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UID:Indybay-18594089
SEQUENCE:18642535
CREATED:20090511T020800Z
DESCRIPTION:San Francisco School Board to VOTE\non restoring JROTC at its next 
 meeting.\n\nTuesday, May 12, 2009 - 6:00 pm\n555 Franklin Street at 
 McAllister\n\nIt is time for JROTC to go.\n\nThe San Francisco Board of 
 Education voted over two years ago to phase out the Junior Reserve 
 Officers' Training Corps. JROTC is run by the Pentagon and their 
 hand-picked military instructors. The program is scheduled to end this 
 June.\n\nThe Pentagon and their allies are trying to overturn the school 
 board decision. The board is expected to vote at its next meeting on a 
 resolution to restore the program, introduced by the Pentagon's two most 
 shameless supporters, Jill Wynns and Rachel Norton.\n\nThe school board 
 voted to phase out JROTC because San Franciscans do not want the military 
 in our schools. JROTC targets children as young as 14 and 15, particularly 
 working class youth from communities of color. Nor do San Franciscans 
 support a program that won't hire openly LGBT instructors, in line with the 
 Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. JROTC costs school district 
 taxpayers one million dollars per year.\n\nThe struggle to get the military 
 out of our schools goes back to 1994, when the public and the school board 
 learned that "for at least the last five years, ranks... a ritual 
 punishment in which JROTC cadets are punched repeatedly... as they walk 
 between a gauntlet of drill team members" was common in at least one high 
 school. Since then, those opposed to the military presence in our schools 
 have been subject to repeated threats and intimidation, including at least 
 one death threat against a school board member.\n\nIn 2005, nearly 60% of 
 San Francisco voters declared that we want military recruiters out of our 
 schools. In 2006, the school board finally voted to phase out 
 JROTC.\n\nLast November, downtown and military money funded the "Yes on V" 
 campaign, a purely advisory measure supposedly aimed at supporting JROTC, 
 but really aimed at creating a "wedge issue" to defeat progressive 
 candidates for the Board of Supervisors. Downtown poured $200,000 into this 
 campaign, gained a small victory with Prop V, but lost every Supervisor 
 campaign. Despite being out-spent 15 to 1, opponents of JROTC got nearly 
 150,000 votes.\n\nThe school board vote on May 12 should be the final 
 chapter of this long campaign. If we win this vote, JROTC will be gone in 
 June. Come to the meeting and show your support for the school board 
 members who are standing up against the Pentagon's onslaught.\n\nWe can and 
 will 
 win.\n\n\nhttp://www.NoMilitaryRecruitmentInOurSchools.org\n\nNoJROTC@yahoo.com\n510-326-1961\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/10/18594089.php
SUMMARY:SF School Bd to VOTE for or against JROTC; Come & Support
LOCATION:555 Franklin St @ McAllister
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/05/10/18594089.php
DTSTART:20090513T010000Z
DTEND:20090513T033000Z
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