Chicago area HS play cancelled

[derekleffew]

Full story at Daily Herald | Plug pulled on school play; parents, students protest

But Superintendent Ed Leman said the decision was strictly a safety concern. Someone involved with the play had unauthorized access to an electrical closet and overloaded outlets, changed fuses, creating a potential fire hazard.
"The people that were setting up violated school fire codes and school district procedures," Leman said. "There was a serious compromise in safety."
... But organizers say they had nothing to do with the electrical box and feel the district should have at least warned them of the inspection.

Warned them of the inspection? If they had nothing to do with the electrical, how would warning of an impending inspection make the outcome any different?

EDIT: Be sure to read the readers' comments to the article. Sounds like there is more drama there than in the play itself.

 

[ruinexplorer]

Sad that people were tampering with things that they shouldn't have. I think it was not handled well, but at least we aren't reading an article about how some people died because the show wasn't shut down. Here's to hoping things get done right.

 

[Anvilx]

Their is definitely a big question mark when the problem itself is never specified.

 

[cdub260]

I suspect that the electrical issue here was that someone tied a dimmer rack into a breaker panel. As we all should know, when done properly by a qualified electrician, this is an accepted and safe practice. Now to the layman looking at this setup, a dimmer rack labelled as having a 200 amp capacity being fed by a 100 amp power feed would on its face appear to be unsafe. What the layman doesn't understand is that under normal show conditions, the actual power usage likely won't even approach the amps of the power supply. When setup and used properly, this type of setup is perfectly safe. The district inspectors, presumably, non-theatre professionals would not know this.

Whether this is actually the case in this instance is impossible to determine from this article. There just isn't enough information to reach a proper conclusion as to what the setup actually was. Now if emergency exits were blocked, this is a legitimate safety concern, but one which should be relatively easy to address.

I find it likely that there is more going on here than just what's been presented in the article. I have a feeling that this situation is more the result of failure to follow district procedure than anything else. When I worked for the theatre department at Santa Ana College, if a receptacle in the wall needed replacing, I was not allowed to touch despite my being qualified to diagnose and fix the problem. Because I did not work for district maintenance, I was not authorized to do so. It's possible that this teacher has a history of ignoring procedure and this is the district's method of reigning him in. Or it could be exactly as the article presents and the district's inspection uncovered legitimate problems, or issues they perceived to be problems. Unfortunately, with the limited information available in this article, the best we can do is speculate.

It does, however, regardless who's in the right and who's in the wrong, underscore the importance of communication and following the rules and procedures of a given venue. If the district had been informed of and approved the setup in this classroom, there should have been no problem. If the teacher did try to sneak it in unnoticed, then the responsibility for the show getting shut down is entirely on his shoulders for failing follow procedure and get permission from the venue, in this case the school district. If the teacher failed to get the proper approvals, whether the setup is safe or not is irrelevant. If the setup was not approved by the school district, then they were well within their rights to shut the show down.

 

[len]

Did anyone get the sense that this was being staged in a regular classroom and not in a space designed for performance? Given it's a middle school (typically 6 - 8 grade here in Illinois) I doubt they have a black box, and their main (probably only) performing space is likely either the cafeteria or the gym with stage. But I guess the main stage didn't fit the rehearsal schedule. Who knows? As has been said, not a lot of detail.

 

[ruinexplorer]

It's tough to say these days. In Lighting and Sound America a couple months ago, they had an article about a middle school's performance space that was more technical than the college that I attended. I agree that most of them are cafetoriums.

 

[Footer]

Did anyone get the sense that this was being staged in a regular classroom and not in a space designed for performance? Given it's a middle school (typically 6 - 8 grade here in Illinois) I doubt they have a black box, and their main (probably only) performing space is likely either the cafeteria or the gym with stage. But I guess the main stage didn't fit the rehearsal schedule. Who knows? As has been said, not a lot of detail.

It looked to me that this was taking place in the drama classroom or another classroom of some sort.

The district that this school is in is very small. Its an elementary district so the Middle school is the highest that the administration has to deal with. Therefore, they don't really have/get to deal with larger productions put on by many high schools.

I am going to assume if someone came in and opened up a panel to install a dimmer they did it correctly. The school is only a few miles from Naperville. Naperville high schools have the reputation of being pretty big lighting high schools. They owner of ILC is from a Naperville high school. It would not suprise me if their lighting gear is either from ILC or one of the Naperville high schools.

 

[len]

Maybe the are connected. Although West Chicago is really closer to Wheaton and Aurora schools than to Naperville schools, road wise. But it's all speculation. Who knows what they allegedly did.

 

[Eboy87]

EDIT: Be sure to read the readers' comments to the article. Sounds like there is more drama there than in the play itself.

Those were downright tame compared to the comments on the Post Dispatch's website.

I'd also be interesting in seeing the problem presented without bias in either direction, and drawing our own conclusions about it. It seems like it's been blown out of proportion into a huge conspiracy theory. If what was done was unsafe, then there's no room for bruised egos.

 

[banjokeith]

I agree totally with the school's decision to stop the show, but I think that the parents' comment that they should have been notified of the inspection is not necessarily an admission that they had anything to do with the electrical issues. It's possible that they might have meant they would have cleaned the space up and not had the issue of props blocking exits, which isn't all that good an issue either, but a much more honest mistake for a school production running out of a classroom.

 

[shiben]

I agree totally with the school's decision to stop the show, but I think that the parents' comment that they should have been notified of the inspection is not necessarily an admission that they had anything to do with the electrical issues. It's possible that they might have meant they would have cleaned the space up and not had the issue of props blocking exits, which isn't all that good an issue either, but a much more honest mistake for a school production running out of a classroom.

It sounds like this is the case in that regard.

 

[littleowl]

I just finished working with a high school and there was so much drama there with faculty, the administration and weird power trips with others using the auditorium space, people bothered by a new director coming in to do a musical, and a really rude maintenance department that I'm wondering how much of these things is common with school environments.

 

[banjokeith]

I just finished working with a high school and there was so much drama there with faculty, the administration and weird power trips with others using the auditorium space, people bothered by a new director coming in to do a musical, and a really rude maintenance department that I'm wondering how much of these things is common with school environments.

It's not just school - I have run into mane of the same issues at every level I've worked at so far

 

[Dover]

I disagree with the conclusion that canceling the show was the best solution in this case. In my opinion the district’s response to this situation was at best mishandled and at worst a cover for negligence.

I find it hard to believe that something could be done to the electrical system over the weekend (as the district claims) that could not be rendered safe in the two days before opening night. Most electrical safety problems can be solved by disconnecting or removing the offending equipment.

And as for the props blocking the doorways, that is a fairly minor issue easily fixed by moving them to a new location.

If a teacher chronically not following the rules was the root of this problem, this should have been taken care of long ago in a far more private forum. Allowing the problem to escalate to this level is a failure of management.

In conclusion, I cannot find a compelling reason, given the information provided, why the safety problems could not have been fixed and the show gone on as planned. Safety issues are one thing; destroying three months of student work to make a point is another. If that is the case then the parents and students have valid right to be upset.


Dover