COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: JROTC/ROTC
Board Has Plan to Oust ROTC from S.F. Schools
Members Want to Cut Program Over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
Heather Knight, San Francisco Chronicle
May 23, 2006
The
San Francisco Board of Education appears poised to kick the military's
Junior ROTC programs out of the city's public schools, saying the
Pentagon's refusal to allow openly gay service members is deplorable
and not in line with the school district's anti-discrimination policy.
School board members are scheduled to introduce a resolution tonight
outlawing the JROTC because of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
rule. The resolution calls that policy an "unjust, indefensible,
unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia."
The resolution, which won't get a final vote until June, would create a
task force to develop a similar program without a tie to the military
and would phase out JROTC by the 2007-08 school year.
JROTC currently has 1,625 students in seven San Francisco public high
schools: Balboa, Burton, Galileo, Lincoln, Lowell, Mission and
Washington. Students enroll on a voluntary basis and earn physical
education credits for participating in the military-sponsored program.
The students engage in physical training such as running, push-ups and
jumping jacks; and discipline training such as marching, drill-practice
and using a mock chain of command. They also study military history and
perform community service.
"They really help you stay focused, stay on track and get your stuff
together," said Timothy Twyman, 16, a sophomore at Mission High and a
member of that school's JROTC program. "It teaches you about how the
world's going to be."
Supporters such as Twyman say the program helps students develop
self-confidence and prepare for the working world, while opponents
counter that it's just an easy way for the military to get a foothold
in public schools and encourage teens to enlist after they graduate.
Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, a Pentagon spokesman, said 402,000 students
are enrolled in 3,361 JROTC units around the country, and another 700
schools are on a waiting list. Carpenter said he wasn't aware of any
school district kicking JROTC off its campuses and didn't want to
comment on San Francisco's vote until it has been taken.
"We don't comment on what ifs," he said. "We don't speculate."
The proposal to eliminate six Army and one Navy JROTC units is just one
in a recent string of battles between San Francisco and the military.
Last year, the city's Board of Supervisors voted against allowing the
World War II battleship Iowa to berth in the city as a tourist
attraction, in part because of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
In February, Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval appeared on Fox's "Hannity and
Colmes" show and said, "The United States should not have a military.
All in all, we would be in much, much, much better shape."
Mark Sanchez, the JROTC resolution's sponsor and the only member of the
school board who is gay, said the nation's gay capital should have
stood up against the military for its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy
long ago.
"If the military said, 'You can't be openly Jewish or you can't be
openly Catholic,' I don't think we would have stood for it this long,"
he said. "It's an ethical issue more than anything, and if we stand by
our policies of nondiscrimination, we should be able to stand by this
policy as well."
Sanchez borrowed the language from a resolution submitted by
Commissioner Dan Kelly to the school board in 1996. That measure failed
4-3. Sanchez said that a decade later it's time to try again.
Board member Kelly has co-signed the current resolution. He served two
years in prison for resisting the draft during the war in Vietnam.
The proposal appears headed for passage this time around. Commissioners
Sarah Lipson, Eric Mar and Norman Yee told The Chronicle they're
inclined to support it as long as a solid replacement program is
developed.
"A discriminatory institution like the U.S. military really should not be running programs in our school district," Mar said.
Commissioners Eddie Chin and Jill Wynns said they are likely to vote
against the resolution, noting that if board members have trouble with
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell," they should be fighting for it to be abolished
at the national level.
"If they're against the current administration and the policy, they
should work at the national level and not take it out on the kids,"
Chin said.
Wynns, the head of the board's budget committee, said it's impractical
to do away with JROTC. The district and the Department of Defense split
the cost of the program's teachers. Without the monetary help, the
district will have to hire a raft of P.E. teachers and pay their entire
salaries itself, Wynns said. She said she didn't know yet how much
money it would cost the district each year.
Yee, the board president, said the resolution will go to a committee
and probably will be voted upon in the board's last meeting of the
school year, in late June.
E-mail Heather Knight at hknight@sfchronicle.com
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