School & Teen Events Complaint letter to School

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
G

Guest

Guest
My son went to the Middle school dance on Friday and I have provided the music for a few of them the past few years. I wasn't too disappointed that I didn't get a call for it because they are not my favorite things to do. I will do it if asked but do not go and ask for the business. Last year they had a semi formal and some teachers did the music.

Well, I talked to my son Saturday morning and he said that some High School students did the music from their Ipods. He said that they had way cooler lights that I do (lights are not my thing) but my music is better and I do a better job. I asked him what he meant. He said they had pauses in between songs, some songs just quit or started in the wrong places and they didn't have as much music as I did.

I asked him about the music and he said they didn't have any radio edits or censored music. This kind of got to me. I am not a prude but they should not be playing the unedited versions of songs for Middle school dances.

I sent an email to the Principal and tried to sound more like a concerned parent (which I was in this case) than a DJ who was trying to get the next dance. It could have been taken either way but I felt I needed to say something. I will post my letter and the reply from the Principal.

Not really looking for any "should have done this" kind of thing, just wanted to put this out there.

My letter:

Hello Mr. Lingen,

My name is Karl Langford, I met you at school during the student of the month programs. My wife works at the High School and I am also on the sub list for paras.

I have a concern about the middle school dance. I have DJ'd for the dances in the past and I am a mobile Disc Jockey business owner.

Last nights dance was DJ'd by some High School students. I applaud the school for allowing them to do this and it does save money for the school by having them do this. But my complaint is with the music that was played. My son told me that they did not play any radio edits or censored songs. The unedited versions of songs are not appropriate and should not be played at a High School dance let alone a Middle school dance. The vulgarity of some of these songs I am not comfortable listening to even though it is part of my business to play these. That is why I belong to subscription services that provide clean edits to radio stations and DJs across the country.

I feel even though the school saves money by allowing the High School students to DJ the dances, I do not believe it is proper to allow uncensored music to be played.

I know this may just seem like a way for me to get business by pushing the issue of clean music, but I also do not want my children around that music. We all know we cannot protect them from everything, but this is something that should be easily taken care of by hiring professional Disc Jockeys, even if it isn't my company, to provide the proper edited music for the dances.

I would be happy to talk to you or any of the dance advisors about what to look for when hiring professional services for the dances. Everything from using written contracts to making sure the companies carry liability insurance to cover any unforeseen things that might happen at the dances.

Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you on this matter.

Sincerely,

Karl Langford
Click to expand...

His reply:
That was not run by my office. It was lined up by Mrs. Schmidt, the Student Council, representative. I agree, the music could have been better which led to some inappropriate dances as well. I had no idea who the DJ was or anything like that. I will forward your letter to Mrs. Schmidt. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Now it could go either way. They could just think I was PO'd at not getting the job or that I am a concerned parent. Which I am more of a concerned parent than the other. They do not like to pay much and I really am not big on these dances.

Anyway, I am hoping they at least try to do things a bit differently.

Thanks for listening.
 
Karl,

Nice job on a well crafted letter!

The response, if verbatim, however, sounds like a pitiful "I didn't do it" and is, at best, a weak reply to a parent's legit concerns. You now have a new reason to be concerned, that being, the Principal of your child's school is a buck passer and writes like a juvenile.
 
Thanks guys.

I do a lot with the school here. Today I am volunteering at my 3rd grade Son's class. They have collected money and are going to the store to buy food for the food shelf.

I just hope they take this serious and that saving a few dollars on these dances (which the kids love) isn't worth it sometimes.
 
Karl,

When cheap, selfish, and careless are the guiding forces, the potential also exists that the dances will be discontinued. When the admin mishandles or lazily cares not at all, the circumstances can be detrimental.

Short sighted behavior leads to short runs.

I have personally been involved in such a scenario and the school now struggles to get any worthwhile participation at their dances.

Good Luck.
 
We must own the same shoes..........I DJed several dances at my wife's (and kids') school where she's the music teacher. The counselor was the sponsor and she kept trying to get me to give her a weekend night. Last year, she called the music teacher from the middle school, as he would do what she wanted (a weekend night)........all for free. Honestly, it kind of hurt my widdle feewings, given I'd donated so much time & energy to the school. By the way, I never took any money but did stipulate they give at least half the money to my wife's program.

Anyway, this year there's a new counselor and she's sent word thru wife to ask if I'd do the dance this year. Said they got complaints of "inappropriate material" being played by the middle school music teacher. Yea, I'm gonna do it and yea, I won't charge, but it's on the Tuesday evening, the week before Christmas.
 
rickryan.com said:
We must own the same shoes..........I DJed several dances at my wife's (and kids') school where she's the music teacher. The counselor was the sponsor and she kept trying to get me to give her a weekend night. Last year, she called the music teacher from the middle school, as he would do what she wanted (a weekend night)........all for free. Honestly, it kind of hurt my widdle feewings, given I'd donated so much time & energy to the school. By the way, I never took any money but did stipulate they give at least half the money to my wife's program.

Anyway, this year there's a new counselor and she's sent word thru wife to ask if I'd do the dance this year. Said they got complaints of "inappropriate material" being played by the middle school music teacher. Yea, I'm gonna do it and yea, I won't charge, but it's on the Tuesday evening, the week before Christmas.
Click to expand...
Wow! :triconfused:

You are nothing if not resilient.
 
Karl - My son (13 at the time) started Grade 8 8 at a local middle school. I volunteered to chaperone the first dance....I was shocked. the dj was the head of the pta; had crappy gear; one light (EFX 600). He had some of the school kids helping. Don't know where he got the music; but I heard way too much urban. We were told that grinding was a long term problem; I understood why. Uncensored music as well.

i spoke to the teacher in charge; explained my concerns as a parent first; dj second. I offered to assist in working with the dj regarding music and the issue of the grinding and how to avoid that.

Lo and behold they asked me to do the second dance that year; I ended doing them for 2 years...until last June. I heard rumblings that the pta head wanted to do the dances again, but that my contact at the school insisted that I continue doing them.

Well come June; dances are now in the hands of the pta committee; Haven't heard from the school since.....
 
I was hoping to hear back from the student council adviser but nothing yet.

Thanks for all the replies.
 
Karl Langford said:
I was hoping to hear back from the student council adviser but nothing yet.

Thanks for all the replies.
Click to expand...
If after one week you have not received a response again ask, politely again, for attention and response to your concerns, include copies of the prior communications, and this time cc the adviser and the appropriate governing school board peeps.

I bet you get a better response.

You do not have to accept the bad behavior of others. To do so in this case would be to the detriment of you child.

Good Luck.
 
djrox said:
You do not have to accept the bad behavior of others. To do so in this case would be to the detriment of you child.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. And for your one letter of concern, there were probably a dozen or so that simply didn't bother to reply or voice their concerns.

Frankly I'm surprised that squeaked by during the event. All the middle school dances I do have both teacher and parent chaperons present... if theirs did as well, you'd think any questionable material would be called out pretty much immediately. This definitely speaks of a failure at multiple levels on behalf of the faculty, and the parent volunteers involved.
 
Karl Langford said:
I was hoping to hear back from the student council adviser but nothing yet.

Thanks for all the replies.
Click to expand...

Karl, in the interest of being transparent (but not wishing to offend) I think your message would probably be received as heavily tainted with the "sore DJ that didn't get the job" aspect so they probably wrote it off. Honestly, at this point I don't think your concerns are going to carry any weight with them.

I do think you were right to voice the complaint but personally I would've left out the "I'm a DJ" tag completely. It silenced your voice. Good on ya for trying though.
 
rickryan.com said:
Karl, in the interest of being transparent (but not wishing to offend) I think your message would probably be received as heavily tainted with the "sore DJ that didn't get the job" aspect so they probably wrote it off. Honestly, at this point I don't think your concerns are going to carry any weight with them.

I do think you were right to voice the complaint but personally I would've left out the "I'm a DJ" tag completely. It silenced your voice. Good on ya for trying though.
Click to expand...

I only put the "I'm a DJ" in for the principal's benefit. He is new this year. Everyone at the school knows I am a DJ. We live in a very small town and I have worked at the school in the past and my wife still does. And I sub there. So it is no secret I am a DJ here in town.

No offense taken but I wasn't doing this as the sore DJ.
 
"She told me to cum, but I was already there."
Innapropriate music has been around for a long time, though the language I agree should be edited when it involves too many 4 letter words. The kids just yell out the words anyway despite the edits or not.

That being said, I often don't play a lot of newer music. I try to play fun dances, jives and the like. The "urban" stuff kids don't really cance too, they stand in one spot and shuffle.

More and more schools are going in house, why I don't know. If you have a good DJ who can bring in 200+ kids at $10 a pop, I don't get how they can't afford a $1000 show.

Good letter though, you were probably the only one they got, so it was filed under junk. I second the idea of send a new one, CC it to the school board and other officials and see if you can't light a fire up under someones ass to send you a reply with a commitment to not let it happen again.

I am sure you can sue someone if you wanted, the principal is the care taker of the school, it's his job to set the example and standards so really he is responsible for every curse word that the FCC fined Howard Stern for when he was on Radio.

If you can't cuss on the radio, why can you cuss to a room full of 13 yr olds?
 
to me the response from the principal sounds like BS, this guy sounds like he's running for office , typical pass the buck, how did he know about the inappropriate dancing, It would of been better of him to say let me look into this matter and i will get back to you
 
Back in college I got done with a gig and went to a friends house to hang out before I headed home. They had music going and beer flowing and people were dancing. I just sat and listened and each new song people would go nuts and sing along or dance to whatever someone had just dialed up on the laptop sitting on the kitchen counter. 29/30 people thought it was great, but the one person who didn't would change the song. It was drunken bedlam with songs being flipped every 30 seconds.

The point is that it only takes one person trying to take over or save a few bucks to make a mess of a situation.

Story 2 being how frustrating it is that we lose jobs to high school kids who are lucky enough to have a gorgeous setup and some spiffy lights bought for them by their parents, then busting out their locker room playlist for a dance
 
djautomatic said:
how frustrating it is that we lose jobs to high school kids who are lucky enough to have a gorgeous setup and some spiffy lights bought for them by their parents, then busting out their locker room playlist for a dance
Click to expand...
Excuse me, i take offence to that. I started when i was still in high school. and my parents didnt buy one piece of my equipment, and not once did i bust out a 'locker room playlist'. every gig was carefully scripted as far as the music goes and i worked my a** of to be able to buy all of my equipment and software ON MY OWN without anyone's financial help.

Please dont judge people based on one bad person! you said yourself, that 1 person at that party made a mess of things, but the other 29 people were just fine. I dont appreciate when people make stereotypical comments like that!
 
Griffin - I think the keywords were 'high school kids' and 'bought for them by their parents'. He mentioned nothing about those that bought their own equipment or worked for what they have. I too, as well as others here, began when we were in middle school / high school.

You really shouldn't have been offended by it if the shoe doesn't fit.
 
ittigger said:
You really shouldn't have been offended by it if the shoe doesn't fit.
Click to expand...
I apologize, i just get very irritated when people judge djs because they are high schoolers. I had many people make comments like that about me when i was in high school djing parties and dances for organizations at my school. I meant no offence or confrontation, it is just a sensitive area for me as i am still young and people still make judgements like that because of it.

-JL Griffin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back