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“San Francisco values” prevailed last night. Some 1,600 students of all backgrounds will now be robbed of a valuable training program that immunized them against the anti-military hatred that infests the Bay Area:
SAN FRANCISCO — High schools across the city soon will no longer have Junior Reserve Officers’Training Corps programs after officials decided to eliminate them because of the Pentagon’s”don’t ask, don’t tell”policy regarding gay service members.
The Board of Education voted 4-2 late Tuesday to phase out the JROTC from schools over the next two years, despite protest from hundreds of students who rallied outside the meeting.
The resolution passed says the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers violates the school district’s equal rights policy for gays.
The school district and the military currently share the $1.6 million annual cost of the program. About 1,600 San Francisco students participate in JROTC at seven high schools across the district.
Cadets and instructors who spoke at the meeting and rallied outside argued that the program teaches leadership, organizational skills, personal responsibility and other important values.
“This is where the kids feel safe, the one place they feel safe,”said Robert Powell, a JROTC instructor.”You’re going to take that away from them?”
Yes, they are. The program had been in place for 90 years. More on the idiocy from the San Francisco Chronicle (whose left-leaning editorial board supported the program):
Dozens of JROTC cadets at the board meeting burst into tears or covered their faces after the votes were cast.
“We’re really shocked,” said fourth-year Cadet Eric Chu, a senior at Lowell High School, his eyes filling with tears. “It provided me with a place to go.”
The proposal approved by the board also creates a task force to develop alternatives to the program that will be tried out next year at various high schools.
The board’s decision was loudly applauded by opponents of the program.
Their position was summed up by a former teacher, Nancy Mancias, who said, “We need to teach a curriculum of peace.”
The board’s move to dismantle the popular program was led by board members Dan Kelly and Mark Sanchez with support from Sarah Lipson and Eric Mar. Casting votes against it were Jill Wynns and Norman Yee. Board member Eddie Chin was absent…
…”We don’t want the military ruining our civilian institutions,” said Sandra Schwartz of the American Friends Service Committee, an organization actively opposing JROTC nationwide. “In a healthy democracy … you contain the military. You must contain the military.”
Mayor Gavin Newsom chastised the school board:
“You think this is going to help keep families in San Francisco?” the mayor added. “No. It’s going to hurt.”
Keep driving them away.
Fact:
In 1970, children younger than 18 made up 22 percent of the population compared with just under 15 percent in 2004. San Francisco has the lowest percentage of households with children among the 50 largest U.S. cities.
Cities, like civilizations, die by suicide, not murder.
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