Should members of Panther Valley's JROTC program be allowed to leave class to participate in military funerals?

The club sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces is hugely popular at Panther Valley, with more than 100 students enrolled.For years, members of the JROTC were excused from class to participate in funerals for local veterans.But school administrators recently stopped the practice, because they were apparently concerned about students missing class.The decision has attracted the attention of a local VFW post that has relied on the student volunteers to serve as the honor guard at veterans' funerals in the area.Commander Richard Ellis of the Nesquehoning Post 8008 appeared at a school board meeting last Thursday to see if administrators would reconsider their decision.Ellis read a letter asking the board to once again allow students to appear at the funerals. He also presented them with a petition signed by supporters.Ellis thanked the JROTC for serving at the funerals in the past, but questioned why the practice was stopped."We the service organizations also wish to voice our disappointment due to no longer receiving this support without any viable explanation," he said.Ellis said he had heard several reasons why the practice was stopped, including that the department of defense was involved.Superintendent Dennis Kergick said the primary reason the administration stopped the practice was the students' academics."I have a difficult time taking students from their classes to serve in this capacity," Kergick said. "I understand the veterans deserve their due. I fully comprehend that. I just have a difficult time pulling kids from their classes on a regular basis."Local veterans' groups often struggle to get enough personnel at a funeral to serve as a color guard, firing detail and bugler.Ellis said that with 110 members in Panther Valley's JROTC, surely they could limit the amount of class missed by those students."Even if we could just get a couple students - because students in the past have never had a problem maintaining their grades - they're only going to be missing school an hour and a half," he said.But Kergick said that in his mind, that was still too much time missed."It depends on the level of the courses the students are taking that they're missing an hour and a half - if it's an honors-level course I have a problem granting that request," he said. "Ultimately these are just students in a high school setting."Kergick eventually suggested that the board's education committee look at the issue to see if they should reinstate the practice. At least one board member said he would like to see a compromise wherein students are allowed to go to the funerals if they don't interfere with classes."You can't have them out during the testing, that's a definite no-no. But on the weekends, during the summertime, and things like that, we could come up with a system somehow," Anthony DeMarco said.