JROTC rumors untrue, Murray superintendent says

Published 7:49 am Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Talk that Murray County High School failed to apply for a $50,000 grant before ending its 33-year-old JROTC program is simply not true, Murray County Schools Superintendent Vickie Reed said.

Reed and several school board members have said the myth of the grant is just one of several rumors that have been floated since several parents and students were upset the school district ended the program in an effort to save $124,000. The move was one piece of plans to slash $4 million from the current budget of $54.2 million.

“There have been accusations that the decision to cancel the JROTC program was a ‘kneejerk reaction without careful consideration,’” Reed said in a written statement she read at a recent Board of Education meeting and provided to several news media outlets.

Reed said school officials tried to find ways to cut program costs before eliminating the program entirely. She said they were told they had to have two instructors, rather than cutting costs by having only one, and that they could not split the program between two schools.

Several parents have said school officials failed to apply for a $50,000 grant to support JROTC.

“There was some confusion regarding this accusation,” Reed said in the statement. “The school district first thought the complaint was made in relation to the monies received from the Army each year (since JROTC was funded jointly by the Army and the school system). In (fiscal year) 2010 (which ended June 30), these funds were in the amount of $50,047.77. This amount of money however rolled over from year-to-year and did not require a grant application.”

Reed said she contacted the Army instructor over JROTC at the state level on Aug. 10, 2010, following several months of complaints and he told her that no one from the school system had “refused” to file for a grant. He added that the grant was actually for between $5,000 and $25,000 and was related to character education, not JROTC. Reed said the school district already has a character education program in place with supporting curriculum and did not apply for the additional grant.

“There was no $50,000 JROTC grant available to the school system at any time,” she said.