Welcome Back to School Issue Why Is the Save Senn Coalition Still Active, and Inviting You?
A number of issues have been facing Senn High School. While there are signs of progress on some of the problems, nothing has been fully settled. So, the struggle must continue, and we encourage you to be as active as possible. What are the issues?

1. Good News: Senn High School remains open! There has been a threat to the existence of Senn High School as a general community high school with its current diverse student body, a school open to all. A meeting was held on July 11 with Mr. David Pickens of the Board of Education, Alderman Mary Ann Smith, and representatives of the Senn Strategic Planning Committee. No definite statement was made about Senn being open one year from today, but a call is being made to the Board and Alderman to ensure such a commitment be made so that outreach and recruiting for the freshman class of 2010 can begin now.

2. There has been a continuing lack of democratic process around Senn High School by the mayor, alderman, and Board of Education. This was reflected on July 11 when concerned Senn students and others were not allowed into the meeting to voice their opinions when the Board of Education personnel met with Senn committee members about Senn’s future. The decision to put the military academy inside the Senn High School building was made by the military, Senator Durbin, Mayor Daley, Alderman Smith, and the Board of Education in an undemocratic way. The decision was made despite the widespread opposition of students, faculty, parents, and the wider community. The opposition to the naval academy or any school not part of Senn in the Senn building needs to be listened to now. This is supposed to be a democracy.

3. The Save Senn Coalition is concerned that the naval academy will continue to have a negative impact on an improving and already high quality Senn High School. Programs have been crowded, with favoritism shown toward the naval academy– with its smaller classes, more up-to-date equipment and ample facilities, and RNA cadets allowed to be in the halls of Senn while Senn students are not allowed in the RNA section of the school.

4. The Save Senn Coalition is also concerned that there is military training of youth and that the presence of the military academy is improper recruitment of high school youth for a military sent to fight in illegal and aggressive U.S. wars, such as in Iraq. This is another reason the Save Senn Coalition advocates having the Rickover Naval Academy removed from the Senn High School building.

5. With room to grow, and if the kind of money spent on RNA were instead devoted to the plan proposed by the Senn Strategic Planning Committee, Senn’s programs could quickly expand to include environmental initiatives, extensive fine arts specializations and a spectacular World Studies program. Instead, Senn is crowded into a small space by a separate entity which is given resources as Senn is deprived of them.

   You are invited to join with us in the campaign to further develop the quality of Senn High School as a general community high school, to remove the naval academy from the school building, and to oppose the militarization of youth. Please submit a short article for Anchors Away or be interviewed for an article. Let us Save Senn!

WORDS TO THE WISE

Government regulations state that JROTC “should create favorable attitudes and impressions toward the Services and toward careers in the Armed Forces” (Title 32, 542.5, 3c). What is the problem with a career in the armed forces? When you hear ideas favoring having you join the armed services, we think you should consider the words of these Iraq vets about problems with the military today:
– from Iraq Veterans Against the War (www.ivaw.org), an organization of vets which represents the thousands of men and women who have served or are still serving as part of the Iraq war, but have turned against it.
Ten Reasons for Opposing the War in Iraq 1. The Iraq war is based on lies and deception. 2. The Iraq war violates international law. 3. The war dehumanizes Iraqis and denies them their right to self-determination. 4. Overwhelmingly civilian casualties are a daily occurrence in Iraq. 5. Service members are facing serious health consequences due to our government’s negligence. 6. Service members are being forced to fight in an illegal war. 7. The War in Iraq is tearing our families apart. 8. The Iraq war is robbing us of funding sorely
needed here at home. 9. Corporate profiteering is driving the war. 10. Our military is being exhausted by repeated deployments, involuntary extensions, and activations of the Reserve and National Guard.

What IVAW Demands: • Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from Iraq. • Reparations, and other compensation, for the destruction and corporate pillaging of Iraq so that the Iraqi people can rebuild their lives and control their future. ● Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health care), and other supports for returning servicemen and women. If you signed up for the Delayed Enlistment Program into the military, you do not need to go–
If you signed up for the Delayed Enlistment Program (sometimes called the “Delayed Entry Program”), you can still legally get out of joining the active military. Under the DEP, you have up to a year before reporting to basic training. Signing the DEP does not legally obligate you to join the military, no matter what a military recruiter may tell you. You have the right not to go! One way to get out of the DEP is just not to report. Some people choose to write a letter stating their decision. In either case, the results are the same: you do not have to go to into the military on the ship date. There are no consequences and no records as a result of withdrawing from the DEP that currently have any effect on things like employment or your legal record. This is the case for non-citizens as well as citizens. You don’t have to write on

any employment application that you have withdrawn from the DEP, and there is no question on employment forms about that. Do not be intimidated by a military recruiter into going if you do not want to. Take note of this story from Democracy Now on August 6: “Army Recruiter Suspended for Threatening High School Student with Jail Time… The recruiter from the Greenspoint Recruiting Station in Houston was suspended after a recording of his threats…warning eighteen-year-old Irving Gonzalez that he would be sent to jail if he decided to go to college instead of joining the military, even though Gonzalez had signed a non-binding contract that left him free to change his mind before basic training.” (http://www. democracynow. org/ 2008/8/6/armyrecruitersuspendedforthreatening_high)
Sexual Assault of Women in the Military

 A 2004 study of veterans from Vietnam and all wars since found that 71% of the women said they were sexually assaulted or raped while serving (by psychotherapist Maureen Murdoch , published in   Military Medicine). 
 In 2003, a survey of female veterans from Vietnam through 

the first Gulf War found that 30% said they were raped in the military (by psychologist Anne Sadler and colleagues, published in American Journal of Industrial Medicine). (from Helen Benedict, “Why Soldiers Rape,” In These Times, August 13, 2008)

This entry was posted on October 22nd, 2008 and is filed under News and Updates.