Free Republic

When the San Francisco school board voted last month to restore the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, it seemed that sanity had prevailed -- three years after the board voted to kill the popular program. Finally, the board had put students' welfare ahead of its ruthless political correctness. Wrong. Unless the school board votes to recognize that JROTC fulfills students' high school physical education requirements at Tuesday's board meeting, the board's vote to keep JROTC could be viewed as a conniving stunt and a cruel hoax. If students cannot get PE credit -- as they could before the board...

San Francisco -- A three-year battle over whether Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps belongs in San Francisco schools ended Tuesday night with a 4-3 vote by the school board to restore the military leadership program weeks before its scheduled expiration. More than 200 supporters and opponents of the program crowded into the school district headquarters to make their final pleas to the board. And their arguments were as emotionally charged as they were when the fight began in 2006. "To some of you, this is a political issue," Balboa High School sophomore Malik Douglas told the board. "But to me...

SAN DIEGO — Hope is the political message of the moment, courtesy of President Barack Obama. Tell that to Lincoln High School students Jennifer Astudillo, Sakeenah Shabazz and Alex Velarde, a trio of increasingly polished political activists. Sakeenah, 16, said hope isn't part of her political equation. “Always go in prepared for the worst, not with your hopes up,” she said. What they've displayed instead is persistence, as they've led a group of high school students in persuading the San Diego Unified School District board to shelve campus air-rifle marksmanship programs. The board confirmed the decision Tuesday, although members eased...

OCEAN SPRINGS -- Two cadets with Ocean Springs High School's JROTC program each will receive a Medal of Heroism on Tuesday, an event that is almost unheard-of among the high school programs in this state. The medal is one of the highest awards given in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and requires the rank of general to present it. So on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. William Freeman with the Mississippi National Guard will come to the school to present the two medals. The Medal of Heroism is sanctioned by the Department of the Army and is registered through the Army...

Over beers, Brian McConnell and his buddies came up with the idea to put a measure on the San Francisco ballot to rename a city sewage plant after President Bush. Ha, ha, ha. OK, they've had their laugh, and they even gathered more than the necessary 7,168 signatures to qualify their measure for the November ballot. It's Proposition R. The question is: Do Ess Eff voters want to give San Francisco bashers yet another reason to believe this is a city run by brats? If voters in the Special City approve Prop. R, which would rename the Oceanside Water Pollution...

They did it! High school students fighting anti-military bigotry in the Bay Area collected 13,600 signatures and submitted them to save the JROTC program in San Francisco. (I blogged about their signature-gathering efforts last month here.) Keep the counterinsurgency going.

San Francisco is a city that wants to do the right thing. The problem, as always, is when our politicians get carried away. Certainly, no one has any problem with standing up for someone's right to express themselves or control their own life. San Francisco has a long and proud record of backing those kinds of issues. Same-sex marriage? Absolutely. Universal health care? That, too. Banning the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps from local high schools - despite the fact that there has been no complaint about the program - because you disagree with the American military's policy on gay...

(06-26) 19:20 PDT San Francisco -- San Francisco public high schools will no longer award physical education credit to students enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the Board of Education voted today in a hastily scheduled meeting. The 4-to-1 vote will likely cripple the 90-year-old military education program that serves 1,200 students because most use it to satisfy their p.e. requirement. "If students really love the program, they'll take it anyway," said board president Mark Sanchez, who has led opposition to JROTC because of its ties to the military. Gregory Wing, who will be a sophomore at Lowell...

Wonder why San Francisco has a reputation as the American left's most intolerant city? Consider the fact that concerned San Francisco citizens are now gathering signatures for a ballot measure advising the school board to overturn a 2006 vote to shut down the 90-year-old Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program. You see, the San Francisco school board only recognizes the right to expression with which it agrees. Disagree, and the board will shut you down. If students suffer - well, that's politics. Quincy Yu is a leader in the effort to gather the 7,200 signatures needed to put the advisory...

San Francisco -- The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps gets to stay in San Francisco high schools for one more year, the district's school board decided tonight. More than 100 students packed the meeting as the board voted 5 to 2 to extend the program through the 2008-2009 school year. Board President Mark Sanchez and board member Eric Mar voted against the measure. The board also decided to allow JROTC courses to continue to count toward up to two years of physical education courses, which is required for graduation. The board voted a year ago to eliminate the 90-year-old program...

Following San Francisco's Veteran's Day Parade earlier this month, I wondered aloud whether the JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps) would continue participating due to the anti-military Board of Education's dictatorial decision to phase out the popular program. There was a brief moment of hope when it was announced that the board would consider a proposed resolution approving a one-year extension of the program through the 2008-09 school year. But even then, it was clear that the decks were stacked against the JROTC. The resolution, as described by the San Francisco Chronicle, consisted of the following: The measure before the...

San Francisco's anti-military shenanigans are legion and have been commented on by yours truly on many an occasion. Earlier this year, for instance, I noted the decision by the San Francisco Board of Education to phase out the JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps)from the city's public schools, despite the protestations of students and their families. So when this year's Veteran's Day Parade rolled around, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not the JROTC would be making an appearance. Sure enough, the usual contigent of JROTC cadets marched in the 2007 parade, but, according to this SFGate article, it...

Once again, San Francisco politicians are poised to thumb their nose at the U.S. military. Tonight, the school board will vote to follow-up on a 2006 measure to kill high-school Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs, if a tad more slowly than planned. If it passes, the message to the rest of America will be clear: The Special City is too precious for the U.S. military. Worst of all, if the board votes to end JROTC, it will have voted to deprive the very students whom schools are most likely to fail by yanking the one school program most likely...

The controversial demise of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in San Francisco schools scheduled for this spring will likely be put off for at least a year because the school district hasn't developed a promised replacement program. The expected reprieve would drag out what has already been a protracted and emotional battle over the district's 90-year tie to the military program. Still, supporters say the prospect of an extra year offers hope that JROTC could survive in San Francisco. The school board voted last November to phase out JROTC over two years because of its connection to the military,...

Seventeen-year-old Travis VanKuren was walking to his car at the Wal-Mart in Springettsbury Township at 7 p.m. last Wednesday when he saw a man and a woman struggling in the parking lot. VanKuren, a slim, 5-foot, 9-inch junior at Dallastown Area High School, took a closer look and made eye contact with the woman involved in the fight. "She looked over at me and started screaming for help," VanKuren said. The woman also screamed "help" at two other people in the parking lot who looked at her and walked away. VanKuren didn't. Instead, he decided to help, and police say...

"In the first place God made idiots," observed Mark Twain. "This was for practice. Then he made school boards." The San Francisco Board of Education's 4-2 vote last week to abolish the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, which has been active in the city's high schools for 90 years, tends to support his view. Why is JROTC being done away with? It isn't for lack of interest. More than 1,600 San Francisco students currently take part in its voluntary activities. "Kids love this program as if it's family," notes the San Francisco Chronicle. It is "a program that students...

IN THE SPECIAL CITY, choice doesn't really mean choice. San Francisco Unified School District trustees proved as much last week when they voted 4-2 to eliminate the popular Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and deprive high-school students of a program that instills leadership and other skills essential to success in a competitive world. First, the vote was wrong because it hurts kids. Imagine a program so popular that hundreds of students have turned out to support it -- even though it demands from its 1,600 participants behaviors not often associated with teenagers. To wit: punctuality, the proud wearing of a...

Education: The San Francisco Board of Education is terminating an honorable armed forces leadership training program, spiting the very people who would protect the city from attack. It was to the delight of Left Coast peaceniks and Bay Area military haters when the board voted 4-2 Tuesday to phase out the system's Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program over a two-year period. Right after Veterans Day, the board redeployed the 1,700 student cadets who voluntarily participate in JROTC at 17 of the district's 21 high schools. Never mind that the kids themselves defended the program. The board coldly brushed aside...

While schools work to stop violence in the wake of Columbine, many forget a source close to home. JROTC programs across the country are being rocked by scandals, ranging from military-style executions to hazing to classic military sexual assault and intimidation. JROTC's violence is promoted by the ethos and the purpose of the program itself. When war's horrors are glossed over and glorified, murder, hazing, and lesser brutality become easier to contemplate. When School Boards allow the military's JROTC program into schools despite the military's bigotry and discriminatory practices, their message condones hate-crimes. Military training is designed to dehumanize soldiers...

The San Francisco school board voted Tuesday night to pass a resolution that will phase out the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps in San Francisco high schools over the next two years, a spokeswoman for the school board said Wednesday. According to the spokeswoman, the school board voted 4-2 to pass the resolution. Board members Mark Sanchez, Sarah Lipson, Dan Kelly and Eric Mar reportedly voted to pass the resolution, with Norman Yee and Jill Wynns voting against it. Board member Eddie Chin was not present to cast a vote. The school board is expected to release the official resolution...