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> JROTC threatened again
Southsider2k12
post Nov 26 2009, 01:14 PM
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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=27275

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Concerns arise again over future of JROTC

Alicia Ebaugh
Staff Writer

MICHIGAN CITY - Once again, students in the Marine Corps Junior ROTC program at Michigan City High School are unsure if the program will continue, although officials say it will.

Last week, school administrators received a letter from Marine Corps JROTC headquarters indicating the program will be shut down if Michigan City Area Schools does not get a second teacher, School Board President Jim Kintzele said Tuesday. The program has operated with only a single instructor since instructor Maj. Larry Naifeh died in January 2006, and its future has come into question in the years following.

"(Interim Superintendent Carla) Iacona is working with them on this," Kintzele said. "There are not as many students in the program as we expected, the numbers aren't where they should be, although, it's been said that maybe if we had a better program, we'd have more students in it."

Program instructors are partially paid by the Marine Corps.

Senior Caitlin Foster, operations officer in the program, said in a phone interview JROTC has given her self-discipline and leadership skills she would never have gained without it.

"If it's not there anymore, it will have a negative impact on the school," said Foster, 18. She was not at the board meeting. "Only about 230 schools in the country have the program, and only four in Indiana. It's an honor to have it here."

While JROTC students wear uniforms, drill in the hallways and sometimes outdoors and honor military traditions, the program's main goal is to prepare the cadets for higher education, Foster said. Community service also is emphasized through everything from color guard for graduation ceremonies and security for athletic events to picking up trash from the side of the roads.

Foster said about 85 MCHS students participated in JROTC last year.

"It's hard to justify providing two instructors for 85 students when high school English teachers routinely see 160 students a day," former Superintendent Michael Harding said of the program in 2007.

Marine Corps rules require two instructors for each JROTC program.

When MCAS faced a $1.8 million cut in state funding in 2005, some talked about cutting the program. The program survived, but it has been on probation because it is supposed to have two instructors. Naifeh's assistant instructor, Marty Pluchinsky, resigned in July 2007 amid uncertainty about JROTC's future. In September 2007, his replacement, JROTC instructor Julius Miles, resigned after he was accused of punching a 16-year-old Michigan City High School sophomore.

The instructor now is Sgt. Major Ken Altizer.

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Southsider2k12
post Dec 3 2009, 04:28 PM
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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=27424

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ROTC great program; leave it alone
The school board is talking about closing other classes at the high school along with ROTC. I think before closing any program they should look at the discipline records of students in other classes compared with students in ROTC. There will be a big difference.

This is my first year in ROTC and it really is a great program. The high school can look at my record from last year to this year, and they will see what ROTC can do for any student. Yes, they've been saying that we don't have enough students, but what about the students going to the high school next year. You never thought of that, did you?

ROTC is the best program at the high school. I feel as if the school board is always taking the good things away from us, and yet we keep helping out the community and the high school, with security at big events and the senior center and other things. I bet you guys didn't think about that either. All the school board is thinking about is getting this program closed for good, and it's a big disappointment. Just leave ROTC alone and worry about more serious problems.

Michelle Edwards

Michigan City
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