Peach County High School ROTC disbanded

FORT VALLEY, Ga. – Members of the Peach County community met with Peach County Board of Education Superintendent  Dr. Lionel Brown and Vice Chair Scott Hodges to discuss the closing of the Peach County High School ROTC program. The community meeting took place on Tuesday, May 2, at 8:30 a.m. at the Peach County Board of Education office.

Dr. Brown explained the rationale behind the program being disbanded. Shortly after becoming the superintendent, he noticed problems with the program. One of the main issues was with enrollment, with students not staying with the program past the first year. After Peach County High School moved to the new building, the number of students dropped even further. 

Dr. Brown began noticing that the basic theme and elements of the program were diminishing. He no longer saw the leadership, camaraderie, and good school culture that the program is known for. He was also seeing a drop in the overall student involvement in the program and out in the community. 

Dr. Brown mentioned that it was not only the students but there were personnel issues with one of the instructors. Those in attendance agreed that there were issues with one of the instructors and that the instructor was not invested in the students. 

During the yearly inspection performance, the Navy Officer inspector reported that the students performed poorly. Originally, the program would have been given a year to be fully disbanded. However, after the report from the inspection came in, Dr. Brown was given the go-ahead by the Inspector to disband the program at the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

Dr. Brown emphasized that his decision was not made lightly. He plans to do what he can to rebuild the program. He stated that he believes the program is valuable and needed, as it helps teach students about American values. Dr. Brown stressed this point by saying; “Is ROTC finished in Peach County? Not by any stretch of the imagination. I’m gonna bring it back if I’m still sitting here. That is the overall plan. But, we’ve gotta figure out the best program to bring and what are the needs of our community and kids.”

The decision has already been made and the program will be disbanded. However, Dr. Brown told those in the meeting that being here shows him that he needs to work to get the program rebuilt as quickly as he and the board can. 

Those who were in attendance are supporters of the program and they were given a chance to speak on the program.

Jason Allmon and Heather Allmon are two parents who support the ROTC program. Their son, Greggory Allmon, graduated from Peach County High School in 2019 and was an officer in the ROTC program. 

Jo Earnhardt and her daughter Susan Henson are members of the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA). The ALA is a separate entity from the American Legion that shares the same values. The group is composed of spouses, mothers, daughters, granddaughters, and sisters of American war veterans. Henson was also a teacher at the Peach County High School.

Michaela Jones and Howell Jones are the parents of a student in the ROTC program.

The Allmons brought up a counterpoint, stating that those in the ROTC program did not receive what they needed for the program to thrive. Jason stated that the program did not have the needed storage space or a drill pad. Henson agreed with that point. Both spoke on rumors about Peach County High School purposefully not having what the ROTC needed because the program was planned to be disbanded from the start. Dr. Brown and Hodges stated that those rumors were incorrect. 

Henson brought up the belief that if the program can reach at least one student, isn’t it worth having the program? She stressed that those students that participate in agriculture don’t all go into the field of agriculture but many of those in ROTC programs do go on to join the military.

The Jones discussed how ROTC had helped their son, who is autistic, and helped give him a reason to go to and do well in school. Michaela spoke about how happy she was with the Peach County School System and how glad she was that the ROTC program had helped her son. Howell spoke on the differences he saw in his son and how the program had helped him.

Earnhardt spoke that the ROTC teaches and encourages leadership, discipline, physical health, physical fitness, personal hygiene, nutrition, and self-respect. She cited a study, Geographic and Demographic Representativeness of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, by the RAND Corporation stating that the study found consistently positive associations between grade point average and JROTC participation. JROTC participation was also consistently associated with lower dropout rates and improved attendance.

There was a consensus that there were issues mainly caused by the lead instructor not being involved with the students and having a conflict of interest. Multiple accounts from Dr. Brown, Hodges, and the denizens agreed that the head instructor was not doing what he needed to involve the community with the program. However, everyone in attendance spoke highly of and agreed that Officer Marvin Bert was one of the few instructors that cared about the students and did what he could to support them.