Joe Wilson

Students who attend computer-based virtual schools across the country are given second-class status when they try to join the military, and Rep. Joe Wilson said Wednesday he will work to get the policy changed.

“We are dealing with new technology,” said the S.C. Republican lawmaker, after meeting with an 18-year-old student who wants to join the Air Force but has encountered difficulties in his attempt to enlist. “We just need to keep adapting.”

Wilson, who heads the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, said he thinks “thousands” of students nationwide may be affected by the policy, which places students who graduate from traditional schools ahead of those with home school or other alternative credentials.

At a time when the nation is at war, the Pentagon should be seeking out students who meet the military’s high-tech needs, not making it harder on them, Wilson argued.

Wilson spoke after meeting with Jared Dennis, of Lexington, who is to graduate from the Connections Academy in June, one of South Carolina’s five virtual charter schools.

Dennis said he was devastated when he sought out an Air Force recruiter, but was told his attendance at a virtual school put him in a so-called “Tier 2” status behind others. He was advised that he could go forward with enlisting only after he had attended about 15 hours of college-level classes.

“It was heartbreaking to say the least,” said Dennis, who wants to serve his country and become a military policeman.

Dennis’s mother Alice, 55, said she sought out the virtual charter school after her son was barred from returning to his public school on a weapons violation.

“He accidentally left a pocket knife in his jacket,” Alice Dennis said, saying the school system’s zero-tolerance policy led them to seek an alternative where Jared could continue with honors-level classes.

“It’s wonderful, it’s been a blessing for us,” Alice Dennis said.

Wilson said he was pleased that the school could help Dennis.

The lawmaker said he understands the value the military can have in a person’s life, given his own 31 years in the Army National Guard and the fact that four of his sons have served.

Wilson said he intends to put language in the Pentagon’s budget bill next week when he returns to Washington.

“I want young people like Jared to serve,” he said.

South Carolina State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais said the Connections Academy is fully accredited by the state and students must pass all tests required of traditional students.

“I want to attest to the rigor and the quality of the education that is offered by today’s online, virtual cyber schools,” said Zais, who is a retired one-star Army general.

Zais said the policy might have made sense “15 years ago when a lot of fly-by-night companies were offering fake degrees,” but not when the virtual schools are being held to toughened standards.

A spokesman for the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command in San Antonio said the service plans to take in 27,000 recruits this fiscal year. Overall, there are about 334,000 in the Air Force.

Maj. Rosaire Bushey said the Pentagon policy requires the service to put traditional high school students in a “Tier 1” status, while those who have a GED, home school certificate or attend a virtual school are put in a “Tier 2” status.

“Of the 27,965 we will take in, only 1 percent can be in the Tier 2 status,” Bushey said.

Other services also limit the number of Tier 2 recruits, ranging up to about 10 percent, Bushey said.

Courtesy of The State