It's come to my attention that someone thinks I was hypocritical for not letting one candidate's sister help judge but allowing another's cousin to judge. First of all both of these candidates made it back onto squad so it should be a moot point.
Secondly, I was unaware that they had any relationship until the day of tryouts.
Third a sister is a whole lot closer than a cousins. What's more, I don't believe they're even first cousins, I think they'd second cousins or furhter (although I'll admit that I'm not sure).
It's pretty hard not to be related in small towns like this. We had another candidate who has a sister who's a former cheerleader whom I didn't have judge and another potential candidate (didn't end up trying out) who's first-cousin recused themselves of judging earlier.
Besides, this one "cousin" judge we did have has lived away from Dunlap for more than 10 years and didn't know any of the other candidates and I trust them to be impartial. Besides, having 4 other judges, another one of of whom was totally unfamiliar with all of the candidates more than balanced out any potential partiality.
I apologize to anyone who perceived any hypocrisy or unfairness in the process. Please also remember that in addition to an average of the judges' scores from yesterday, candidates also have academic score and teacher-evaluation scores aggregated in so that the whole thing is as objective as we could design it. Life isn't always fair, but I've worked hard to make this a process that is both as rigorous and as objective as possible.
As usual- please try your best to stay positive, especially about your new squadmates, so that we can build our program and as a result contribute to a positive, inclusive, and encouraging community at our school. Please know that that's my goal and that I have your best interests at heart, as well as that of our squad's, and ultimately our school's best interests as well. Thanks.
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