E. Feliciana ROTC units in jeopardy
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CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board asked for more time Tuesday to ponder the future of U.S. Army training programs in Clinton and Jackson high schools.
Superintendent Doug Beauchamp said participation in the schools’ Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps has been dwindling in recent years and the district has been unable to find commissioned officers to lead the programs.
The program costs between $80,000 and $90,000 a year for two non-commissioned officers who are the instructors, but the Army is requiring the district to again have commissioned officers or close the program after the 2008-09 school year, Beauchamp said.
Adding two officers would cost $180,000 to $200,000, the superintendent estimated.
“The other side of the coin is that they do a lot of good,” said Beauchamp, who is a Navy veteran.
Board member Oliver Wingfield, a Navy veteran who was involved in the Navy JROTC program in Baton Rouge, said parents are discouraging participation.
“Because of the political situation in this country, parents don’t want their kids to have anything to do with the military,” Wingfield said.
Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Charles Duplechain, who was an instructor at Clinton High when more than half the student body participated, said enrollment in parish schools also has declined in recent years, but he warned the parish would never get the program back if it’s dropped now.
Jherrica Kelly, a Clinton High graduate, said she was apprehensive that the Army instructors would try to use the program to recruit soldiers, but she found her fears were groundless.
“It didn’t mold me to enter the military, but it molded me to be the woman I am today,” Kelly said.
Board members said they plan to discuss the program again May 21.
