MOM CHARGES STRONG ARMED ROBBERY VS. HANNA ROTC

By Juan Montoya

A local mom whose daughter is enrolled in the Hanna Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) has field a complaint with the Brownsville Police Department charging that ROTC officers and the Brownsville Independent School District administration have perpetrated strong-arm robbery (theft) against high school students.

The mom – who wishes to remain anonymous to blog readers to protect the identity of her juvenile daughter – charges that the policy of the ROTC program to make sales of car wash tickets mandatory on all students to raise funds for its annual military ball amounts to theft.

According to the complaint, the mother says that participation in the sale of car wash tickets is mandatory, and not voluntary as the program and school administrators claim.

She further submitted evidence to the police and administrators that students are told not to return unsold tickets, but rather to pay for them out of their personal funds.
In the JROTC syllabus handed to all students, one of the "required activities" includes mandatory participation in fundraising activities "such as car washes."  https://hannajrotc.weebly.com/jrotc-course-syllabus.html

“REQUIRED ACTIVITIES:
4.Fund Raising Activities such as car washes,…
5. Military Ball (May 5, 2018 at Ringgold Civic Pavilion)


This fundraiser is to pay for the military ball held in May and cadets get a participation grade, she said.

"During each semester at school they hold two car washes. Prior to each car wash the cadets are handed out 10 car wash tickets valued at $5 each; seniors get less. Before the tickets are handed out one of the instructors tells the class, “Don’t bother bringing me back the tickets you do not sell; bring me the money, but do not bring me back unsold tickets.”

And during pass-downs (where a cadet speaks for the instructor or Commanding Officer about daily tasks, information, etc) the students say they are told, “Do not bring back the tickets. If you cannot sell the tickets, give them away for free or throw them away and pay out of your own pocket.”
(The mom attached a video taken of an instructor telling the students they do not want the unsold tickets returned, just the money.)

After car wash, if students did not sell all the tickets, the instructors will call students outside the classroom during class time and tell the student how much they owe. They do this for a couple of weeks, she said.

If they still have not recouped the money by the second (last) carwash they will attach the tickets they did not sell for first car wash onto the new tickets. If a kid did not sell 2 tickets from the first car wash, instead of 10 tickets they will get 12 tickets. The harassment by the instructors, she said, starts all over again if the student does not sell all of them.

The mom says that although she encourages her daughter to participate, she says the pressure of the ticket sales interferes with her going to school, to doctor’s appointments because of her physical problems, and her assistance to care of her brother, a special needs five-year-old.

Add helping with dinner, doing homework, and her chores. Since the mom was busy with all  that, she didn't have the time to help her daughter sell the tickets and she tried on her own.

As a result, her child ended up paying out of pocket and did not tell her, she said. But when the student told her there was a second mandatory car wash sale requirement, she got fed up and called the school.

Then the fun started.

On April 16 she called Hanna High School to speak with the principal only to be routed to Asst. Principal Rocio Ramos. Unbeknownst to her, her cadet child paid $10 out of her own pocket to the JROTC. The receipt showed she still "owed" $35.

When Asst. Principal Ramos did not reply, she emailed every working email on Hanna’s directory for Principal and Assistant Principals and CC’ed everyone together the following message:

"To whom it may concern,

My name is (So and So), and I contacted Assistant Principal, Rocio Ramos, yesterday via voicemail at 1pm, about something concerning your JROTC program. I left a message stating the instructors were shaking down students to pay up for car wash tickets that students did not end up selling for a fundraiser. I waited 24 hours for a response prior to sending this email.

This fundraiser, I assume, is paying for the military ball coming up on the 5 th of May. As a family member of soldiers and a Marine, I understand the need for them to sell tickets in order to recoup the cost of the facility, food, music, décor, etc. From what I understand, this ball is mandatory for the JROTC program and also a military tradition.

"Also, nowhere in the course syllabus does it state it is mandatory to sell everything a student has during a fundraiser or pay out of their own pocket. Do the other parents know that they are doing this to the students? I know for a fact that squadrons and battalions do not do this in the military to their soldiers.

"My concern is that 1SG Robinson and Captain Velasco are unaware that 41 percent of Brownsville residents fall below the poverty line, and 48.8 percent are children that live in poverty. I don’t mind my kid getting shook down for $10-15, but when majority of the students are getting harassed and some for more money than $5-10, I have a problem with it."

Still receiving no answer, she emailed BISD superintendent Esperanza Zendejas and her administrative team:

“Brownsville Independent School District,
My name is (So and So). My child attends Hanna High School. We have had issues with the JROTC program for the past year and a half due to harassment of students for monies owed for services not rendered. I have expressed my concern by voice mail with Rocio Ramos and I sent a detailed email to all top staff with no hesitation to respond by administration. I am requesting you look into this matter and refund all the money to every student who paid out of pocket for fundraising tickets not sold. This is a criminal and a civil violation.

"Instructors of the JROTC program are harassing students to pay $5 per ticket not sold to the school. This happened twice last year, earlier this year, and again. Please read through email sent to staff at Hanna High attached to this email. This explains enough.

"You are responsible for the actions occurring on campus by staff members. I am requesting the money be returned to all the students within ten (10) days. If I cannot get a response from BISD quickly (24hrs) I will assume impasse and will file a report with the Brownsville Police Department.

"I prefer any future or further communication to be via email for legal purposes. Please do not telephone."

Zendejas, to her surprise, answered her email, but what she wrote only exasperated the mom.

“Ms. (So and So),
"We will look into this matter immediately. As you well know many of our high school students get involve with fundraising activities to support numerous activities for their clubs and organization. Participation in these fundraising activities is voluntary.

Thank you,
Dr. Esperanza Zendejas

The mom fired off a response to Zendejas:

"Dr, Zendejas,
Car wash fundraisers are not voluntary. They are also graded. Please see attachment. I spoke with Ms Ramos on the phone yesterday at 12:47 p.m. She stated she would look into the matter. I have still no word as to whether the money paid of out pocket by all students will be paid. By 5 p.m. today I will file a police report if I am not assured kids will be getting their money back. I would also like to know if JROTC needs help with the remaining needed funds for the ball.”

To make the long story short, she said that Hanna Principal Blanca Lambarri had the instructors pay her daughter back $35 she was about to pay out of her own pocket for the tickets and thought the matter had been put to rest. But she did not see it that way.

"I told her 'no ma’am, you still owe my child money, and from last year too. You also owe every kid who paid out of pocket for unsold tickets as well.”

Dissatisfied that the JRPTC administrators, the Hanna Principal, the BISD administrators and the BISD Police Department have been stalling her on her theft complaint, the mom is threatening to file small claims lawsuit in a local court to force the school to return the money to the students they forced to pay this year and the year before.

"I feel bad when my child converses with others at school and they say, 'Yea my parents don’t have money so I used any extra money I had' or 'I was going to get snacks after school near Cameron park with that money', etc.., etc..., etc...,

"These kids can hardly afford a good pair of shoes to wear the entire year," she said. "I am honestly proud of them all for staying in school and passing classes. Last thing they need are shakedowns by people in positions of power."

(P.S. After the posting of this story, the mom reports that the BISD PD investigator is finally asking for the hand written notes provided her by other kids in similar situation as her daughter. Is it possible something will actually be done to set this matter straight?)