[Locals] Fwd: JROTC

[Sarah Heller]

In case my previous email was confusing, here is some background:

Worcester Peace Works is a local group that is asking people to go to  
the June 19 (3pm) Worcester School Committee Meeting (at Worcester  
City Hall) to support their call to eliminate JROTC from the school  
budget.

To clarify what JROTC is and the costs involved, here is something  
from  worcester.indymedia.org (http://worcester.indymedia.org/news/ 
2006/03/2579.php):

... Worcester schools propose $12 million in Cuts ~ JROTC remains  
protected
by Kevin Ksen Tuesday, Mar. 21, 2006 at 8:42 PM

...Ask the [school] Administration and they say, the cut-backs are  
everywhere, across the board. It's not just schools being closed and  
teachers laid off, administration positions have been cut, art,  
sports, school supplies, school technology, bus monitors and  
librarians, "everything" is being cut.

Unfortunately that's not true. Dr. Caradonio and the school  
administration refuse to propose and discuss eliminating the three  
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs which are  
based at Burncoat, North and South High Schools. Granted, that while  
the contracts Worcester has signed with the U.S. Navy and Airforce  
require a multi-year process to eliminate them there is no reason  
these military recruitment programs should continue to be spared year  
after year. For the past six years of cuts these three programs have  
been protected while everything and everyone around them have been  
cut. 266 Certified teachers have been let go, while these apparently  
non-Certified military instructors have been retained.

So while 1,000's of our children have been hurt by past budget cuts,  
and 1,000's more will be severely hurt if these new cuts proceed,  
only a couple hundred students would be affected by eliminating JROTC.

Part of the reason this has continued, as national anti-recruitment  
organizers across the country have warned, is that the cost of each  
JROTC program is kept hidden within the school budget. Unfortunately,  
while other programs' budgets are outlined separately, the Worcester  
Schools keep JROTC instructors' salaries and expenses hidden within  
the full budget. It's so hidden away, that when talking to a current  
school committee member this week, he/she was surprised to learn that  
Worcester pays for the JROTC program! A public records request has  
been made of Dr. Caradonio to help disclose how much Worcester would  
save by eliminating JROTC. A study, "Trading Books for Soldiers: The  
True Cost of JROTC" found that based on 1998-9 statistics, an Army  
JROTC program's personnel costs average $76,000/school, and may be  
significantly higher based on additional expenses. If this figure  
holds true for Worcester, $228,000 could be saved from the  
elimination of JROTC.

The facts are clear. Again this year another round of budget cuts  
will target our schools, our children. Worcester will continue paying  
our cost of the Iraq war through forced cutbacks in federal aid or  
other means. School Administrators, School Committee members, and the  
teacher's union will all struggle and fight over "the numbers".  
Millions of dollars in cuts will end up being made, but let's not  
continue to claim that everything is being cut in Worcester Schools.

On Jun 16, 2008, at 12:33 PM, Sarah Heller wrote:

>> JTOTC