San Francisco schools to phase out Junior ROTC programs


Posted: 11/15/2006 07:00:33

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco high schools soon will no longer have Junior R-O-T-C programs.

The city's Board of Education has voted four-to-two to phase out the programs over the next two years because of the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding gay service members. The resolution 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 one-point-six million dollar annual cost of the programs.

Hundreds of students had gathered outside the meeting to support J-R-O-T-C. They say the program teaches leadership, organizational skills, personal responsibility and other important values.

Mayor Gavin Newsom also weighed in on the issue, saying the resolution only hurts students and pulls them into an ideological debate.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://www.abc15.com/news/morenews/index.asp?did=31144