Military Recruiters Demand Names of All U.S. High Schoolers

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Military Recruiters Demand Names of All U.S. High Schoolers

 

 

Mother Jones tells us:

 

Sharon Shea-Keneally, principal of Mount Anthony Union High School

in Bennington, Vermont, was shocked when she received a letter in May

from military recruiters demanding a list of all her students,

including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The school invites

recruiters to participate in career days and job fairs, but like most

school districts, it keeps student information strictly confidential.

" We don't give out a list of names of our kids to anybody, " says

Shea-Keneally, " not to colleges, churches, employers -- nobody. "

 

But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for

an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind

Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this

year. There, buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision

requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not

only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for

every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.

 

 

Oh... so that's what No Child Left Behind means. Makes sense now.

 

 

SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT RECRUITING

INFORMATION.

 

(a) POLICY-

 

(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION- Notwithstanding section

444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided in

paragraph (2), each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act

shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of

higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and

telephone listings.

 

(2) CONSENT- A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request

that the student's name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph

(1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local

educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make

a request and shall comply with any request.

 

(3) SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS- Each local educational agency receiving assistance

under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary

school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational

institutions or to prospective employers of those students.

 

 

 

 

 

The NCLB Act also allows a parent or child to " opt out " , but it must be in

writing. The problem is, the lack of knowledge; not just for parents and kids,

but obviously, for schools as well.