Drum and Bugle Corps

inquirer.com

Every so often during a sleepless night, Melody Romo searches online for the high school band teacher who lured her into a sexual relationship when she was 15.

She rarely finds much. But in August, there was a cryptic post in a public forum: The teacher, Mike Stevens, had been let go by a marching band group in the Pacific Northwest. In the dark, Romo searched further, until she found out why.

Other young women had accused him of sexual misconduct.

Romo was stunned. Years ago, when their secret spread from the band students at her San Antonio high school to parents, the principal, and then police, Romo believed what Stevens had always told her: If anyone found out, his career would be over.

Instead, Stevens got a second chance — in drum and bugle corps, a marching band circuit that draws some of the country’s most devoted young performers. Over nearly a decade at the Oregon Crusaders, a Portland drum corps, Stevens would continue to engage in inappropriate relationships with teens and young women.

“The feeling was surreal,” Romo said of the discovery. “I was preyed on. I was coerced. And I’m not the only one.”

An investigation by the Inquirer found nearly a dozen cases over the last decade in which teachers who had been disciplined for misconduct with students went on to work in drum corps as instructors, administrators, or judges. The inquiry also turned up several others with records that include crimes of a sexual nature. Taken together the examples highlight worrisome flaws — and an unusual tolerance for past sexual misdeeds — in the hiring practices of an activity that draws thousands of young participants each year. Among the findings:

1. Nearly half of the 24 World Class drum corps have employed at least one former teacher previously disciplined for misconduct with a student. The misconduct records, in many cases, are publicly available online.
2. In some instances, corps administrators knew about applicants’ blemished backgrounds but hired them regardless.
3. Criminal background checks were not required by the activity’s governing body, Drum Corps International (DCI), until 2017; there are still no national guidelines regarding hiring someone with a record.

The shortcomings have not been lost on drum corps participants and fans. Last year, an online petition calling on DCI to “protect students from sex offenders and sexual misconduct by staff” drew more than 2,000 signatures. Online drum corps forums have long hosted conversations about corps’ lax hiring practices and instructors with checkered pasts.

(more…)

Tricia L. Nadolny

Drum corps seeks $1.5 million from former director after sexual misconduct scandal

After being sued by its former director for more than a half-million dollars in severance and back pay, Allentown’s Cadets drum corps has fired back with a counter claim seeking more than $1.5 million in losses allegedly incurred because of that director’s sexual misconduct scandal.

Youth Education in the Arts (YEA), the nonprofit that runs the Cadets, said it lost more than $375,000 in sponsorships alone after George Hopkins was accused of misconduct by 11 women in April.

The claim filed Thursday seeks payment for those losses, and accuses Hopkins of breaching his financial duties and “duty of loyalty” to YEA by “misusing his position as CEO for his own personal pleasure, benefit and gain by … engaging in unlawful, non-consensual sexual activity with” YEA employees and participants.

“We thought the initial claim from George had no merit,” Doug Rutherford, the chairman of YEA’s board, said in an interview. “And over the last few months we’ve really realized the impact of the damages from this whole situation on our organization. So our intent is to be very clear about that.” Advertisement

Rutherford said he and the board had no intention to try to recoup those financial hits from Hopkins — until Hopkins sued YEA.

Hopkins’ attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

The allegations against Hopkins span the nearly four decades that he led the Cadets, one of the most decorated drum corps in the youth activity. On Tuesday, Lehigh County prosecutors charged him with two counts of sexual assault stemming from the allegations of two of his accusers, both former employees. Hopkins has denied the allegations.

The revelations shocked the tight-knit drum corps community, sparking widespread calls for reform and leading some corps, and the national sanctioning organization, Drum Corps International, to adopt new policies.

The Cadets, reluctantly, were at the center of the firestorm, as they recovered from the loss of their leader in the national spotlight. Behind the scenes, the nonprofit was weathering staggering financial hits, according to the counterclaim filed Thursday.

In addition to the loss of sponsors including Zildjian and Vic Firth, makers of cymbals and drum sticks, respectively, the nonprofit says it lost $113,000 in withdrawn donations. The single largest loss in revenue came from its US Bands program, which runs about 150 high school marching band competitions across the country each year. It claims numerous bands did not participate this year because of Hopkins’ association with US Bands, resulting in lost fees and ticket sales totaling nearly $850,000.

There were also added costs because of the scandal, according to the nonprofit, including $105,000 in legal fees.

YEA brings in about $5.5 million in revenue annually. Rutherford called the nonprofit’s current financial situation “challenging” but said the board, which was appointed after the prior board resigned in the wake of the scandal, has found ways to cut costs and increase some revenue streams.

“I have extreme confidence in our board and in the new management we put in place to take the appropriate steps we need to do to be financially secure going forward,” he said.

In his claim, Hopkins is seeking more than $650,000 from his former employer, the bulk being $580,000 in severance he said he was owed under his contract. Hopkins said the agreement provided him one month pay of his $199,000 annual salary for each of his 35 years as the organization’s CEO.

He cited a contract that ended in 2017 to support his claim. In its response, the nonprofit said that severance agreement did not apply to the contract in place this year. It also said Hopkins did not leave on “mutually agreeable” terms, as the contract required, and that his resignation “in the face of allegations of serious misconduct expressly violated any terms of employment.”

Tricia L. Nadolny

(inquirer.com)

George Hopkins, the former director of Allentown’s famed Cadets drum corps and among the most decorated leaders in the youth marching band activity, has been charged with two counts of felony sexual assault, the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday.

George Hopkins, the former director of Allentown’s famed Cadets drum corps, was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting two former employees, another striking turn in what had been an illustrious, four-decade-long career that took Hopkins to the top of the national youth activity.

Hopkins was forced out as director of the Cadets in April after the Inquirer and Daily News published accusations of nine women who said he had sexually harassed or assaulted them. The revelations, which sparked wide calls for change within the drum corps community, led other accusers to come forward, including the two women whose accusations resulted in the charges.

Hopkins, 62, surrendered to authorities, and was arraigned and released on $50,000 bail, according to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Thomas Bergstrom, Hopkins’ lawyer, said his client would fight the charges.

“We’re trying this case,” he said. “There’s just no doubt about it.”

The sexual assault charges, which are second-degree felonies, stem from the accusations of two women who worked for Youth Education in the Arts (YEA), the nonprofit group that owns the Cadets and for which Hopkins served as CEO. The women are identified by prosecutors by their initials.

One of the women, Jess Beyer of Drexel Hill, previously shared her account publicly. She marched with the Cadets in 2006 and was hired by Hopkins the following year. She said that in 2008 Hopkins, her superior, asked her to come to his apartment to help with a work-related project. She told prosecutors Hopkins offered her a glass of wine and that after drinking some, she began to feel as if she were “floating on the ceiling.”

“Hopkins took the victim to his bedroom, where he undressed himself and sexually assaulted her,” prosecutors wrote in a news release. “J.B. never consented to having sex with Hopkins, and in fact, she stated that she told him ‘no’ multiple times.”

The second woman, identified by prosecutors as D.S., worked for the organization from 2006 to 2007. She said that in 2010, while working for another drum corps, she met with Hopkins at an Allentown bar for a work-related meeting. She said she consumed just two drinks but later felt unable to stand.

The woman previously told a reporter she believes she was drugged by Hopkins.

“D.S. stated that she then went to Hopkins’ apartment in Allentown,” the prosecutors wrote in the news release. “As she sat on the couch there, Hopkins grabbed her, pulled her on top of him, and ripped her shirt. D.S. began crying and asked Hopkins to let her ‘go home.’ Hopkins carried her into his bedroom, where the alleged sexual assault took place.”

Neither woman responded to requests for comment Tuesday.

The decision by prosecutors to press charges against Hopkins came as a relief to several of Hopkins’ other accusers.

“I was in tears when I read it,” said Debra Barcus, who has accused Hopkins of groping her on a Cadets bus in 1980, when she was 16 and he, 23. “Because I’m just so relieved. I want this to go to trial. I want everything to come out.”

Another woman, who agreed to be identified by her first name, Marie, said she also grew emotional upon hearing the news. Marie started working for the organization in 1999 and has accused Hopkins of raping her in her apartment one morning before work. She called it “incredibly powerful” that her decision to share her story laid the groundwork for later accusers to come forward.

Hopkins was among the longest-serving and most decorated directors in drum corps, an activity in which thousands of youths ages 16 to 22 travel the country each summer performing marching band numbers before devoted audiences. He led the Cadets to 10 world championships and earned a reputation as an innovator and mentor to hundreds of young people.

Former employees have since described him as a controlling, volatile, and abusive boss.

As he prepares for a lengthy legal fight, Hopkins is suing his former employer for more than $650,000 in severance, unused vacation time, unpaid business expenses, bonus pay, and 401(k) contributions. The suit, first reported by the Allentown Morning Call, was filed in federal court in August.

The bulk of the sum, more than $580,000, comes from a severance agreement in Hopkins’ contract that provides a month of pay for each of the 35 years he was the organization’s CEO. Hopkins was paid $199,000 annually in 2017, according to his contract, which was filed as part of the suit. Notably, the contract provides him severance at the time of a “mutually agreed”-upon departure from the organization.

In the suit, Hopkins says he resigned from the organization on April 5, the day the Inquirer published its investigation, and provided an April 10 letter from the then-chairman of the YEA board, Mike Kehoss, acknowledging Hopkins’ resignation.

Kehoss and the rest of the YEA board resigned the following day, amid growing backlash.

Doug Rutherford, who took over as chairman of the board, said at the time that he had not seen a resignation letter from Hopkins or other evidence of his resignation. He and the new board soon after voted to fire Hopkins.

In a statement Tuesday, Rutherford said Hopkins was “terminated for cause” and said the nonprofit would dispute the suit. He called the charges the “next step in this sad case” and vowed to continue focusing on the nonprofit’s programs, which serve hundreds of youth each year.

Tricia L. Nadolny

Broke-down buses, Ibuprofen, and a sex offender: On the road with Pioneer Drum Corps

Four months after the director of Allentown’s famed Cadets drum corps, George Hopkins, resigned amid a sexual misconduct scandal, the spotlight has now turned on another, smaller corps — Pioneer of Milwaukee.

Shoddy tour buses without air-conditioning in sweltering summer heat. Teenagers forced to provide medical care in lieu of professionals on staff. A known registered sex offender coaching the young performers.

This is Pioneer, a Milwaukee-based drum and bugle corps that crosses the country each summer performing theatrical marching band numbers to devoted fans. The group, whose members face taxing, all-day practices to perfect their shows, is one of two dozen competing in the most advanced tier of the all-American niche activity.

And now — in a year that has brought unprecedented scrutiny of drum corps — it’s the latest to face questions about its leadership, and to inspire renewed criticism of the activity’s governing body.

That organization, Drum Corps International (DCI), on Tuesday announced it had suspended Pioneer late last week. But it waited until the end of the season, despite ongoing complaints, to take the action. And it announced the move after the Inquirer and Daily News posed questions about the corps to DCI on Monday as part of an investigation into the activity, which started with airing sexual misconduct allegations against the now-former director of a famed Allentown drum corps.

DCI executive director Dan Acheson, in a statement, said the organization had been investigating Pioneer for several months and provided support through the summer with the goal of letting the corps finish the season.

Critics say that level of oversight had been warranted for years.

Pioneer’s problems are nothing new. Interviews with nearly two dozen people who have marched with or taught at Pioneer within the last decade identified numerous shortcomings that have plagued the corps for years.

“It’s the most well-known secret in DCI. It’s why so many of our members leave,” said Brett Luce, who marched with Pioneer in 2009 and taught there in 2015. “They march for a year, and then they go to other corps, where they’re safe and have high-quality experiences. And they tell the story; they tell their new friends. Everybody knows about Pioneer.”

Ahead of the 2018 summer tour, officials at the Indianapolis-based DCI attempted a course correction.

The organization had long operated as an event-management company, planning a two-month, coast-to-coast summer tour while providing administrative and logistical support to the separate corps. Acheson, in an April interview, acknowledged that DCI had made “the assumption these nonprofit organizations, in their own right, are doing what they’re supposed to be doing to manage themselves accordingly.”

DCI executive director Dan Acheson, in a statement, said the organization had been investigating Pioneer for several months and provided support through the summer with the goal of letting the corps finish the season.

Critics say that level of oversight had been warranted for years.

Pioneer’s problems are nothing new. Interviews with nearly two dozen people who have marched with or taught at Pioneer within the last decade identified numerous shortcomings that have plagued the corps for years.

“It’s the most well-known secret in DCI. It’s why so many of our members leave,” said Brett Luce, who marched with Pioneer in 2009 and taught there in 2015. “They march for a year, and then they go to other corps, where they’re safe and have high-quality experiences. And they tell the story; they tell their new friends. Everybody knows about Pioneer.”

Ahead of the 2018 summer tour, officials at the Indianapolis-based DCI attempted a course correction.

The organization had long operated as an event-management company, planning a two-month, coast-to-coast summer tour while providing administrative and logistical support to the separate corps. Acheson, in an April interview, acknowledged that DCI had made “the assumption these nonprofit organizations, in their own right, are doing what they’re supposed to be doing to manage themselves accordingly.”

Tricia L. Nadolny