JROTC issue reporting for duty, sir

Last month in Sacramento, Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill that would grant physical-education credit to participants in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and direct San Francisco to allow JROTC programs in city high schools. According to Ma, the bill, AB 223, will be heard in the Assembly Committee on Education this week.

At Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, board members Jill Wynns and Rachel Norton introduced a resolution that would direct school district superintendent Carlos Garcia to continue offering JROTC at city high schools. (Download JROTC Resolution 3-24-09.)

Unlike Ma’s bill, the board resolution will not reinstate the PE credit, but Norton hopes state Superintendent Jack O’Connell will clarify what amount of leeway local school boards have in deciding what is credit-worthy.

Norton pointed out that activities such as marching band, drill team and the program at The City’s School of the Arts — students get PE credit when they bring certification of having completed physical activities such as aerobics class outside of the school — all fail to comply with state guidelines.

What’s with all the sudden military maneuvers? According to Norton, JROTC instructors need to be told now whether they should line up other employment for next year.

The school-board resolution will be heard in three committees in April: the Curriculum Committee, the Budget Committee and the Personnel Committee. It’ll be back before the full board in May.

It’s been almost five months since San Francisco voters passed Proposition V, which asked the school board to reconsider its decision to get rid of JROTC, but the subject still inflames public sentiment as much as ever. At Tuesday’s board meeting, an estimated 200 people (including Fiona Ma) waited until 10 p.m. to speak for a total of five minutes for and against the board resolution.

Expect an army of people to show up for May’s meeting. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

BONUS

JROTC Timeline

2006 - the School Board first banned JROTC in The City’s public high schools.  The program was supposed to end at the conclusion of the 2007-2008 school year. (Download Phase out JROTC 2006.)

2007 - the board elected to extend the program until the end of the 2008-09 school year to give the JROTC Alternative Program Committee more time to create a new leadership program. (Download JROTC Extension 2007.)

2008 - the board voted to remove the P.E. credit from students in the JROTC program because it doesn’t conform to P.E.-granting standards set by the California Department of Education. (Download P.E. Credit 2008.)

Comments

[Another Constant Reader]

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[generic]

culture warz!