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Easton District Panel Weighs JROTC for High School: Representative Says Students Who Join Also May Quit Program.

Posted on: Friday, 9 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Madeleine Mathias, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Jun. 9--The Easton Area School Board will decide at its meeting Thursday if one of the four military services can operate an JROTC program in the high school.

In addition the directors will be asked to take a first vote on several policies including a dress code, use of the Internet and other technologies, student wellness and the same issues outlined for classified employees that were addressed for professional ones.

The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps proposal came out of the Academics in Education Committee meeting and the others in the policy committee, both of which met Thursday night.

Maj. Charles Taylor, an Air Force retiree, outlined what the JROTC has done at Dieruff High School in Allentown, where he has charge of the program.

He said if Easton opts to permit JROTC, it would have to wait its turn. If the district applied now, it would be considered for a class in the 2008-09 school year.

After that step is completed, Taylor said, a manager would visit the school to discuss the space needed and its costs.

The district, he said, would have to pay the salary of two retired military personnel to teach and conduct the school. Taylor said a major with 22 years of experience would be paid $4,200 to $4,500 a month plus benefits, while a noncommissioned officer, with minimum 15 years, would be paid $3,000 to $3,500 and benefits.

The federal government would reimburse the district 50 percent of those costs.

The school district would have to provide the JROTC with classroom and storage space, and an area for drills. Those areas would have to be restricted for JROTC use for safety and security reasons.

Taylor said the mission of the Air Force JROTC is to develop citizenship, character and dedication to serve the nation and the community.

To a question about weapons, Taylor said each area has to have a large safe where firearms are stored, even though all their firing mechanisms would be removed. The guns would be used primarily in drills.

At Dierfuff, Taylor said about 93 high school students are in the program. He said students are not required to stay in the program for four years, and may leave it any year they desire. He said JROTC is not a military recruitment program, but has advantages to those who decide to enter service.

Taylor brought along many books taught in the classes. They touch on the science of flight, exploration of space, warfare, frontier aviation, the conditions that led to the major wars, and more.

At the school board's Policy Committee, the members moved to send the dress code policy to the full board. The policy was developed after four meetings with students, staff and parents.

While it would permit jeans and T-shirts, it would forbid blouses that are too low cut or are too short at the waist, baggy pants, flipflops and several other clothing items.

All policies require two votes.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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