OPINION In November 2006, San Francisco made history when the school board made this the first big city in the nation to ban JROTC [Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps]. The board's resolution, which called for phasing out JROTC from high schools this June, stated that "JROTC is a program wholly created and administrated by the United States Department of Defense, whose documents and memoranda clearly identify JROTC as an important recruiting arm."
A poison pill was added to the resolution at the last minute: it called for a task force to be set up to find an "alternative" program to JROTC. The school district administration, in a particularly despicable move, set up the task force with more than 10 members supporting JROTC, and only one member opposed.
Surprise! After sitting for almost a year, the task force failed to come up with an alternative, so the school board rolled over and, except for two courageous members — Mark Sanchez and Eric Mar — voted last December to extend JROTC for another year.
In 2005, San Franciscans passed Proposition I by almost 60 percent, declaring it "city policy to oppose military recruiting in public schools.
" That same year, by the Army's own report, 42 percent of JROTC graduates across the nation signed up for the military. As this country enters its sixth year of the illegal occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, it's time for the school board to go back to its original decision to kick the military out of our schools.
The school board must end JROTC — now. JROTC is currently scheduled to be "phased out," but not until June 2009. By then both Sanchez and Mar will be off the school board, and there will be little to prevent the military from orchestrating a vote to extend JROTC indefinitely. If, on the other hand, the school board votes to end JROTC this June as their original resolution required, JROTC would be gone.
Two progressives on the board must be convinced to send the military packing: Kim-Shree Maufas and Green Party member Jane Kim.
Both received endorsements from progressives. To convince them that they risk such endorsements in the future, the JROTC Must Go! Coalition is circulating the following statement: "We will look very closely at the next school board vote on JROTC and will consider the votes carefully when making any endorsements for future candidates."
Within a week, the Tenants Union, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, and the San Francisco Bay View newspaper signed the statement. If Maufas and Kim join Sanchez and Mar, we'll make history again.
Riva Enteen is the former program director for the National Lawyers Guild and the mother of two San Francisco school district graduates. Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a southern Italian queer atheist writer and activist. For more information contact the JROTC Must Go! Coalition: (415) 575-5543 or JROTCmustgo@gmail.com.
If you have ever been to a task force meeting, you would realize that they ARE trying to find an alternative. They have people presenting to them programs. But when even educators who are AGAINST JROTC don't recommend the program, all anyone can do is continue to look for other alternatives.
In addition,
"That same year, by the Army's own report, 42 percent of JROTC graduates across the nation signed up for the military."
Next time, find a statistic that is representative of San Francisco. It is insulting that San Franciscan students are being grouped with students around the country who are pro-Bush, pro-war, and in Red States. I can assure, hell, I can promise you that that statistic is dead wrong, and not even close in San Francisco.
But as we all know, the mob of intolerant JROTC-bashers never had the interests of our students at heart. Your article boils down to a xenephobic Demosthenian witch-cry to eliminate the only large-scale student leadership program in the city, and leave our children out in the cold. The whole point of the Task Force and the resolution was to guarantee students the same degree of leadership experience that JROTC currently provides for them.
Of course, if Enteen and Mecca had done any research at all, they would know that the Task Force has not been "sitting for almost a year" but has in fact brought up and evaluated over ten different leadership programs as alternatives to JROTC. Four of these programs were recommended by Commissioner Sanchez himself, and one of them was created by the Teach Peace organization with the express purpose of replacing JROTC.
The conclusion, which was shared by curriculum experts and educatiors at the Central District level, as well as a special committee set up by the Teaching and Learning department of the district, was that none of these programs could even begin to match the depth and comprehension of leadership education that JROTC has develiped and refined over the last 96 years.
But of course, the School Board's job isn't to ensure the best education of its students, it's to push their own agenda. Note that of the organizations that signed the JROTCMustGo petition, none of them have any role in education. Of organizations that actually deal with educational issues on a regular basis, the School Administrators' Union (UASF), the PTSAs, alumni associataions, the School Site Councils at all JROTC schools, as well as the Student Advisory Council all support keep JROTC in the schools.
Notice also that Enteen and Mecca never once mentioned STUDENTS in their opinion? (Do a browser search and see for yourself)
Should we allow groups that have no experience or business in our schools to cheat over 1600 JROTC students out of a valuable leadership experience? Or should we refer to the opinions of parents, teachers, students and educators who overwhelmingly support JROTC as a leadership option for students who want it?
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