COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: JROTC/ROTC
JROTC Struggle in Pennsylvania
JOHN ANASTASI, The Intelligencer
November 30, 2005
The
North Penn School Board is expected to vote Dec. 15 on whether to offer
high school students an Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training
Corps program starting next year.
High school principal Burt Hynes briefed members of the district's
education/community/policy committee Tuesday night. Despite being split
on the proposal, committee members Don Hill and Rick Miniscalco agreed
to forward it to the full school board.
"My personal opinion is that I'm not in favor of it," said Hill. "It's
the military, and I do not believe it should be in the high school. I'm
sure there are some positive things about it, but I just can't get
attached to it."
Miniscalco said that if enough students want the program - the military
would require a minimum of 100 by the end of the third year - perhaps
the district should offered it.
"I don't take this issue lightly," he said. "If we have people who want it, maybe we should try to serve those students."
In 2004, the district decided to apply to military branches for JROTC,
despite protest from some parents who did not feel a military presence
in the high school was appropriate and feared it would be a recruiting
tool for the armed services.
Officials with JROTC groups have stressed that the program is
educational. The Air Force component covers courses in aerospace
science, the history of flight and the exploration of space. But it
also includes life skills, leadership, community service and
team-building activities. Students would drill once per week and wear
uniforms provided by the military on those days.
During the briefing, Hynes and Assistant Superintendent Don Venema
explained that the district would cover a portion of two instructors'
salaries and benefits. The district would interview and hire the two
instructors from a list the military would provide.
Venema could not say how much North Penn's contribution to the salaries
would be because he was not sure where the instructors would fall on
the district's salary scale. But he estimated the district could spend
about $50,000 total on the instructors per year, plus another $10,000
on other expenditures related to the program.
Hill asked the staff to put together a fact sheet about the program for
the school board and have the district's solicitor review a contract
the Air Force would supply related to the program between now and Dec.
15.
Montgomery Township resident Peter Schiano, who has a son in the high school, said he had some concerns about the program.
"Call it what you want, but this is a recruiting tool," he said. "The
lifeblood of the military is its connection to the high schools. ...
The district is trying to teach nonviolent conflict resolution, but
it's paying to bring in the military, which projects force to resolve
problems."
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