The Navy will disestablish nine Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (NJROTC) units, effective June 30, 2013.
The nine units are currently on probationary status for failure to meet statutory and NJROTC regulatory minimum student enrollment standards.
“Our goal is to maintain a high-quality program that ensures the full range of NJROTC activities are available for participating students across the nation and overseas,” said Rear Adm. David F. Steindl , commander, Naval Service Training Command (NSTC), which oversees approximately 600 NJROTC and Navy National Defense Cadet Corps (NNDCC) units at accredited high schools across the nation.
“ We are extremely proud of what the NJROTC and NNDCC programs offer participating students, so it was important for us to work with each non-compliant high school and continue to support the NJROTC program as long as possible. However, due to projected future funding levels, it is no longer possible to maintain NJROTC units that fail to meet minimum enrollment requirements and are not in compliance with program directives,” Steindl added.
The Navy will offer these schools an opportunity to host NNDCC units.
“The NNDCC program is modeled on the NJROTC program, but is primarily funded by host schools,” said Steindl. “ NNDCC units use the NJROTC curriculum, and gain the same values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment as do the cadets in the NJROTC program.”
Title 10 United States Code, Chapter 102, Section 2031, and Department of Defense Directives require a minimum enrollment of qualified students for NJROTC units. For host schools with a total enrollment of 1,000 or more, the minimum enrollment number is 100. Where schools have less than 1,000 students enrolled, a minimum of 10 percent of the total enrollment is required.
The specific units to be disestablished are Comeaux High School (Lafayette, Louisiana); Shelton High School (Shelton, Washington); Dover High School (Dover, New Hampshire); A.C. Jones High School (Beeville, Texas); Bartlett-Yancey High School (Yanceyville, North Carolina); Saddleback High School (Santa Ana, California): Greenville High School (Greenville, South Carolina); Frederick Douglass High School (Upper Marlboro, Maryland); and Saluda High School (Saluda, South Carolina).
NJROTC and NNDCC are citizenship development programs that instill in students at secondary educational institutions the values of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility and a sense of accomplishment.
The NJROTC and NNDCC curricula emphasize citizenship and leadership development. The classroom instruction is augmented throughout the year by community service activities, team competitions, visits to naval activities, marksmanship training, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) seminars.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, July 18, 2012