A new report seems
to make a strong case for opening a military-style academy in the Rochester
City School District. The report, released this week, was put together by a
special advisory committee of the Rochester school board.
The report
recommends creating a standalone military school in the district, with the US
Army’s guidance. Instruction would be based on a Regents curriculum with an
emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math.
The school would
open in September 2017 with about 75 ninth-grade students. More than half would
come from city schools, but the academy would also enroll students from the
broader area. The school would, over four years, grow to serve no more than 450
students in grades 7 to 12.
Todd Baxter,
executive director of Rochester’s Veterans Outreach Center, and Lieutenant
Colonel Ulises Miranda, senior instructor of the JROTC program at Rochester
Early College High School, led the committee’s effort.
Their research
included interviews and focus group discussions with a wide range of
organizations and individuals: city school district students, city parents,
business and community leaders, college officials, members of the faith and
organized labor communities, and law enforcement and military professionals.
The report found
that support for a military-style school is strong in both the city and the
suburbs.
Many educators and
city and community leaders have long voiced interest in having a military-style
school in the city school district. Some parents say that a military academy
could provide students with structure, character development, and positive role
models.
But history has
shown opposition, too, to connections between the district and the armed
forces.
Military recruitment
on public high school campuses, for example, became a controversial issue
during the Iraq war. Many people feared that it would create a pipeline to feed
poor students to the military.
And many people have
concerns about how students would be selected for the new academy and whether
discipline might be too harsh.
“A proposal like
this needs to go through a thorough vetting process,” says Van White, president
of the Rochester school board. “There are still questions about financing and
resources that will need to be answered.”
White says that past
proposals for new schools typically came from the superintendent. The board is
interested in seeing more proposals come from the community, he says, and is
developing a process to review those proposals.
The military school
proposal would need to go before the board’s finance and student achievement
committees before going to the full board for review. The community has to be
involved, too, White says.
A detailed plan for
the school would ultimately need the approval of the State Education Department
moving forward.
“This is just the
first step,” White says.
The military academy
would open in September 2017 with about 75 ninth-grade students. More than half
would come from city schools. The school would, over four years, grow to serve
no more than 450 students in grades 7 to 12.
This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2016.
Sorry to hear this. I know lots of parents are looking for a stricter learning environment for their children, for a variety of reasons. (I did a 12-year stint in Catholic schools, and, although I hated it, it made the parents happy!)
I just wish we could offer a solution that didn’t involve the military. That system already takes away too many of our kids.
Ms. Quinn Thomas:
Although I would not use the word “stricter” to describe this particular effort, we (the RCSD) are trying to do a better job at ensuring that there are a variety of different learning environments for our families and students to choose from.
By way of example, the Board of Education, spearheaded the changes underway at East High School. Now, under the management of the University of Rochester, that once very large school has been broken up into a “upper” and “lower” house.
Additionally, to ensure that the environment is supportive and nuturing, every student at East is assigned to a “family” – allowing them to meet regularly with a caring adult.
Ultimately, Ms. Quinn Thomas, what matters most in the creation, operation, and selection of any school is that whatever structure or approach is decided upon, there needs to be systems in place that facilitate positive and productive relationships between capable and caring adults and their students.
Unfortunately, our District has not always offered our parents the best choices in this regard. If the Board decides to adopt the Special Committee’s recommendations and create an military academy, this would be just one of a variety of “learning enviroments” from which parents could choose.
Van White
I was happy to be a part of the focus group for this concept, and am still in full support.
The people that have this thought in their head: “Many people feared that it would create a pipeline to feed poor students to the military.” I guess poor kids should stay poor, huh? It’d be just so awful to have a kid graduate high school and join the military where he’d be PAID to learn a skill. I was a dental tech in the Army. A job that starts at $25/hr in the civilian world. I got a salary while learning that job, as opposed to paying for 2 years of MCC to learn the exact same thing. Which makes more sense, Kathryn?
People opposed to this idea have no clue what military schools are about, or the benefits that come from such a school.
Eric: Thank you for you service. Risking your life while getting job training should be a personal adult decision. You made the choice on your own.
Years ago, the local Catholics used to send young boys to St Andrews for school, which fed them into St Bernards and eventually the priesthood. Those boys took on their “vocation” after many years of molding in the system. Catholics don’t do that anymore– the results weren’t healthy. Military schools do the same thing.
They’ll still have free will. They won’t be pushed in to anything Kathryn. Ulises Miranda was the leader of the focus group I was in. He said very few of his JROTC students actually end up going in to the military. It was a unanimous decision among our group to continue RCSD’s policy of no military recruiters on campus. Also, another thing that was unanimously agreed on was that absolutely no would be booted for academic reasons, as is the case at Buffalo’s Maritime Charter school.
Kathryn – the military doesn’t force anyone to join. If you don’t want your kids to be “taken” away…then forbid them to join.
I for one am happy to hear about new Education Avenues that our students and their parents can choose to utilize. Shame on anyone trying to take these choices away from others.