Board votes 4-3 to reinstate JROTC

Shorthand: Resolution passed 4-3 with the following amendments:

• give schools with enrollment of 50 students or fewer the option of dropping the program;
• ask  JROTC students and instructors to work to oppose Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Votes in favor: Mendoza, Norton, Wynns, Yee. Votes opposed: Kim, Fewer, Maufas.

Still to come: a battle over P.E. credit. We could not bring up P.E. credit because we would have had to vote to suspend Board rules and that vote was not noticed in the agenda. Commissioner Wynns argued strongly that because last year’s resolution ending P.E. credit only overtly applied to 2008-09, the Board did not need to act to restore credit, but the Board’s attorney held strong to her interpretation that the resolution would have to overtly address P.E. credit to have any effect on the district’s ability to waive the P.E. requirement for students completing two years of JROTC.

The discussion was VERY convoluted and I would be surprised if most of the spectators understood what was going on, since there were a number of moments where even I was confused.

In the end it seemed most expedient to go ahead and vote on the resolution as amended above, and go back later to address the P.E. issue. Commissioner Yee and Commissioner Kim (as members of the prevailing side in last year’s resolution ending the ability to waive the P.E. requirement for students completing two years of JROTC) can bring this topic back to the full board for consideration in the coming weeks; after June 17 any Commissioner can bring it back (since the Board rules say that after one year, any Member can bring a previously-settled item back for consideration).

So, in short, this fight is only half-resolved. Stay tuned.