Montrose High School is discontinuing its Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, (NJROTC) program after 50 years due to declining student interest and a shortage of qualified staff to teach Naval Science classes.
The decision is not final, says Matt Jenkins of Montrose County School District.
"We're sad to see that program closing for now," Jenkins told KVNF. "That's not a forever final closure. If student interest were to return to NJROTC, if more interested teachers were signing up for that, if more interested retired naval officers wanted to be in the classroom in that program, you know, we could bring that back. Certainly."
The Navy's requirements for the program include a minimum of 100 enrolled students and two retired naval officers as instructors, which MCSD has struggled to meet.
"For whatever reason, you know, year over year, even pre-pandemic, we've seen fewer and fewer students signing up for that program, in addition to decreasing student interest in enrollment," Jenkins said.
"Staffing both in Montrose County, across the state and across the nation has been a struggle for the past five years. We've had only one teacher instead of two and so we were on a probationary status because of that," Jenkins added. "In addition, we had less than 50 kids sign up in NJROTC for last school year. You're required to have a hundred kids signed up. So we had half the number of kids we're supposed to have, and so for the last four or five years, we've been on a long-term probation status and we're seeing fewer and fewer kids want to sign up for that program."
The program, which included Naval Science courses and extracurricular activities, aimed to develop students' character and provide pathways to military careers. Despite the disappointment among students and community members, the school is exploring alternative pathways for students interested in military careers, such as collaboration with the Civil Air Patrol's color guard program.
Jenkins says there has been a significant increase in construction trade electives.
"We've had a 300% increase in our construction trade electives," said Jenkins. "We're offering 16 sections of that in Montrose High School this year. It's a result, I think, of a lot of the exciting career pathways programming we're doing. Exciting things are going on and every year, really, every school day. We're going to make sure that our content is engaging to kids that school is interesting and fun and not boring and not pointless. Kids are going to see a good reason to go to school and it's because it's going to prepare them for a successful rewarding career."
While the NJROTC program is ending, efforts will continue to engage students interested in military-related activities and careers.
This story was shared with us via Rocky Mountain Community Radio, a network of public media stations including KDNK in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.