9th Grade Class Forced to Enlist in JROTC

High School enlists ninth grade to Military Training

Freshmen all put in JROTC
Welcome to high school. Now drop and give me 50.

By Gina Vasselli

The entire freshman class at Carvers Bay High School has been automatically enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, a military-sponsored program that trains high school students in military discipline and concepts. Principal Richard Neal, a Navy veteran, said the school's Marine Corps JROTC class is fulfilling the student's physical education requirement and is part of the school's Ninth Grade Academy.

But Charles Holloway, the parent of a freshman student at Carvers Bay, said he did not want his son in that program and when he asked that his son be taken out, his son was put in a class by himself.Holloway said he feels his son was being punished for not wanting to take part in that class.

Holloway said the JROTC class simply showed up on his son's schedule in place of gym class and he did not receive any information about the class or how to get his son out of it.

"What happened to our freedom of choice?" Holloway said. "I wanted nothing to do with anything related to the military."

According to the South Carolina Department of Education, high school students must take at least one credit of physical education in order to graduate. ROTC can also fill that requirement.

Neal said he initiated the program because studies show that students in leadership programs are more likely to stay in school and graduate. He said so far the program has had an "extremely high positive response," but "any parent who did not want their son or daughter [to participate] has the opportunity to participate in other elective classes."

Neal said letters and fliers about Ninth Grade Academy were sent to parents. The class is an elective and students had the option to select other programs as well, he said, but noted that the ninth grade class was "enrolled" in the program.

"We accepted all of the freshman class into our program," said Master Sgt. Joe Epps, one of the instructors of the ROTC program at Carvers Bay. "What used to be the PE element ... we have taken that over."

Georgetown County Superintendent Randy Dozier said freshmen are not required to take part in the JROTC class.

"We're not going to draft people into ROTC if they don't want to be in there," Dozier said. "They certainly can opt out."

Holloway said he is concerned that other parents do not know their child is in this program. He said that other students are "going to my son, saying 'how did you get out of it?'"

"No one else knows because no one else is in that second class with my son," he said. "This was not transparent."

contact gvasselli (at) thesunnews (dot) com

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Recruiter uses gay slur at high school during testing

Recruiter uses slur at high school

DHS students offended by comment

by Chuck Slothower
Herald Staff Writer
November 04, 2009

An Army recruiter used a gay slur and an expletive during military-supervised testing at Durango High School last week, an incident that has raised parents' ire.

DHS students who overheard the comment confronted the man, whose identity was not released, and notified school personnel.

Juniors and seniors were required to attend a testing session Thursday that was overseen by recruiters from the U.S. Army Denver Recruiting Battalion, or to do an alternative project as part of a career day. More than 500 students took the test.

During the military aptitude test, several students overheard the soldier use the expletive and gay slur.

Lt. Col. William Medina, a spokesman for the Army's Denver Recruiting Battalion, said Tuesday he was conducting an internal investigation into the comment.

"The information I have at this point was the soldier who made it was talking to one of his fellow soldiers in the back of the room," Medina said. "The comment was overheard by several of the students.

The comment, although inappropriate, was not directed to the students or staff there." Medina said the remark "is absolutely inappropriate and not in keeping with Army values." Medina has apologized to DHS Principal Diane Lashinsky.

"I would like to apologize for that lack of professionalism," Medina said. "It really did not reflect well on the organization, nor does it reflect the support we get from the Durango community." Medina would not identify the soldier, but said he is a noncommissioned officer in the Denver Recruiting Battalion.

The comment happened in the school's cafeteria while students were taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test, known as ASVAB. The multiple-choice test gauges students' aptitude for various careers. The test was overseen by about 10 military personnel, students said.

Lashinsky said at least 30 DHS teachers also were present.

Seniors Madeleine Meigs and Anna Rousseau were among the students who heard the comment. They confronted the soldier and reported the comment to school counselor Sarah St. John, who notified Lashinsky.

"I just thought that it was wrong, and I feel people in that position can kind of get away with stuff sometimes, and that's not OK," said Meigs, who is the daughter of Durango Mayor Leigh Meigs.

Rousseau said she wanted only to make the soldier know he was being distasteful. "When my friend and I went and talked to this guy, I just wanted to let him be aware that he was offending someone," Rousseau said. "I really didn't mean to start all this publicity, and I didn't mean to get him in trouble." Rousseau said school counselors and administrators were "furious" about the comment.

"I was really proud of the way our school handled it," she said.

Lashinsky said the students who reported the remark "did exactly what they were supposed to do." "The comment is completely inappropriate," Lashinsky said. "It's inappropriate to speak that way in a public forum, whether you're in a school or anywhere else. It's especially egregious to be speaking that way within hearing distance of young people." Parents complained they were not adequately notified of the ASVAB test or their ability to exclude their children. Rather, they said, it was up to the students to bring it to their parents' attention.

A notification of the test was posted on DHS' Web site several days before, Lashinsky said. Students also were notified during their advisory periods. But parents were not sent a mailing.

Leigh Meigs said she was upset military personnel were given access to her daughter.

"We as a family always opt out of having our children's identifying information given to recruiters," she said. "And yet, military personnel were allowed to have my child's mandatory attention." Lashinsky said the military would not have access to the testing information for students who opted out. She defended the school's decision to offer the ASVAB test, saying it gives students valuable insight into their aptitudes for various careers.

"It really helps students to know what they have the aptitude for relative to what their interests are," she said. "That's a unique test." Students get a comprehensive profile back that can help guide them in career choices, Lashinsky said.

For DHS students, who routinely take standardized multiple-choice tests, the exam itself was not unusual.

"It felt like a normal test that we would take at school, but it was weird to have the military running it," Madeleine Meigs said. "It all seemed kind of strange, and to me, kind of wrong." Kelly Fuge, an 18-year-old senior, said the military personnel were careful not to make recruiting pitches during the test.

Jim Fuge, Kelly's father, said it was not appropriate for students to be put under the supervision of military personnel.

"It's just not the way to operate," he said, adding that he had no problem with students being able to go talk with recruiters at their offices.

Leigh Meigs said the situation should never have happened.

"I am very proud of my daughter that she handled this the way she did, and I do not think it was fair that she was put in this position."

chuck at durangoherald dot com

A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THE CARNAGE

dear readers,

It has been quite some time since I been able to log into my account... we shall not query why.. I was able to mail things into the blog but finally, have it straightened out.

This blog and my website at www.duckdaotsu.org were started as an act of editing out the crap and working 10 hours a day / 7 days a week to give the world another perspective on the war and on military service in general. My immediate response to this illegal war was to assist in getting information out to those who resisted. COURAGE TO RESIST is the site to find all of the information that is current on the situation with Canada.. and has great resources for all.

I spend many many hours taking each photo of each "confirmed" soldier who has died in this war and posting on one page, postage stamp sized pictures, ten to a column, the rows would not stop. I knew their names I was their faces. I showed where they came from and how old they were when their lives were taken by this greed-driven illegal war.

The page got a great deal of interest. It was seen and has been copied in many languages. But after the rows got longer and longer, the pictures got more and more difficult to add to the page. I spent the day in tears and the night dreaming of their faces, wondering about their families. I had to stop.

The pages are at www.duckdaotsu.org/rows.html and that page will show the link to the entire project. It remains unfinished. I will finish it after I am done with my next step in protesting the militarization of our youth and the lies that the recruiters tell when signing your sons or daughters into "a college education while serving your country."

I have just read a very important post on a blog that should be see and should be bookmarked. My first stop was http://x-wire.blogspot.com/2007/12/incoming-rpgied-attack-aftermath-band.html ... and since that URL may be cut, I have taken the liberty to use "tiny url" so that you cannot miss it. http://preview.tinyurl.com/yp5gcz

We must all tell our stories. Some can be told on this forum. Some cannot.

I URGE YOU TO READ THE STORY FROM ONE WHO HAS RETURNED FROM THAT HELL.

PLEASE RESPECT our right to report. There are many many perspectives of war... this veteran can show you his.