JROTC program suspended at East Valley High | News

YAKIMA, Washington.— East Valley High School is suspending its Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program for the 2024-25 school year.

East Valley Principal Ryan McDaniel informed JROTC members and their families of the suspension on April 26.

According to a news release from EVHS, the district and East Valley High decided to suspend the program due to low enrollment and a lack of qualified applicants for the JROTC instructor position after one of the program directors retired.

According to the district, enrollment in the JROTC program has dropped from 180 to just 43 since 2016.

The decline in enrollment led the U.S. Army to place the EVHS JROTC program on probation because the program’s enrollment numbers did not represent 10 percent of total student enrollment (with current enrollment making up about 5 percent of the student body).

The Army also requires that the JROTC program have two qualified instructors, something EVHS is currently unable to provide due to the retirement of one of its teachers.

According to the East Valley School District, the teaching position was advertised in December 2023 and closed in April without any qualified candidates applying.

The decision to suspend the JROTC program was not due to budget or funding constraints.

According to EVHS, JROTC is funded through a combination of federal basic education funds, Career and Technical Education (CTE) funds, ASB funds and levy funds and is supplemented by the U.S. military.