The Lincoln Log

The San Francisco School Board debated over whether or not the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) was going to stay in the San Francisco school system at roughly 6 PM on November 14, 2006. Students from several different high schools around the Bay Area joined together in front of the SFUSD District Office in hope of changing the Board members’ minds.

Emotions ran high that night, at approximately 10:10 PM, and many students burst out crying following the announcement that JROTC was to be taken out of the San Francisco school system. Among many others, Senior Vienna Luu, Abraham Lincoln High School’s Battalion Commander, Exhibition Drill Team Commander and Associated Student Body Director of Spirit was very disappointed.

“All the [school board] can do is view their own personal [opinions] instead of seeing kids in the program,” Luu said. “The School Board needs to stop using kids just to get their public statements out.”

Even students not involved in the JROTC class were disappointed because all of the JROTC teams (Flag Drill Team, Drum Corps, Exhibition Drill Team, etc.) they enjoyed watching or participating in will now be cancelled along with the program.

“All the best moments that happen in high school happen in [JROTC]. I joined Drum Corps and [at first] I felt inferior, but everyone [on the team] accepted me and most of my life has been [JROTC].” Junior Drum Corps Executive Officer Cathy Liu said. Liu participates in JROTC activities but has never enrolled in the class.

Many teams are a big part of JROTC, including the Exhibition Drill Team, Flag Drill Team, Color Guard, Drill Platoon, Drum Corps, and Squad Drill. These teams affected many people in positive ways, bringing leadership, self-confidence, motivation, and dedication to each and every team member. Certain bonds are established within these teams, and the members of these teams find it hard to replace.

”[The teams] help me bond with people and helps me open up to people,” Sophomore Kelly Marker, Drum Corps and Flag Drill Team First Sergeant said.

The impact of the decision will affect all San Francisco schools that provide JROTC classes, particularly the art and music department, which are usually the first classes and activities to be cut if funding is insufficient. Past budget cuts have already cut art and music department in many middle and high schools in San Francisco. The school district and military fund about $1.6 million every year for the program, and about 1,600 San Francisco students actively participate in JROTC in seven high schools throughout the district. Fifteen JROTC instructors will be let go, leaving them without work. Those let go will also not be allowed to teach in schools because of their lack of a teaching degree.

Some of the anti-JROTC school board members want to replace JROTC with a similar program that does not involve the military. Not too many teachers are willing to stay after school to help students like Col. Powell and Sergeant Wiseman have.

Teachers have even received help and advice from Col. Powell and Sergeant Wiseman in teaching their classes.

“If I have problems with students, I’d talk to Col. Powell,” Modern World and US History Teacher Larry Prager said. “The school will lose people with the experience and expertise such as Col. Powell and Sergeant Wiseman. The school will lose its connection to its heritage; [the] idea of our history is its connection to the military.”

However, a few teachers at Abraham Lincoln High School are all right with the school board’s decision to cancel JROTC.

“I understand why students like [JROTC and] how Col. Powell is a good and nice teacher, [but] I don’t like how the program is military funded,” said English teacher Luranne Drager. “Only California has JROTC, and when I saw students in uniform marching all around [at Wallenberg], I didn’t like it.” Drager will become part of a committee that will create a similar program in place of JROTC.

Still a debatable issue, JROTC is to be phased out over a period of two years until 2009. The JROTC program will not be allowed to recruit new students into the class, and discussion on the topic is still in progress.