Expelling Jr. ROTC From America's Most "Tolerant" City

The San Francisco, California public school system is thinking about barring Junior R.O.T.C. from its high school campuses:

The San Francisco Board of Education is considering expelling the military's Junior ROTC program from the city's high schools because of the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gay service members.

A resolution introduced Tuesday by the board's only gay member would end the city's relationship with the JROTC by the 2007-2008 academic year, arguing that the military's ban on openly gay soldiers violates the school district's equal rights policy for gays.

"If the military said, 'You can't be openly Jewish or you can't be openly Catholic,' I don't think we would have stood for it this long," said school board member Mark Sanchez, the measure's author. "It's an ethical issue more than anything."

The program currently has 1,625 students participating at seven San Francisco public high schools. Under the proposal, which calls the military policy on gays an "unjust, indefensible, unintelligent, state-sanctioned act of homophobia" the school board would appoint a committee to develop a program with similar physical fitness aims, but without military ties.

Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter, a Pentagon spokesman, said he didn't know of any school district having barred JROTC from its campuses.

School board member Jill Wynns said San Francisco would lose money if the resolution passes when it comes up for a final vote next month. Students who now earn physical education credits through JROTC, which is funded jointly by the district and the U.S. Department of Defense, would have to be moved into regular PE classes.

Ed's Note to the S.F. School Board: Why not let the students themselves decide whether or not any particular school site has a Jr. ROTC program? If the kids don't want to participate , they won't sign up for it. After all, Jr. ROTC is an elective, not a requirement.

Allow the kids to continue to have Freedom of Choice. It's the American way.

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