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DESCRIPTION:email received from bauaw\n\nEMERGENCY MEETING MONDAY EVENING TO STOP JROTC 
 IN OUR SCHOOLS!\nMonday, Nov. 5, 7:00 P.M., 474 Valencia at the Childcare 
 Center.\n\nSan Francisco schools expected to grant JROTC a year's 
 reprieve\nJill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer\nSaturday, October 6, 
 2007\nhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/06/BAP3SJ72P.DTL&hw=board+of+education+jrotc&sn=001&sc=1000\n\nThe 
 controversial demise of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training\nCorps in San 
 Francisco schools scheduled for this spring will likely\nbe put off for at 
 least a year because the school district hasn't\ndeveloped a promised 
 replacement program.\n\nThe expected reprieve would drag out what has 
 already been a\nprotracted and emotional battle over the district's 90-year 
 tie to the\nmilitary program.\n\nStill, supporters say the prospect of an 
 extra year offers hope that\nJROTC could survive in San Francisco.\n\nThe 
 school board voted last November to phase out JROTC over two years\nbecause 
 of its connection to the military, which board members said\nwas 
 discriminatory, homophobic and at odds with the mission of 
 public\neducation. They also agreed to create a task force to develop 
 an\nalternative program to begin in fall 2008.\n\nDespite JROTC's expected 
 demise, 1,500 students in seven city high\nschools enrolled in JROTC this 
 fall, with 670 of them participating in\naffiliated after-school programs. 
 That's about 200 fewer than last\nyear, although students who thought the 
 program no longer existed\ncontinue to transfer in, JROTC instructors 
 say.\n\nThe school board's composition has also changed, and just two of 
 the\nboard members who voted to eliminate JROTC last year - Eric Mar 
 and\nMark Sanchez - are still serving.\n\nA majority of current board 
 members - Kim-Shree Maufas, Jill Wynns,\nNorman Yee and Hydra Mendoza - 
 said they were open to keeping JROTC alive.\n\nThe seventh board member, 
 Jane Kim, said she was also willing to\nsupport JROTC, but only if there 
 were a way to address the military's\ndiscriminatory hiring practice 
 involving homosexuals. She suggested a\nJROTC diversity curriculum or a 
 cadet campaign against the military's\n"don't ask, don't tell" 
 policy.\n\nBut bringing JROTC back to life is not something any of those 
 board\nmembers seems willing to do right now.\n\n"I wouldn't be leading any 
 of it," Yee said. "I just don't want to do\nthat battle."\n\nMaufas agreed. 
 "I respect what the board decided," she said. "I\nbelieve with hard work 
 and enough time, we can provide a program that\nserves students' needs in 
 terms of leadership development."\n\nBut there isn't enough time to do that 
 before next fall.\n\nDistrict officials didn't even create the task force 
 that was supposed\nto identify a new program until last spring - several 
 months after\ntheir vote against JROTC.\n\nThe task force - consisting of 
 17 district staff members, students and\ncommunity members, and including 
 supporters and opponents of JROTC -\nmet for the first time in April. By 
 its third meeting in June, the\ngroup acknowledged serious flaws in the 
 process.\n\n"We do not have enough time, we do not have enough (task 
 force)\nattendance, and we do not consistently have agreement on 
 this\ncommittee," group members decided, according to minutes of the 
 meeting.\n\nIn addition, the school board gave the task force little 
 guidance,\neven about how much it could spend.\n\n"We've been given no 
 budgetary guidelines," said Meyla Ruwin, district\ndirector of school 
 health programs and task force co-chair.\n\nSo the task force could 
 ultimately come up with a plan that the\ndistrict has no intention or 
 ability to fund.\n\nTask force members said they plan to ask the school 
 board's curriculum\ncommittee Thursday to let JROTC continue until spring 
 2009.\n\nBoard President Mark Sanchez said he expects the extension to 
 be\napproved by the board.\n\n"We've been trying to find a program that the 
 city could benefit from,\nthe kids could benefit from, and would still 
 provide that leadership\ntraining and the physical training," said board 
 member Mendoza. "It's\ngetting the program off the ground that's the key, 
 and where are we\ngoing to get the funding?"\n\nThe $1.7 million JROTC 
 program receives a $750,000 annual subsidy from\nthe U.S. military. 
 Students in the program, called cadets, earn up to\ntwo years of physical 
 education or elective credits for the courses.\n[The rest is paid by the 
 SFUSD!...bw]\n\nBoard Vice President Yee, who voted against last year's 
 resolution,\nsaid he wasn't surprised by the lack of an alternative.\n\n"It 
 seems like what I thought might happen is happening," he said.\n"There's 
 nothing to replace it with. ... There are a lot of practical\nthings we 
 didn't think about."\n\nIn the meantime, JROTC students and their 
 instructors said they are\nfrustrated by the inaction. The instructors 
 don't know whether they'll\nhave their jobs next year.\n\n"They've got 
 mortgages," said task force member Robert Powell, a JROTC\ninstructor at 
 Lincoln High School and retired Army lieutenant colonel.\n"They've got 
 bills. How can you tell them, 'Just hang on'?"\n\nJunior Yvonne Ho said 
 that she found her niche in JROTC and that\nwithout it students would be 
 sent to play sports - an option she dreads.\n\n"I think it's pretty unfair 
 to cancel the program without a backup\nplan," said Ho, the battalion 
 commander of Balboa High School's 280\nJROTC cadets.\n\n"We don't know 
 where we'd go," she said. "There's just PE."\n\nThe task force said its 
 next step will be to survey current and former\ncadets about what is 
 important about the program - characteristics\nthey hope to build into a 
 replacement.\n\nStudents say the program develops leadership, teamwork, 
 community\nservice, a sense of responsibility and a sense of 
 belonging.\n\nMaufas, whose daughter participated in the program while in 
 high\nschool, said JROTC provides strong role models: Most of the 
 program's\ninstructors are African American men.\n\n"Those types of 
 relationships are so valuable," she said. "It's hard\nto replace 
 it."\nJROTC'S recent history in San Francisco\n\nFeb. 22, 1994 - JROTC 
 hazing incident occurs at Balboa High, prompting\na districtwide debate 
 about the program's merits.\n\nJune 27, 1995 - San Francisco school board 
 votes to keep JROTC programs.\n\nMay 23, 2006 - School board introduces 
 resolution to eliminate JROTC.\n\nNov. 14, 2006 - School board votes to 
 phase out JROTC by June 2008.\n\nApril to Oct. 3, 2007 - Task force meets 
 five times to discuss a\nreplacement program.\n\nThursday - Task force 
 scheduled to address school board curriculum\ncommittee to request one-year 
 extension.\n\nE-mail Jill Tucker at 
 jtucker@sfchronicle.com.\n\nhttp://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/06/BAP3SJ72P.DTL\n\nThis 
 article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/11/04/18458195.php
SUMMARY:Emergency Meeting to Stop JROTC in Our Schools
LOCATION:Monday, Nov. 5, 7:00 P.M., 474 Valencia at the Childcare Center
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/11/04/18458195.php
DTSTART:20071106T030000Z
DTEND:20071106T050000Z
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