“In this area, it seems like if you don’t go to college you’re almost not worth as much as someone else,” said Carolyn Kellam, one of the Fairfax parents who has been lobbying the board. “But I don’t think college is the end-all be-all for everyone, and it doesn’t have to be. There are other choices out there.”
No one on the board wants to cast a vote that seems at odds with Kellam’s view. Nor is there any public push-back in Fairfax from critics of military recruiting in high schools. But the question of how to recognize enlistees is politically sensitive. Some board members want to give principals freedom to honor enlistees as they see fit.
At Marshall High, Principal Jay Pearson said enlistees are cheered at a pre-graduation awards ceremony, but honor cords have long been reserved for members of academic honor societies.
“For the school board to write policy to dictate what we do — this is what I oppose,” Pearson said.
(READ MORE: Meet the mother behind the push for recognition)
To outsiders, the difference between the two sides seems like shades of gray. But to parents who have pushed for cords, the choice is black and white — a decision that will symbolize whether schools value students who opt for the infantry as much as those who go to the Ivy League.
Seniors who win ROTC scholarships or admission to a military academy are routinely lauded at graduation, but recognition is more uneven for those who have volunteered to join the rank and file. At some schools, they are applauded or their names are read aloud. Elsewhere, they are not acknowledged at all.
A school board directive to highlight that often-invisible decision to enlist would set Fairfax apart from most, if not all, neighboring school systems in the Washington area.
“The thing we’re trying to do here is recognize the commitment these young men and women have made,” said board member Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield). “If they’re willing to say, ‘You know what, I’m ready to serve,’ that’s somebody stepping up to the line who has demonstrably acquired some critical thinking, strategic planning and leadership skills.”
Less than 2 percent of Fairfax’s Class of 2011 — fewer than 200 out of about 12,000 students — enlisted in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy or Air Force, according to data the military provided.
Among them was Carolyn Kellam’s son Danny, one of 11 enlistees who graduated from Robinson Secondary School in 2011. A few weeks before graduation, their parents asked the school to allow their children to stand for applause during commencement or an awards ceremony beforehand.
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