A struggle over military recruitment of students
School boards across the US are starting to give parents more detailed opt-out information.
As efforts by US military recruiters to meet regular goals are beginning to
show some positive results, more school boards across the country are taking steps to give parents of high school-aged students detailed information about how they can withhold their children's personal information from the military.
In Ohio, the
Dayton Daily News reported Tuesday that in one school district, more than
1500 parents signed the opt-out forms after a parent convinced the local school district to more actively notify parents of their options. Yet at other schools in the same area, not a single parent decided to use the opt-out provision.
Much of the dispute over recruitment revolves around a provision of the "No Child Left Behind" act, which stipulates that any school receiving federal funds must give the military information on high school juniors and seniors. The act says that high schools
must notify parents that they can make a request to to prevent military recruiters from obtaining their children's contact information.
But that notification does not have to be made individually, according to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act – the notification can be included in a mailing, student handbook, or another method that is "reasonably calculated to inform parents." In several states, parents of high school children are pressuring their school boards to do a better job of letting parents know that they have this option.
The
Canyon Courier of Evergreen, Colorado, late last month reported on how parent Richard Waltzman, a military veteran and antiwar protestor, prodded the local school board to
make a change in its notification policy. Previously, administrators sent letters about the policy home with students. Now the board has begun mailing parents of high school juniors a copy of the rules about recruiting and an opt-out form. It will also hand out the same materials to parents each fall at school registration.
District Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said that although the district's previous procedure was legal and "exceeded best practice," community members prompted the change.
"We responded to a segment of the community that wanted to make sure these letters got home," Stevenson said. "It wasn't a response to all of the community, but to a segment of the community."
The Illinois Association of School Boards recently decided to
push for a change in federal law "so parents don't have to write a letter to keep high schools from sharing their teens' contact information with military recruiters." The group says it would prefer to see the system work the opposite way - that parents who are interested in a military career for their children can notify the school district.
The
Lexington Herald-Leader of Kentucky reported Tuesday that while many people in the state support the military's recruitment policies, more than a few parents express concern about
some of the tactics recruiters use. School districts in the area are also considering more active notification of parents about their right to opt-out.
Writing in
The American Enterprise Online, Brooks Tucker, a major in the Marine Corps Reserve and a Wall Street financial advisor, blames recent problems with military recruiting partially on "
antiwar factions within public schools."
These instances still aren't prevalent enough to deter recruiters from their overall mission, but they do have a somewhat demoralizing effect on an already over-stressed recruiting force. And they're certainly not what should be expected from educators tasked with providing our young people with an education rather than a politically motivated message.
The school administrators, teachers, and counselors who engage in these opposition activities know that formally obstructing military recruitment in their schools would cause unwanted legal scrutiny from the federal government. So, in an effort to adhere to the letter of the law and avoid legal action, they choose unobtrusive ways to have their voices heard in the hope that they can score some minor political points and influence military recruiting. This type of political activity is a blatant disregard of congressional intent, and makes it much more difficult for a young man or woman who is attracted to the military to get a fair and balanced perspective on the risks and benefits of a military career.
But parent John Schneider, writing last week in
The Baltimore Sun, points out that "regardless of one's position on the Iraq war, few parents would feel that they do not
belong in all relevant discussions of their child's welfare and future." He writes that even the military has had some questions about some recruiters' tactics, holding a one-day recruiting moratorium last spring to address "misconduct by recruiters." Mr. Schneider also says he was dismayed by the lack of knowledge many school administrators in his area of Maryland had about the opt-out program.
But Schneider writes that he is most concerned by the June 23 admission of the Pentagon that it "had created a database containing information on millions of high school and college students ages 16 to 25." Schneider says that "this database was created without the requisite announcement and public comment period required by the 1974 Privacy Act."
The
Lexington Herald-Tribune reported Tuesday on one of the primary tools that the military has to create this database, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (or the ASVAB).
The ASVAB ... is a standardized test, prepared by the military, that is given annually to many high school juniors and seniors across Kentucky and the rest of the country. By one estimate, near 1 million US high school students took the test last year.
Scores on the ASVAB can help students assess their potential for various kinds of careers. But the test has also been controversial in some places because it gauges students' suitability for various military jobs, and recruiters often use test scores in selecting students to contact about signing up.
GovExec.com, a news site for federal managers, reported last week that the latest defense authorization bill
contains new incentives to help recruit new military personnel and retain current troops. Some of those incentives include "the possibility of offering money for downpayments on houses," doubling current enlistment bonuses for "both active duty and reserve troops across all the services, ... to $40,000 and $20,000, respectively," and allowing all current reservists and their families access to the military's Tricare Health System for a fee based on three eligibility levels.
Meanwhile, the
Australian reports that the US is
not the only country having some problems with military recruiting. For the sixth straight year, the Australian reports that the country's defense forces have failed to reach their recruitment goals. The greatest gaps occurred in officer recruiting, which was down 33 percent.
Also...
•
A veteran's Iraq message upsets Army recruiters (
New York Times)
•
Group says program equips students to face recruiters (
NJ.com)
•
Pentagon calls gay student groups 'credible threat' (
Dallas Voice)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
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