An Apparent Victory for Militarism in San Diego City Schools

 
On July 23, the San Diego City Schools Board of Education heard testimony on the plan to introduce Marine Corps Jr. ROTC at Mission Bay High School. The issue was not listed as a separate agenda item and had to be lifted out of the general 2007-2008 budget discussion.
 
Nine people spoke for three minutes each against MCJROTC, including a current MBHS student and a 2006 graduate. One parent, after her testimony, handed each board member copies of 15 opposition letters--from parents, students, teachers and military veterans--to remind them that they had received these over the previous week. Some of the speakers and letters pointed out that 75% of the students at MBHS were youth of color, and JROTC was going to track them into the military instead of higher education.
 
When one of the anti-JROTC speakers pointed out that JROTC teachers were not required to have a college degree or pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST) like other teachers, two board members rudely interrupted him and claimed he was wrong. When my turn came, I spoke first about the financial cost of JROTC, which drains hundreds of thousands of dollars from the district that could be used to meet other student needs. Then I stated that I had a copy of the teaching credential requirements for JROTC in California, and there truly is no college degree or CBEST requirement (see: http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl699.html). The retired commissioned officers who teach in the program may have college degrees, I noted, but that isn't necessarily true of their partners in the classroom.
 
Speaking in favor of MCJROTC were eight people, including the PTO president, a few other community individuals, the principal, an area superintendent, the district's chief administrative officer and the head counselor at MBHS. The head counselor made it seem as though allocating money for MCJROTC would have no effect on other programs or classes at the school, even though it had been pointed out earlier that JROTC in general was siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars in the district. She claimed that 95 students had expressed support for having MCJROTC at the school, but in fact those were students who had merely checked the box to register for the class when it was listed in the fall '07 class list. Students were never really polled to see if they wanted the program before the principal decided to impose it on the school. Not even the school board had been consulted.
 
The school district's chief administrative officer, retired Rear Admiral Jose L. Betancourt, also interjected his comments in favor of MCJROTC. Betancourt, it is worth noting, was recently sentence to a fine and probation for joining a private company soon after his Navy retirement and trying to influence the awarding of a military contract http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070712-9999-1m12admiral.html .
 
After everyone else had spoken and most people had left the board meeting, the area superintendent and MBHS principal, Cheryl Seelos, were given approximately 10 minutes to further sell the school board on MCJROTC (see http://www.sandi.net/board/reports/2007/0724/4a_3.pdf). Principal Seelos revealed that she had actively lobbied the Marine Corps and, as a result, her school was moved to the top of the waiting list for a new MCJROTC. In explaining why she felt it would be good for the school, the principal noted that 40 busloads of students, many of whom are considered "at risk," are transported to the school for its magnet program. Seelos claimed that with the close proximity to local Marine Corps bases, MCJROTC would bring more adult mentors to the school. She argued that MCJROTC would motivate more students from outside the immediate area to want to attend her school. Later, Seelos backed away from this point when board member John de Beck pointed out that she already was getting 40 busloads of kids because MBHS is a magnet school, and many of those students were traveling from areas with schools that already had JROTC. It therefore didn't seem to be a factor in their decision to attend MBHS.
 
Arguing that JROTC is not a recruiting program, Seelos misrepresented a 1999 study done by the pro-JROTC Center for Strategic and International Studies. She noted that 69% of the cadets surveyed for the study had indicated that their "goal" after graduation was college, but she failed to mention that in the same survey, 44% also had said they "planned" to join the military after high school. The study did not track students after graduation, so it failed to confirm where they eventually went.
 
At one point in the meeting, the board's legal counsel stated the board would have to give advance notice before it could schedule a vote on this issue. Nevertheless, Seelos hinted that two individuals had already been promised the JROTC teaching positions at her school, and it was stated that students were already being enrolled in it for the fall.
 
When Seelos finished her presentation, four of the five board members (Acle, Lee, Nakamura and Jackson) stated their intention to support MCJROTC at MBHS. They all said it was because they felt having it as another choice was good for students, and Lee claimed the community wanted such choices. Board member John de Beck said he would vote against it on principle, because a controversial proposal like this should have been presented to the community with adequate notice for feedback. He declined to comment on the merits of JROTC, but he was against the process used to slip it into MBHS.
 
The vote will likely occur at the board meeting on Aug. 7th. (For meeting confirmation and agendas: http://www.sandi.net/indices/board.htm).
 
Eleven other schools in the district have either Army, Navy or Air Force JROTC. Even though this will be the first Marine Corps unit, no advance review of the curriculum is being ordered by the district. Besides JROTC at the high school level, San Diego schools have frequent visits by recruiters and give many of their students the military's aptitude test (the ASVAB). Programs like the Young Marines are hosted at some elementary and middle level schools.
 
MBHS students have begun talking about organizing a protest and boycott of JROTC, and youth groups in the area may get involved. Non-students who have been organizing antiwar leafleting at San Diego County high schools also plan to increase their activities at MBHS. By contract, a JROTC unit must be terminated if it does not maintain a minimum enrollment of 100 students, so students themselves are in a position to get rid of the program.
 
For more information, contact Project YANO, projyano@aol.com, General information on JROTC is available at http://www.projectyano.org/ and http://www.nnomy.org/. The Marine Corps JROTC instructor manual is at: http://www.mcjrotc.org/Documents/instbook.pdf (see esp. sections on disenrolling students, unions, and lobbying school staff).
 
Also, see: "Sparring erupts over new Junior ROTC effort"
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070724/news_1m24rotc.html