circuits or show hosts should be doing.
01:00:24
Speaker
Yeah, I, you know, for us and the FFCC, our show hosts are the all points of contact for the day, for everybody, for the participants, for the people who are spectators, for the instructors and all of that.
01:00:40
Speaker
ah We are fortunate enough that we use Competition Suite for most of our operating bases, like all of our data and everything else is housed there. But one of the coolest features of Competition Suite is is that anybody who is registered at a show can instantaneously get emails and text messages to all of the staff members immediately.
01:01:02
Speaker
So our protocol is that our chief judge and our director our contest director at each show is a person that gets to communicate any type of information that goes out about that show. So, you know, not just saying like in tragedies like this, like if there's something that's happening and we're on a scheduling delay, you know, the contest director can send out a message to all of the color guards instantaneously and it comes on your phone and it says, hey, you know, this is what's going on, blah, blah, blah, blah. So in the event of a crisis like this, that is one way that we...
01:01:37
Speaker
We're grateful that we had that tool. um That doesn't necessarily protect our spectators as much as it does for our performers and our staff people there. um But it is a way to be able to get correct information out so that a lot of people and the masses can know what's going on.
01:01:54
Speaker
See, I think about that. And then I think about, like we were talking about like bridging the gaps between the marching arts and things like that. But like, we don't have ah competition suite for marching bands, you know?
01:02:07
Speaker
We do. It exists. Yeah, we use it for marching band too. Some of them, and some do and some don't. And that's what would make me think, hey, so that everyone can can communicate with everyone that's there, that's more information that you would need. Or just get everybody on Competition Suite.
01:02:28
Speaker
I think about that too when, I mean, honestly, when I'm going to a show and it's just like, okay, would it be too much for me to ask, is there security at this show?
01:02:39
Speaker
You know what I mean? Because I'm pretty sure if there's a parent, they're going to be like, okay, what kind of security? I mean, after after what happened in Texas, what kind of security do you have at this show?
01:02:50
Speaker
But I feel like that security needs to be visible. Like no one needs to ask if there's security. You should see that there's security. Like, you know, there should be a parked police car somewhere close by the entrance so people know, okay, this is not it.
01:03:04
Speaker
If there's not that, there should definitely be some type of uniformed officer that shows you that they are, you know, a person of authority in that position walking around through that front door. And I know...
01:03:17
Speaker
For my own home show a couple of weeks ago, a few days after this event happened, you know our guardians were walking around. They were pacing back and forth. They were walking through campus. They were walking in and out of the gym. They were checking all of the stuff, but they were visible.
01:03:33
Speaker
If someone's not visible there, that's where we get into that gray area. like I don't know that I would be comfortable if I went to a place and I didn't see someone that was there to protect all of us.
01:03:45
Speaker
The we and i down somewhere yeah zol the week after that happened in Texas, I had a show and the cop was there. He was very visible, you know, kind of actually set up so he could see everything that was going on in the gym.
01:04:01
Speaker
I'm pretty sure there was probably another one too, but like, I remember going past him and saying, you know, Hey, glad you're here. And there's been, you know, maybe a couple shows that I've gone to after that, they haven't been so visible, you know?
01:04:15
Speaker
And that's something that I think that if that question comes up, if you're a parent, if you're a judge, if you're a director you ask, you know, Hey, do you have onsite security?
01:04:29
Speaker
i think that should be something like, Hey, yeah, over there. Yep. Over there. Not wait a second. Let me find. So this is a great place for me to jump in and say, if you are a band parent and you are listening to the podcast right now,
01:04:42
Speaker
Leave a comment and tell us what policies that you think about and what you would like to see your circuits do in light of events like this. Because I want to hear more parents and what you guys think. So throw that out there.
01:04:57
Speaker
But also, this is a really good place to stop and say how incredible band parents are because this tragedy would have been much bigger tragedy if it weren't for the amazing band.
01:05:08
Speaker
Thank you. jumped in and handled the situation. Like, oh my gosh. Like didn't even think it was like a, like a, like a reflex reaction.
01:05:21
Speaker
It's a reflex reaction. always say band ads will get it done. Whatever you need done, call a band ad. I am so sad. I'm retiring from teaching high school color guard, but I have all of my former band ads in my phone. And at any point time, if I need them for anything, I'm a call a band dad for it.
01:05:38
Speaker
yeah And there's something about the Southern band dads too. I'm not, not North, but those, the Southern band dads, we had a one a few years ago. ah just, I texted him and I was like, Hey, I have kind of a prop in mind. I'm thinking about this. And I came to the school like less than 24 hours later and it was built outside the band room door. Like I wasn't even sure I wanted it yet, but he was like, here you go, ma'am.
01:06:01
Speaker
Like, yeah ye yeah yeah Anything else you need? You want to try this out? Don't do it. I'd love it. right Do you need six more?
01:06:12
Speaker
Okay, got you. I think, well, and they did. They built another one for too when I decided I wanted to. But I think the my biggest takeaway from this entire conversation with you guys and the group from Palisades really is that The community coming together and, you know, not just the Guard and the Drumline or DCI and WGI, but all of us as performing arts members and people who love the activity coming together, step up and be the solution.
Community's Role in Preventing Tragedies
01:06:46
Speaker
um you know, with Palisades that another school stepped up immediately and said, hey, come march with us, bring your kids and, you know, we'll combine this year. They stepped up and they were the solution for them um in a moment of what do we do?
01:07:00
Speaker
And I think that that's what circuits need to be doing. But I think that's what everyone in the community needs to do instead of thinking about, OK, how do we react to this? Instead, how are we the solution to keeping this from happening again? And really, that's That's what I've learned in all these conversations with you guys and how to move forward.
01:07:20
Speaker
Yeah. I think a lot of people need to, and I hate to say this because it does sound bleak, but it's not a whole like if it's kind of when and you got to be ready when. Yeah.
01:07:31
Speaker
But yeah, but we all love this activity and we would do anything for it. And, you know, we spend so much time with it. Why not protect it? Why not protect it? Yeah. What do you think?
01:07:42
Speaker
What have you learned from this whole? Well, it's, It's I think the same thing. The question is, you know, it's not the if, but when. And I know it hit me really hard just thinking about that. It could be us at any time and there's no rhyme or reason to it.
01:07:58
Speaker
ah You just got to prepare the very best you can. Anytime you're gathering that many people, ah you know, one to two thousand people in a gym or eight to ten thousand. That's a high opportunity target.
01:08:09
Speaker
And the hate to use the word target. But unfortunately, that's what it's viewed as to those people. So we got to be vigilant. Ricardo, what's your big takeaway?
01:08:20
Speaker
You know, I wrestle with this a lot and not just in my my multi hats that I wear, but I was thinking about this phrase and the statement and thinking about things that you said, but regardless of where you fall on any kind of political spectrum and think that it is about laws or this or that, at the end of the day, we are a community and your community is the people that you are around in that moment.
01:08:47
Speaker
And if you aren't doing the thing that is best for your community in any moment and thinking about what's going to promote that community and keep all of the members, all of the members of that community safe at all points and times, what are you doing?
01:09:01
Speaker
So I would like to encourage everyone listening to this to just think about. who those people are in your community. Think about all of the things that you can do. Maybe it is you want to fight for different laws. You want to do this and do that. But how are you going to step up and make sure that all of those people around you, especially our young people, are safe, are loved, are cared for, and that they get to experience this thing that we loved so much and that is so near and dear to us that some of us have been doing it for years
01:09:35
Speaker
a bajillion years since the ninth.
01:09:39
Speaker
The last thing I did want to bring up, because I know that they had a tech that was wounded ah during that. And the more that I keep going back into it and it,
01:09:50
Speaker
it kind of takes away a little bit of trust, you know, like I'm hoping, and I know that that tech's gonna come back and teach again, you know what I mean? But at the same time, like sometimes this might happen somewhere else and you know what I mean? Like that's it, they don't wanna teach anymore. And so things like this will turn, you know, a tech to stop teching.
01:10:13
Speaker
a performer to stop performing, a parent to stop supporting that because it's not safe, you know, that kind of thing. So having all of those avenues that everyone can go down, a tech, a director, ah ah a member, a parent, anyone, I think it just needs to be open lines of communication and keep everyone safe, just like Ricardo said.
01:10:33
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. ah hadn't thought about that ah that way. And that's disheartening
Reassessing Safety Policies in Marching Arts
01:10:40
Speaker
to consider. So I hope All of the circuits and everybody listening will look at these policies and and look at what people are doing and try again to be the solution.
01:10:51
Speaker
Really take it to heart and not like, it's not going to happen in my, see, and then once you were like, oh, it's not going to happen in my part of town or it's not going to happen in this city or, you know what I mean? You've just opened yourself up to being vulnerable.
01:11:03
Speaker
Yeah. Well, never an episode that we wanted ah to make, but I think a very necessary one with necessary topics that we all really should be discussing and should continue discussing and while we may all be involved in different parts of the activity, we definitely can all agree that the safety and health of our students and performers should be the top priority.
01:11:25
Speaker
So thank you for joining us. Thank you, Spence, for letting me pull you into the episode. And ah thank you, Ricardo and Nicole, for the discussion. but If you've got a question or a good topic to talk about us, talk about, excuse me, email us at on a water break podcast at gmail.com or find us on social media and DM us if you want to be on the show.
01:11:47
Speaker
We even have a form now that you can fill out if you want to be a guest. We love having new people on. And so check that out at the link in our bio or on our social media, or you could just take out your phone, make a video and send it to us. And maybe you'll see yourself on the podcast soon.
01:12:05
Speaker
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01:12:20
Speaker
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01:12:29
Speaker
The On a Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and Christine Rehm. The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lida. To learn more, visit LidaMusic.com.
01:12:41
Speaker
And until next time, thanks for tuning