High schools in Portland Public Schools now have a path to start JROTC programs as part of their career technical education offerings — if school administrators want them.
The U.S. Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces. Participating students learn the JROTC curriculum, including lessons in leadership, health and wellness, physical fitness, first aid and geography. Cadets then participate in co-curricular activities to demonstrate what they’ve learned, such as exhibition military drill competitions and air rifle competitions.
JROTC programs are established in high schools and some middle schools across the country, as well as U.S. military bases around the world. The program is described online as “one of the largest character development and citizenship programs for youth in the world.”
There are only five programs in Oregon at high schools in Madras, Lebanon, Salem, Oregon City and Troutdale.
The Portland Public school board Tuesday evening voted 4-3 to change the district’s military careers policy in an attempt to outline a clearer pathway to establish JROTC programs.
Board members Michelle DePass, Andrew Scott and Patte Sullivan voted against the change. Student representative Frankie Silverstein also voiced her opposition on behalf of the district’s student council and other peers.
Portland’s new policy allows schools to offer JROTC but does not require it.
The district’s military policy, originally adopted in 2001, already said the district will not prohibit a teacher, counselor or administrator from providing information to a student about career and educational opportunities in the military or from referring them to a recruitment office.
Schools will provide necessary records and recommendations to military offices and institutions to facilitate scholarship, appointments or enlistment for military services, according to the policy. And now, with the approved revision this week, the policy expressly allows a high school principal to establish a JRTOC program in consultation with the superintendent.
District officials said JROTC programs would still have to adhere to the requirements that guide the creation of any other career tech program.
Proponents of the policy change — particularly school board Vice-Chair Herman Greene, who sponsored it — have said over the past several weeks that offering more career tech programs will help keep kids in school, and they want students to know all their options.
FILE: Portland Public Schools Vice-Chair Herman Greene helped a policy change that provides a pathway to JROTC programs.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Not every student will graduate high school and move on to college. Some will go directly into the workforce, learn a trade or join the military. Greene and other supporters see this as a way to help educate students on their choices.
“We must vote yes, because, as a public school system, we have an obligation to prepare our students for all possible career paths, not just the ones that we like or deem valuable,” Greene said in his prepared comments Tuesday night. “And when they decide that they are interested in pursuing something, we should be there to support their decisions.”
Greene said the proposal stemmed from a letter from an anonymous student.
“A student came to me out of concern that if they shared what they really wanted, the counselor at their school would withhold scholarship opportunities for them because they completely disagreed with their position,” he told the board. “[The student] talked to this counselor, and said, ‘This is what they wanted,’ and the counselor had told them, ‘Well, it’s OK. But you don’t have to do that. You can do this, and you can do that.’”
But there was confusion among board members about precisely what they were being asked to do, and whether it was needed.
Board member Scott said that coming into the meeting, he was under the impression that the district actively did not allow JROTC programs in local schools and that’s why they were approving the policy change.
However, during board discussions it became clear that isn’t the case. There’s nothing stopping schools from establishing these programs now, said board member Eddie Wang, and, in fact, putting the new revisions into motion could actually make it much harder to establish a JROTC program.
Wang pointed out that, according to the proposal, any JROTC programs will have to be established in a way that aligns with PPS’s “academic standards, policies and administrative directives.” But the district has an administrative directive restricting military recruitment in Portland schools — something many people argue JRTOC does.
In that line of thinking, Wang argued the new policy could be used to actively prevent JROTC programs.
Scott recommended the proposal go back to the board’s policy committee to sort out the confusion. There were also unanswered questions about the program’s fiscal impact on the district and claims that JROTC programs do not allow some students, including immigrants, to participate. The board ultimately decided to move ahead with the regular vote.
Of the public comment collected and presented in Tuesday night’s board documents, only one person voiced support for the policy — former marine and state Rep. James Hieb, R-Canby.
The remaining 16 or so who submitted comments from roughly the last month, as well as a handful who testified in person Tuesday, were strongly opposed.
Veterans for Peace, About Face, War Resisters League-Portland, some PPS students and individual veterans were among the opposition.
They argue the JROTC is military training and recruitment and that it encourages students to see the world and history “through the lens of war and violence.” Other critics also raised concerns that these efforts often target students of color and that JROTC programs in Portland schools would likely target low-income schools.
Some argued having JROTC programs in the district violates PPS’ commitment to be trauma-informed, meaning they take into account how adverse experiences affect kids, and that it goes against the community’s values.
Further, they argued that military jobs are not like other careers. Opponents listed possible violence, death, PTSD and suicide seen in combat or when soldiers return as reasons why serving in the military differs from other potential jobs.
Portland resident Sylvia McGauley submitted testimony about her experience teaching for several years at Reynolds High School, which houses the JROTC program in Troutdale. She argued that JROTC staff, who apply through the Army, are often underqualified to teach in a public school setting and the programs introduce added expenses the district can’t afford.
Additionally, McGauley said, investigations by both the Military Times and New York Times found JROTC personnel have been convicted of sexual harassment and abuse of students at disproportionately higher rates than other school staff.
Read the adopted policy change and public testimony here.