PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Parents of some children at a Portland elementary school, opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, have refused to let them attend Pentagon-financed classes at an Oregon National Guard base.
     
The Starbase program uses jet engines and advanced computer technology to teach children about space and aviation.

Each year, a handful of students don't attend because their parents object to the military's role, said Marilyn Sholian, Starbase director for Portland Public Schools.
     
But Sholian has never seen anything like the reaction at Winterhaven, a K-8 school in southeast Portland. Parents of 12 fourth- and fifth-graders have refused to let their children take part.
     
"I was shocked by the number and adamancy," she told The Oregonian newspaper.
     
The boycott means 20 percent of the 60 eligible Winterhaven students won't attend.
     
Winterhaven Principal Tanya Ghattas signed the school up for Starbase two weeks ago, after another Portland school gave up its spot in the program's fall schedule.
     
Parents voiced concerns right away.
     
Jessica Applegate-Brown said she couldn't encourage her fourth-grade son to spend time around war machines after openly talking about her opposition to the war.
     
"I'm objecting to the climate we're in right now," she said. "Ten years ago, this may have not been a big deal. But now, it is."
     
Another parent, James Ewing, said he's not anti-military, but couldn't let his fourth-grade daughter attend: "It's not appropriate for the military to be conducting what amounts to a recruiting program at an elementary school level."
    
At a meeting with 32 parents last week, Ghattas tried to ease concerns, saying the only mission was to offer a hands-on science program.
     
Starbase's Web site, however, states that part of the program's mission is to improve the military's image among young people.
     
"They may not come out and say it's recruitment," Ewing said. "But they're definitely laying the groundwork for that."
     
Capt. Mike Braibish, an Oregon National Guard spokesman, said no one has tracked the number of kids going through the program who join the armed forces, but says it would probably be quite low.
     
After attending Starbase with his daughter's fifth-grade class Monday, Larry Risley thinks some of the other parents might be overreacting.
     
"It was pretty sophisticated stuff, showing how planes fly and the properties of air," he said. "You actually felt like you were in a classroom. We didn't even see the airbase."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)