School Based Cadet Squadrons

Started by kcebnaes, February 27, 2017, 06:22:33 PM

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kcebnaes

Hello everyone and Happy Monday!

Does anyone have any experience with the School Based Cadet Squadrons(the ones sponsored by the schools?) We have no units like this in Ohio, and I just happen to have a school interested. I'd  like to know the "ins and outs." At least more than what the NHQ website has.
Sean Beck, Maj, CAP
Great Lakes Region sUAS Officer
Various Other Things™

Luis R. Ramos

It is funny. I do not know exactly how my unit started. Just that its history goes back a loooong time.

Have to be careful with these squadrons. Although we have a long history connected to our school, sometimes that relationship harms us. We are seen as "one of the school clubs" by the administration, so the same rules that apply to other clubs apply o us which in a sense hampers us. There is a nice park almost in front of our school where we could meet some days but one of the members who also teaches at that school says we have to fill out forms requested by the school system when we want to meet in the park during regular meetings. We are subject to school closings. So if there are special testing going on, we cannot meet. We cannot meet during summers as the school closes. Unless we find alternate meeting places...
Squadron Safety Officer
Squadron Communication Officer
Squadron Emergency Services Officer

Eclipse

I think the OP is referring to the School Enrichment Program, where all the students
are required to to join CAP and attend school in a CAP or similar uniform.

INWG purported to have the largest one for a while.

Not a big fan myself.

"That Others May Zoom"

THRAWN

Quote from: Eclipse on February 27, 2017, 09:27:44 PM
I think the OP is referring to the School Enrichment Program, where all the students
are required to to join CAP and attend school in a CAP or similar uniform.

INWG purported to have the largest one for a while.

Not a big fan myself.

Ew. Nothing says brownshirt like compulsory membership.
Strup-"Belligerent....at times...."
AFRCC SMC 10-97
NSS ISC 05-00
USAF SOS 2000
USAF ACSC 2011
US NWC 2016
USMC CSCDEP 2023

AirAux

IIRC, I think they only go through 6th grade?  Makes the depth of leadership narrow...

Alaric

Quote from: THRAWN on February 27, 2017, 09:51:20 PM
Quote from: Eclipse on February 27, 2017, 09:27:44 PM
I think the OP is referring to the School Enrichment Program, where all the students
are required to to join CAP and attend school in a CAP or similar uniform.

INWG purported to have the largest one for a while.

Not a big fan myself.

Ew. Nothing says brownshirt like compulsory membership.

Really, brownshirts?  If people are sending their kids to a school with this type of program they know about it, just like military schools where everyone has to be in JROTC.  Its not like surprise, welcome to the CAP

Alaric

http://www.goapa.org/CAP.aspx

At Anderson CAP is a required activity from 6 - 8th grade and JROTC from 9-12th, right there on the website, parents don't want their kids to participate there are other schools

Eclipse

#7
There actually are, or were, two different programs.

The School Enrichment Program, for Grades 6-12 (normal CAP membership).

Junior Cadet Program for grade K-5.

When reviewing statistics, publicly available information from the schools participating, as
well as anecdotal conversations with members participating in those programs, membership
(or at least participation) drops off fairly precipitously in grades 9-12 at schools that
require the students to join JROTC as either an option to, or in place of CAP.

As we hear on a fairly regular basis, kids "forced" to wear a uniform all day, are not generally inclined
(on the mean) to be interested in wearing that uniform after school and on weekends, and just like at schools
where JROTC is a gym elective, don't tend to produce the quantities of invested cadets you'd think they would.

An issue we saw locally was that kids in the area who join the unit from the outside tend to be much more invested in
CAP in the way most of us understand it, vs. the kids from the actual school, as they were there because they
wanted to be, vs. mom and dad making them go during the day.

We also saw non-trivial issues where the charter-holder made it clear that the school itself was a public school
bound by the policies of the school board and charter, not CAP or the USAF, so while the students may well be
wearing USAF uniforms, grooming and courtesies were not enforced as required, resulting in just about the exact
situation you are imagining.

There also tends to be a very small contingent of senior members in relation to the large number of cadets,
because most activities are during school hours and are chaperoned or supervised by normal school staff.

CAPP 52-21 http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/P052_021_0EA8D98F1D7A6.pdf

One unintended consequence of these units is the way they can drain resources from an otherwise
normally scaled wing.  They generally have no pilots, few senior members, and move in force to various activities,
assuming they venture out much at all.  In most wings, if a unit shows up with 20 or 30 members, they
become the majority at that activity - BTDT - imagine adding 100 cadets or more to the average encampment,
or trying to get that many flying. Assuming you can fly 6 cadets per day per plane, that's 16+ airplanes,
which results in either low o-ride percentages, or big blocks of time no one else can get near the planes.

"That Others May Zoom"

oweng_01

I thought it would be a class you just schedule in like Math, or English... but its CAP. But I don't know much.

                                                                          --Local SAR Guy

PHall

Contact the Cadet Programs Section at National. They can get you the info you need.

jeders

If you are confident in you abilities and experience, whether someone else is impressed is irrelevant. - Eclipse

kcebnaes

From what I've heard, they are opting to do the School Enrichment program, and have it be an elective class. This high school does not have a JROTC program, so this would be the equivalent program for them. I'm actually pretty excited that they're choosing us over the typical JROTC.


From what I'm reading, as long as we can make sure to have the proper senior member support, and of course try our best to get dedicated cadets, this should be almost a home run. I'm also reading that the logistics may be a bit of an issue on things like O-Rides, but I think as long as we can properly coordinate events, we may not have too much of problem.
Sean Beck, Maj, CAP
Great Lakes Region sUAS Officer
Various Other Things™

belletara89106

#12
SEP units can be extremely effective if supervised the proper way and, of course an understanding of expectations between the school and CAP.