District 49 board advances Falcon High JROTC archery and flight-simulator course proposals

Falcon High School leaders asked the El Paso County Colorado School District 49 board on Wednesday night to approve two new JROTC leadership-development courses — one centered on archery and the other on a computer-based flight simulator — as part of a strategy to boost cadet enrollment.

"The purposes of these courses are to grow our JROTC program," Sean O'Connor, principal of Falcon High School, told the board, adding the courses are part of the school's leadership development requirements. Tony Wise, the school's senior aerospace science instructor, said the archery offering would transform an after-school activity into a classroom LDR to increase visibility and recruitment for the program.

Board members probed eligibility and safety. O'Connor and staff said one stipulation in the district's memorandum of understanding with Space Force requires instructors be JROTC members, so course enrollment language will be edited to limit access to JROTC cadets. Directors also asked whether the archery course could count as physical education; staff said that possibility will be explored but the course is currently routed through JROTC credit.

Ben Lopez described the flight-simulator course as a ground-level, computer-based simulator that teaches basic flight operations and culminates in a test. Lopez cited a recent cadet who won a Flight Academy scholarship: "We had 1 student 3 years ago that was chosen... they were given $26,000," a point board members flagged as evidence of the program's potential pathway to aviation careers.

Board members voiced support for both offerings and, with the clarifying edit to archery eligibility and additional implementation details to follow, the board agreed by consensus to move both course proposals forward for the next steps in district course approval.