Florida Federation of Judges Association (FFJA)
Chief Judge Bio
Tom Slaughter is currently Chief Judge in the Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit and President of the Florida Federation of Judges Association (FFJA). The FFJA has a membership of over 40 winter guard, winter percussion and winds judges based throughout the United States. The association provides judges for all FFCC Color Guard, Percussion, and Winds events, and also works to support the pageantry activity through various educational and adjudication symposiums. Mr. Slaughter is also an active judge for Winter Guard International and has been a nationally recognized visual adjudicator since 1994. He has also presented seminars and clinics as part of the multiple judging symposiums nationwide.
Mr. Slaughter is an active visual designer and instructor for numerous marching band and winter guard programs in West Central Florida. Currently, he is a Math Teacher at Wilson Middle School in Tampa, Florida, teaching Algebra 1 Honors and Geometry 1 Honors to accelerated 8th grade students. He resides in New Port Richey, Florida and has been married to his wife Rene for 27 years. They have two grown children.
The Florida Federation of Judges Association has a reputation as a leader in the management, training, and recruiting of judges in the winter pageantry activities. The FFJA has entered into multiple talent-sharing arrangements with other circuits throughout the country in an effort to provide diverse and critical feedback to the ensembles in the FFCC, while also creating additional opportunities to fill assignments for our judging membership.
Judges who wish to judge in the FFJA undergo a rigorous training and professional development program to assure that their commentary, rankings, and ratings of the units they judge are in compliance with a consistent judging philosophy. Training to be a judge can take from 1-3 seasons and involves academic and practical judge training in a curriculum developed by our Education Director, Christine Clayton. The curriculum relies heavily on completion of online coursework developed by E-Adjudicate.
Judges continue their certification and remain eligible for assignments by also working with our Education Director on programs and activities that stimulates their evolution as a judge, and also allows them to accurately adjudicate participants in the ever evolving winter guard and winter percussion activities.
Individuals with significant design, instruction, or performance experience in the pageantry arts are eligible to enroll in our training program and work towards their judging certification. To do so, email the Chief Judge, Tom Slaughter at tom@ffcc.org.
