Sussex Tech JROTC program to officially close

GEORGETOWN, Del. – Sussex Tech High School has announced that their JROTC Program will officially close at the end of this school year.

School officials tell us that the program needs two instructors to operate, one commissioned and one non-commissioned, each of whom must be retired from the U.S. Army with at least 20 years of service. At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, officials were informed that there are no certified instructors available in Delaware.

We’re told the district has sought every available opportunity to keep the program going, but faced a deadline in order to allow students to seek other JROTC opportunities at their home school districts, to allow students to sign up for another elective course to replace JROTC, and to properly dispose of the U.S. Army equipment used in the program.

“We appreciate and value JROTC’s 18-year history at Sussex Tech and are extremely proud of our cadets’ accomplishments. JROTC has made a huge difference in the lives of so many of our students, and we wish that it could continue”, Sussex Tech School District PIO Dan Shortridge said in a statement.