A Junior ROTC instructor at Catalina Magnet High School will be mildly reprimanded and his supervisor given “direction” for violating district and Air Force handbook policies in dealing with cadets.
Also, the practice of assigning pushups and other such physical activities as discipline will immediately cease, said Tucson Unified School District spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander.
Master Sgt. Mark R. Wagner, the subject of an anonymous letter from a cadet alleging physical and oral harassment, will get a letter of reprimand Friday. His supervisor, Col. August De Rosa, USAF retired, got a letter of direction Wednesday.
A letter of direction, Lander said, “is not discipline. It’s guidance and instruction: steps in writing on how to correct behavior. It does not go into a person’s personnel file. A letter of reprimand, the lowest level of discipline, goes into a personnel file.”
Both men declined requests to talk about the situation.
The letters were the result of an investigation by an equal employment opportunity officer who said the two:
• Violated district board policy on the use of offensive or profane language and the use of intimidation, threats, coercion or abuse.
• Violated the policies of the Air Force JROTC handbook related to physical discipline, physical activity as punishment, and harassment (improper or abusive language).
DeRosa told the investigator that waivers he created granting permission for pushups as punishment were signed by parents of all the 100 cadets in the program.
According to the investigation, DeRosa said he was not aware he needed TUSD board approval of such waivers.