July 14th 2011
Commander Calls Cutting Jacksonville High Schools’ ROTC Unacceptable
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The commander of Jacksonville’s Mandarin High Naval Junior ROTC Program said cutting the program came as a surprise.
“I just learned about it last week,” said Cmdr. Glen Akins, a retired naval flight officer, who taught the Naval Junior Reserve Training Officer Corps at Mandarin High for nearly a decade.
“ROTC is a good course; it teaches discipline, leadership and responsibility to kids,” said Akins.
On Aug. 1, Akins will retire, but he would like to see the program remain. He finds it difficult to believe that the budget crunch is the real issue behind the program being cut at four area high schools.
Akins said the U.S. Navy pays 50 percent of his salary and it meets most of the students’ needs.
“The Navy pays for all of the computers and text books and our transportation. We have a lot of drills we go to, that’s all paid for by the Navy,” said Akins.
Mandarin Principal Donna Richardson made the decision to cut the program her operated at her school; she did not return calls.
School board spokesperson Matt Saffer said the schools were asked to cut their budgets 1.5 percent, and it was the principals’ decision what to cut, not the district’s.
Parents like Connie Benham are trying to save the program. “I have written to the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense. I have written to as many people as I can and I tell the parents I am in communication with to do the same,” said Benham, whose son is a freshman in Mandarin’s Naval Jr. ROTC.
“I believe there are other places to cut the budget, mainly starting in the administration building rather than the schools and the children,” she said.
Even though he is retiring, Akins feels getting rid of the ROTC program is a bad decision.
“Again, a lot of these kids are not going to college, they’re going in the military or take other jobs. We teach them a lot of stuff to prepare for that,” he said.
Benham plans to continue her effort to save the NJROTC program at Mandarin. She said if her son wants to continue his education there without the program, it is his decision.
The program is still available at several other Duval high schools.
During the 2010-2011 school year the Department of Defense spent $671,942 on the Duval County ROTC programs, while the Duval County School Board spent another $1,453,158 to make the programs work.
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