Recruiting at schools suspended

WASILLA —The Mat-Su Borough School District temporarily suspended on-campus recruiting by the U.S. military Tuesday, save for U.S. Coast Guard recruiters.

The suspension follows the disclosure this week to Anchorage media outlets of documents reported to show incidents between Alaska National Guard and high school students.

Instruction officials with the school system plan to meet with military officials Wednesday to discuss cooperation moving forward, said district spokeswoman Catherine Esary.

“It’s a good time to take a pause and look at our expectations,” she said.

District officials hope the suspension of on-campus recruiting will be temporary, she said. They have received no allegations against National Guard or other recruiters in the Valley, and made the suspension out of an abundance of caution, she said.

Esary’s remarks on the subject largely echo those of superintendent Dr. Deena Paramo in a press release issued Tuesday.

“We value the partnership with our military, but we feel it is prudent to review procedures in the interest of establishing consistency and expectations,” she said.

The National Guard has suffered from public disclosures of misconduct involving sexual abuse and some financial mismanagement following the release this year of a report on the subjects by the U.S. National Guard Office of Complex Investigations. It wasn’t immediately clear why other branches, including the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines were included in the ban, though Esary hinted at a system-wide review.

“Sometimes the actions of one give you pause,” she said.

Branches with recruiter presence in the Valley declined on-the-record comment Wednesday and Thursday.

Officials tried to balance the suspension against the estimated 1,000 students enrolled in district schools who are children of active military personnel, many of whom commute to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Esary said.

“The military are very valuable and very important in the Valley,” she said. “I think they understand that. They understand and they want to get it resolved.”

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.