JROTC to stay in Jacksonville high schools

Weeks ago, JROTC member Cadet Lt. Col. Donald Rhoads waswondering about the future of the program they loved.

"For a while it was just hopes and prayers, hoping that we'd get it back."

Today, Jacksonville's mayor answered those prayers.  Alvin Brown spoke at Englewood High School Tuesday afternoon and announced that, with the help of some generous donors in the Jacksonville community, he had raised the money to keep the JROTC in Mandarin, Wolfson, Raines, and Englewood High Schools for another year.  Brown said when he heard the programs were being cut, he started to make some phone calls

JROTC was one of the programs the four high schools were planning to cut when the school district asked them to reduce their spending by 1.5 percent.

The mayor said the city needed the program as much as its students did, and it would be hypocritical not to continue to fund the JROTC in Jacksonville.

"Really, when you think about it, how can we say we're a military friendly city when we wouldn't have these programs?"

Rhoads says he was ecstatic when he first heard the news, and is glad that he and the almost 500 other JROTC students in Jacksonville can continue pursuing their passion.

"There's really no one word to describe it, though.  It's just a great feeling knowing that something you love was brought back."