In a significant victory for the counter military recruitment movement, the San Francisco School Board has scheduled a special meeting at which board members are expected to vote to stop giving physical education (P.E.) credit for JROTC (Junior Retired Officer Training Corps) classes.
Many students opt for JROTC to avoid taking P.E., so JROTC enrollment will decline significantly. It will not, unfortunately, end JROTC in our schools. The meeting takes place Tuesday, June 17, 6:30pm, at the School Board building at 555 Franklin/McAllister.
The Board is making this change both in response to the ongoing campaign by anti-war activists to get JROTC out of our schools, and as a result of changes in state law tightening P.E. requirements. As retired military officers, none of the JROTC instructors have certification to teach P.E.
WE EXPECT THE PRO-JROTC FORCES WILL MOBILIZE FOR THIS MEETING TO CHALLENGE THE BOARD’S DECISION TO ABIDE BY STATE LAW. THE COUNTER MILITARY RECRUITMENT MOVEMENT MUST BE PRESENT AS WELL.
Of course, we would much prefer that the School Board end JROTC completely — right now. JROTC would be gone today if the Board held to its original November 2006 resolution calling for an end to the program. Instead, the Board recently voted to extend JROTC for another year.
We know that the military will do everything in its power to keep JROTC and military recruiters in our schools. Currently, pro-JROTC forces are circulating an initiative petition to get on the November ballot with a measure that asks San Francisco voters to declare themselves in favor of keeping JROTC and the military in our schools, despite the ongoing illegal and immoral war in Iraq and the death of over 4,500 U.S. soldiers and countless Afghanistani and Iraqi civilians.
COME TO THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING TUESDAY JUNE 17! JROTC MUST GO!
