Canceling Romeoville's MCJROTC Was a Marine Corp Decision: Valley View Officials

Valley View School District 365U Superintendent James Mitchem told dozens gathered at Romeoville High School Monday night that “misinformation” about the end of the RHS MCROTC program was the product of “people sowing the seeds of dissent simply because they can.”

An email suggesting the Valley View school board voted to end the program was a "forgery," Mitchem said. The school board has always supported the program and has never held a “back door” meeting regarding it, he said. It was the Marine Corps’ decision to cancel the program, not Valley View’s.

“Those rumors are false,” Mitchem said. “In the age of technology and how people can communicate with blogs and Facebook, things mushroom. As a man of my honor, I never had any intentions for decertifying or canceling (this program).”

The district now has 60 days after the first day of the 2013-2014 school year to replace its MCJROTC Unit Commander, a position for which there are only 14 eligible candidates in the entire country, Valley View officials said.

While Mitchem, Board Member Rick Gougis and RHS Principal Derek Kinder addressed the crowd, there was no representation from the Marine Corp, something that concerned several community members.

“We only have your point of view,” one woman told officials.

“I hope you believe I have been honest with you,” Mitchem said during the meeting. “We will stop at nothing to keep this program. We were committed prior to this groundswell, and we’re committed now…I do not see a scenario in which we will not be able to continue the program in the future.”

Valley View officials said that Marine Corp officials were aware of the meeting but because it was a “school district matter,” chose not to attend. Patch contacted MCJROTC Regional Director Lt. Col. Denis Caruth and plans to speak with him Tuesday afternoon regarding the matter.

The Marine Corp wants to cut the program, not Valley View, officials said. 

The decision to cut the program was the Marine Corps’, Mitchem said. Not Valley View’s.

“The rumor that this decertification was at the behest of the school district is false,” Mitchem said. “The school board has never had any discussion"

That contradicts an email circulated from Dr. William McHenry, director of Marine Corp JROTC, to MCROTC instructor Rachele Miller, which partly reads:

“That being said, Carmen Cole informs me the School Board recently voted to end the JROTC program, thus making your concerns moot.”

Valley View officials said they have never heard of Carmen Cole and doubt that individual’s very existence.

“For all I know, it’s a made-up name,” Mitchem said.  “Some of the information that has been put out has been very intentional.”

The board could not legally have voted to end the program, officials said, because the action item would have to be posted on a school board agenda and voted on in public. It could not have been voted on in a closed-door meeting, Gougis said.

RHS Principal Kinder said rumors he wanted to cut the MCJROTC program gone are also untrue. Students who participate in MCJROTC are highly-disciplined, well-behaved and high-achieving, he said. He would like more students to be involved in the program, not fewer, he said.

The timeline of MCJROTC events

By Marine Corp regulations, a MCROTC program is required to have two instructors – a commissioned officer and a non-commissioned officer. These two positions were filled in the 2012-2013 school year by Major (Ret.) Mark Placey and GySgt. Rachele Miller (Ret.), respectively. As the commissioned officer, Placey is considered the senior military instructor, or SMI, while Miller is a military instructor (MI). 

In March, Placey indicated he was interested in a job in another school district. 

This spring, the district included Miller’s position in a reduction in force. Officials have said this was because of RHS’ decreased RHS MCJROTC enrollment – 125 this school year, the lowest in nine years.

In May, Placey officially accepts the position, leaving RHS without a SMI. RHS Principal Derek Kinder said he immediately begins the search for his replacement, of which there are only 14 qualified candidates in the country. Kinder also contacts an Army JROTC representative.

RHS will have great trouble attracting one of those candidates because Chicago has a cold climate, RHS Principal Derek Kinder said. Also, Valley View does not offer competitive pay.

Also in May, RHS learns it must pack up its MCJROTC equipment and uniforms so that an inventory may be done. This is a requirement following Placey's departure, Kinder said. 

On June 3, the same day as the RHS award ceremony, Valley View officials are told the RHS MCJROTC program will be decertified, Mitchem said. Students are not told so as to not cast a dark cloud over their ceremony, Kinder said.

On June 4, Miller and Placey pack up the MCJROTC rooms.

On June 6, Mitchem speaks with Marine Corp officials and receives 60 days from the start of the school year to find an SMI.  

Officials repeatedly said that the school board would back financing a higher salary to an SMI who would come to RHS. The Department of Defense normally pays half of the salary. Valley View officials said they would be willing to cover the difference so that an SMI could receive a more attractive salary package.   

Will MCROTC return in the fall? 

Mitchem continually told the crowd he was optimistic as to the future of the MCJROTC program, referring to a “light at the end of the tunnel.”

At Monday’s school board meeting, Board President Steven Quigley said that the district had “no interest in having any of our ROTC program decommissioned.”  “We want to see these programs continue,” Quigley said. “We will do in my opinion what we can do to make these things happen.” 

School Board Member Rick Gougis requested to put an action item on the agenda of the board’s next meeting to “show the board’s support and commitment to seek senior military instructor for our program at RHS.”

James Mitchem said he has elicited support from Rep. Dan Lipinski to “put full weight behind this initiative” to find a Marine Corp instructor.

If or when the MCJROTC program does return, RHS will need to more strictly adhere to Marine Corp regulations, including those that pertain to hair cuts and uniform.

“In our attempts to continue to keep our program viable, to some extent we have relaxed our standards to make sure we can get students in our program,” Mitchem said.

Miller said intense regulation of weekly hair cuts and shaving put in place by Placey were partly to blame for the decrease in students.

“When a student has barely had anything to eat, how can they get a hair cut every week?” Miller said.

Mitchem said that these regulations will nevertheless need to be enforced. 

“The Marine Corps expects that we run the program in the way it was intended,” Mitchem said. “Nothing less.”