Comments on: A Tale of Two Symphony Balls

By: artscience

artscience — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:53:40 +0000

@justanotheteen “The parents chaperoning are giving up their Saturday night to ensure that the kids stay as safe as possible at the dance, they cannot be held responsible for the decisions that kids made before, during, or after the dance.”

websters definition of chaperone:
1
: a person (as a matron) who for propriety accompanies one or more young unmarried women in public or in mixed company
2
: an older person who accompanies young people at a social gathering to ensure proper behavior; broadly : one delegated to ensure proper behavior
3
: any of a class of proteins that facilitate the proper folding of proteins by binding to and stabilizing unfolded or partially folded proteins —called also molecular chaperone

Personally I like #3. We need to bind to and stabilize our unfolded children. Science!

Put it another way: If SMU held a huge party and ignored underage drinking, what would happen? Universities across the country are trying to address this issue and we say
dont “stop a largely well respected, profitable, and most importantly, extremely fun event for the kids because a select few of them drink before the dance?”

I think this issue needs a review and indepth reporting, not a lynch mob blog. It is a serious concern.

By: Duh.

Duh. — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:14 +0000

@ prestonhollowparent- I had the same thought. The children are all admitting to the drinking, without a hint of regret, and the parents/chaps are denying or downplaying it. I googled the girl’s name from a comment above, she was the head of the Pearce drill team, and was killed by her very “adult” 18 YO drunk boyfriend in an accident 18 years ago. As for my daughter, we don’t plan to limit her from going to JSB, but she decided it’s not for her and her friends. They felt responsible for “taking care” of drunken “friends” all night, and for anyone who has been in that situation, it wasn’t fun.(Made for some interesting discussions the Monday after at school, btw.) They were also “grossed out” over “extreme PDA” and kids throwing up in the bathrooms/trashcans/anywhere they had to, from the sound of it. I know there were sober kids at the event, and it shows such a lack of maturity and hubris for the ones that basically have ruined JSB for everyone else. I think the Junior Symphony is a GREAT event, especially for students that don’t have arts/music at school. And, you are so right. It seems like everything has to turn into a tragic/gossip event for there to be change. I also think the attacks on the paper are outrageous. I will continue to read this blog and the paper because of the reporting on community issues, and this should be a concern.

By: Parent

Parent — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:43:15 +0000

@prestonhollowparent

How many people do you know that donate to the Junior Symphony? Look at it from Junior Symphony’s point of view. A time-honored tradition that has been going on since 1954, and raises upwards of $100,000 each year. Should it be the their responsibility to stop a largely well respected, profitable, and most importantly, extremely fun event for the kids because a select few of them drink before the dance?

By: get real

get real — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:02:03 +0000

Good Lord! I haven’t seen such inflammatory comments since the ESD trial.

Parents and teens, let’s be honest: JSB is chock-full of debauchery. It’s not everyone, and with the around 200 chaperons present, it’s completely safe for attendees. But still, Michelle Duncan and others gloss over the fact that things are actually fairly wild.

But here’s the bigger deal — why are you singling out JSB, Claire? Plenty of drinking, etc. goes on everywhere–at the high school dances, parties in the community, and in private homes. If you want to discuss teen drinking in PH, go ahead, Claire. But don’t single out JSB–it’s a worthy cause for a worthy organization.

Go to JSB, people! Have a great time and don’t worry–you’re safe! PH does need to get real about what’s going on, but justanotherteen is right: Don’t ruin a good thing for everyone.

By: prestonhollowparent

prestonhollowparent — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:27:43 +0000

the CHILDREN commenting here all acknowledge under-age drinking, the ADULT chaperon commenting called it “out of control kids” did they report that? call parents? or was it ‘the kids will be kids’ moral relativism? How does this elevate the Junior Symphony? I wonder how long it will take for the Dallas Symphony to disassociate itself with the event – or does there have to be a tragic/high profile gossip event? what a waste of time, energy and effort for little financial reward. Just donate to the Junior Symphony and leave the debauchery to the ‘cool parent homes’. They might have enough insurance not to endanger a good program.

By: WOW

WOW — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:54:09 +0000

@ Matthew- You do realize you are on Preston Hollow People, right? And, Oak Cliff People has a blog where you can hurl insults at the publication?

By: WOW

WOW — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:14:53 +0000

If we could prevent just one Laura Welborne in this generation, I’m willing to bet the community can get over the emotions of Claire’s post.

By: Matthew Barnebey

Matthew Barnebey — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:13:23 +0000

I meant that response about having a real job for Claire herself. The world- even in education- does not solely revolve around the private school community or handful of DISD schools in North Dallas. I’ve got the number for Demarcus Offord, a recent Lincoln High graduate, running against the incumbant in DISD’s District 9. Come on, Claire if you’re interested in talking to this young man taking a shot at being a messiah in the DISD Board you can e-mail me.

By: justanotherteen

justanotherteen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:12:07 +0000

You are totally right here Claire. Let’s raise awareness of how a small percentage of the kids who went to a large dance whose entire purpose is to raise money for a disabled symphony got really trashed and just wrecked the place. In all honesty, the kids who did come intoxicated would have just been intoxicated somewhere else that night if JSB didn’t exist. the only difference is that this way they were also spending $60 to help out the charity that the whole ball is designed to help out. I appreciate honesty journalism but you really need to dig up your own dirt on more perspectives than just one before you decide to post a gossip article that will simply inflame a bunch of people with very biased, unstable evidence. All these parents who tell you that the caller got it right, they probably heard this from their kid or another parent who heard it from their kid and most kids don’t come home and tell their parents exactly what happened that night or who did what. This may come across a little harsh but parents out there, your little angel may have lied to you. The parents chaperoning are giving up their Saturday night to ensure that the kids stay as safe as possible at the dance, they cannot be held responsible for the decisions that kids made before, during, or after the dance. They are there to keep the kids as safe as possible and from my point of view they are doing a very good job. I’m glad that you write for the paper and keep all us citizens up to date on the happenings in our community, but please stop treating your job like it is the newest, biggest celebrity gossip of the decade. Don’t bring unwanted and undeserved negative attention to good things like JSB. Are you happy with yourself, just trying to get peoples emotions and more pointedly their anger flying, dividing the community over issues so small and insubstantial that, my god, they really shouldn’t be written about. If these callers think that JSB is such a terrible thing, then by all means don’t buy your child a ticket next year. Don’t ruin a good thing for everyone.

By: JSBKid

JSBKid — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:44:56 +0000

Going into the dance for the first time, I was 100% convinced that it was going to be a drunk fest, but to my surprise I went and I can say it was not a total drunk fest. Granted, I did play poker a majority of the time and didn’t spend much time on the dance floor, but to say that it was a total drunk fest is a bit of stretch. I’m a High School Junior, and not very many people I knew rather well were drunk. I can say I saw 200 people I know by name who were certainly not drunk, and twice that whose names I didn’t know and weren’t drunk. Maybe that’s just the people I associate with, but there’s probably a hidden majority of students out there who make the right decision, it’s just overshadowed by the people puking in trash cans and making out on the dance floor. Honestly, it’s not like the student who complained hadn’t overheard anything about drinking during JSB before going into it. If it’s truly an issue, they don’t have to go to the dance and they can throw a party of their own with their 100% responsible, non-drinking friends.