JROTC INSTRUCTOR BULLIES PEACE ACTIVIST OUT OF CHARTER SCHOOL

One of the many problems with charter schools is that they are able to escape the visibility of publicly owned and operated schools. Long time DC peace activist John Judge experienced this recently.

Vietnam combat veteran, Michael Marceau is a long-time member of CHOICES and has put in many class appearances with me in the DC high schools over the last years. He tells the story of his Vietnam war experience and wounds, and explains the difference between recruiter sales pitches and reality. I had to fly to Dallas on November 19th, and asked Mike to fill in at Washington Math, Science and Technology Charter High School in DC. We had attended a Career Day there last year and were appreciated, and we were invited back this year. Mike was put into a classroom for both morning periods, he was told. During the first one, an Air Force JROTC instructor, a Colonel, leaned in the doorway and began to interrupt the presentation with hostile questions. Near the end of the class a second uniformed instructor showed up and asked Mike to gather his materials and come with him. He took Mike to the office of the principal, who told him that he would have to leave the school since they only wanted "positive" messages for the students. Mike left, though he had not caused any sort of disturbance. This is even worse since we had visited before and were invited that day.

CHOICES has gone into DC public and charter high schools relying on a decision by the DC Board of Education in 1980 that if JROTC or military recruiters were allowed into a school someone had to be allowed to give another point of view. We began those visits in 1985 with veterans and military family members and alternatives to enlistment. Technically, Charter schools fall under a separate Board and have independent rules at each school. However there are general rules and guidelines in effect from the Board as well for all the Charter schools. . .

While not under the DCPS authority or the Chancellor's office, Charter schools are subject to the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, as are all DC schools who take any federal funding. I am relying on a section that concerns military recruiter access to schools, stating that they should have "essentially the same access as other career paths and institutions of higher learning". While I believe in practice they have an unequal access to students, far more than any other career option, the requirement that they have essentially the same as other options implies those options also have access. Therefore the military cannot have exclusive access or deny access to other options in the school.