 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Kim L
Date: 2000-06-01 14:57
When our instruments are stolen, are they put in an unsafe band room, or kept in the safety of a locked locker. Many band directors leave their rooms unlocked all day leaving instruments susceptible to perpetrators. In a way, the band director is not responsible for any stolen instrument because when left in an unlocked cabinet and unlocked room, anybody can waltz in and take an instrument. However, when in a locker with a lock, stealing is less likely to happen.
I don't mean to sound mean, but I believe that a flute was stolen from one of the band students at my old high school. The band room should be locked as a preventive measure so that instruments aren't stolen.
The question is who's at fault here? The person stealing, or the person who put their instrument in the unlocked room?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-06-01 15:39
This is where the problem lies. Unsecured instruments might be safer in a locked band room, but the band room will still have to be unlocked at times so that students can take instruments home at the end of the day. Too much security would impede this. There's no substitute for individual responsibility.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dee
Date: 2000-06-01 16:55
Band rooms need to be accessible to the students during the school day so that they can check out of study halls to practice. This is especially true of those who play instruments that cannot be taken home (say tuba and tympani).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: paul
Date: 2000-06-01 17:04
I agree, individual responsibility is key to theft prevention here in the US. However, I still believe that the perpetrator is still the one at fault and should be punished for the crime. With that said, it is now a ticketable offense in my State to have your keys in your unattended car. That's because the vast majority of stolen cars were that easy to drive away. Don't make life that easy for a potential thief with your valuable instrument.
The practical solution is to buy an old beater of a plastic horn that no one wants and use that horn at school. In the four years of my high school, no one cared what I had in my case because it was an old plastic beater, a sorry excuse of a clarinet if there ever was one. But they sure did drool a lot over the first chair's R-13. That expensive horn could have been stolen and fenced for a high enough price to pay a family's rent for a month. It still can today.
Perhaps that's where the Chinese made horns can be of some use for folks. See the previous postings on this particular subject. They're plenty cheap, both in price and in construction, so no one wants them. Ideal cheap plastic beater horns. Great thief fodder that couldn't possibly be illegally sold for enough money for anyone to care.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2000-06-01 17:55
One solution that I have seen is for the school to provide instrument lockers for the individual band/orchestra students. I realize that this requires school boards coughing up the dough, but they should at least be included in new school construction.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Willie
Date: 2000-06-01 18:16
Even OUR school with its low budget and low priorities for music has lockers for the instruments. However hardly any of the kids put locks on them. In fact most kids don't even put thier horns back in the case. They just throw them in the locker on top of of another horn. Then they bring them to me the day before the concert. "It won't play!" Most of the missing instruments were lost by carelessness. One kid was without his (the schools) french horn for a week. When the band director asked where it was, he said he couldn't remmember where he left it. Never has turned up. The other french horn player moved out of state and took the schools horn with him. Several instruments were loaned to a friend and never seen again or came back totaled. I was brought an expensive Gemeinhardt flute last month that had a 10 degree bend in the middle and was obviously whacked against a concrete curb several times. The truth is you don't need just a thief to ruin your day as kids just don't know or care enough to protect and care for what they have.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-06-02 00:50
I make it VERY CLEAR on the first day of school that I, the school, and the school district ARE NOT responsible if an instrument is stolen at school. I pass out forms for insurance (Music Agency) and tell them if they don't insure their instrument through this plan then the parent should insure the instrument through their home owners or renters policy. I carry my on a separate ride through my home owners insurance so that I don't have any deductable.
I DO lock the instrument room and band room when I'm not there but there are always custodial and maintenance staff in the room from time to time. The other day I got to my room and found it unlocked, lights on, etc and found a man pulling T1 line through for DSL internet hookup. No one told me he was going to be there to do that.
I had two piccolos stolen last year from the band room by contractors who were working on the roof to repair a leak in my room. Luckily they were recovered and the two men lost their jobs.
Insure the instrument and hope that you are careful enough to avoid theft.
J. Butler
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Contragirl
Date: 2000-06-02 03:26
Shouldn't some of the fault also be in the school? I mean, they are the one's that aren't helping to prevent this. I know that the Assistant Principals and teachers, along with the principal, know who most of the band members are and can distinguish if a non-band member or suspisious looking person is going into the bandroom. I know one guy stole a cowbell (for their ghetto go-go band), and because of a band student recognizing him after seeing him take it, he was caught and suspended. (we got the bell back. ) Sometimes the school doesn't take enough responsibilty for it's students' actions, and they should. Some school workers could care less about what happens in the arts side of the school, and would not care if a $2000 instrument was damaged or stolen on the part of the school's inadiquite security. Unless the band director stole the instrument himself, or something, it isn't his fault.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-06-02 05:59
NO need to bill the school board. A high school band booster's club can raise the money for lockers, or maybe even build some. I can't think of a more worthy project.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-02 11:49
Contragirl wrote:
-------------------------------
Shouldn't some of the fault also be in the school? I mean, they are the one's that aren't helping to prevent this.
------
I'd rather the teachers teach, not become police or room guards. It's bad enough as it is; the high schools in my area hire guards to roam the parking lots, halls, etc. "just in case" - and that costs a yearly fortune!
You're responsible for your own property, not the school. Do you really want TV cameras pointed everywhere in the schools so we can catch a very few crooks? In a common band room (one where all the instruments are) the school is only required to provide "ordinary care", just like if you lent your instrument to a friend. Would you sue a friend if your instrument got stolen out of their house?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: stephen
Date: 2000-06-02 14:21
One thing that made me so made when my clarinet was stolen, is that after the assistant principal was finished helping me search the whole school, he told the school doesn't cover stuff being stolen! And he would tell me if anything came up. I mean a $1000 clarinet was stolen less than 7 hours ago, and oh there is nothing he could do! The school did N-O-T-H-I-N-G to help get my clarinet back, and if i didn't see it on ebay, I wouldn't have a clarinet, except my cheap plastic one.
Sincerely,
Stephen
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-02 14:51
stephen wrote:
-------------------------------
One thing that made me so made when my clarinet was stolen, is that after the assistant principal was finished helping me search the whole school, he told the school doesn't cover stuff being stolen! [...] The school did N-O-T-H-I-N-G to help get my clarinet back, [...]
------
Wait. The assistant principal helped you search the school. That's something. They need warrants to search lockers. They had no reasonable suspicion of any person at that time. What did you expect them to do???????? Personal belongings are not covered by the school insurance (and I'll bet that's spelled out in the handbook the school sent out at the beginning of the year). Your parents had insurance (a good thing) so it took care of the loss.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Grover
Date: 2000-06-02 18:09
In this, as in all things in life, you'll find that there is nobody who will look after your interests better than yourself. Personally, I hate to leave my fate or possessions in the hands of others. Maybe that's one reason why I don't drink to excess or get high....too vulnerable. Remember, it is only those we trust who steal from us or take advantage from us....nobody else gets a chance!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-06-04 05:48
Well this is directly from the data I analyze, from a CA school district. So in this case the school was held to be responsible and in those below. Right or wrong, individual or not, the schools are held responsible for the actions of their 'inmates.'
THEFT OF GUITAR BELONGING TO SCHOOL EMPLOYEE / ONE GUITAR & CASE They got $110, in 1992.
NO LOCKERS OR PLACE TO STORE BOOKS, ETC. / SORE BACK
got about $1,000.
TEACHING MUSIC / LOSS OF DIAMOND FROM ITS SETTING got about $400.
THEFT OF CAR STEREO PLUS PERSONAL BELONGINGS FROM DAUGHTERS CAR / CAR STEREO, COAT & $48.00 CASH STOLEN they got about $120.
UNKNOWN STOLE PHONE FROM UNLOCKED CAR / STOLEN MOTOROLA CELLULAR PHONE won $120.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-04 18:38
Ginny wrote:
-------------------------------
Well this is directly from the data I analyze, from a CA school district. So in this case the school was held to be responsible and in those below. Right or wrong, individual or not, the schools are held responsible for the actions of their 'inmates.'
-------
Ginny, was the school held to be wrong or did they just settle out of court? There's a big difference; sometimes there's settlement because the cost of settlement is less than the cost of court..
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-06-04 19:42
Actually the vast majority risk managers are wise to not paying claims that have no merit. Its pretty well documented that paying claims out that have no merit ends up having the number of claims and costs rise for 'entity' in the long run. It doesn't mean they fight each in court, but they won't mess around with paying just to avoid court either. They get a reputation as a money machine and the claims flow in. Also, the school's group I pulled claims from is not acceptional in that regard. They are really very well run.
Ginny
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-06-04 19:46
Regarding whether paying a claim means the payer is responsible. Too philosophical for me... but the schools group I pulled from has at least as many claims with no payment, as with payment, perhaps more.
Ginny
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-06-05 16:35
Just last week, the "crimes" section of my local paper reported a clarinet stolen from a local grade school. The clarinet disappeared "from the top of a locker." It seems that someone had left the instrument lying *on* the locker, instead of putting it *in* the locker and locking it up. I don't blame the victim for this crime. I blame the thief. Still, the best security precautions in the world only work if we use them.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
