COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Counter-Recruitment: General
Anti-recruitment group seeks equal student access
Jeremy Osborn, Queen City News
September 27, 2007
"We're not against the military," Cindy Holcomb, an organizer of Just
Don't Go, is quick to point out. A strong military for defense
purposes is still desirable in the group's framework.
The group, which opposes military recruitment in Helena schools, even
invited recruiters to their Thursday evening meeting at the
Neighborhood Center. Staff Sgt. Hudgins of the Helena Army
recruitment office said he wanted to attend, but was given short notice.
What group members say they're against is misuse of the military (a
category under which they firmly place the war in Iraq), as well what
they see as the predation of recruiters upon students.
Their first push was for greater transparency in a student's choice
of "opting out". After the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into
law in early 2002, all public schools were required to hand over
student directory information (names, addresses, and telephone
numbers) to military recruiters upon request. A student, or, usually,
the parent of a student, can opt out of giving this information to
recruiters by filing a form with the school.
Just Don't Go's initial work involved easing the process and
increasing awareness of the opt-out forms, which can now be found in
welcome packets and student handbooks, in counseling offices, and, if
the group has its way, maybe into school newsletters.
According to Superintendent Bruce Messinger, the Helena schools
receive consistent requests for student directory information from
the military. In terms of the degree to which parents understand and
have access to opt out, Messinger says they are "better off than when
we started, but we can still do better."
Messinger emphasized that people don't have to hold off until late in
high school to file the opt-out form. "They can fill out the form
anytime, and it will carry through their public education that their
information should not be released," he says.
To Staff Sgt. Hudgins, the opt-out policy is a pretty good deal for
everyone. By regulation, Hudgins's staff must contact 90 percent of a
class each year, either through direct contact or phone calls. The
more uninterested students who opt out from the beginning, the fewer
calls Hudgins's office will have to make. He says that out of the
Capitol High class of 400, they'll likely get two recruits this year.
The No Child Left Behind Act also established that military
recruiters have the same access to secondary school students as a
school gives to colleges or other prospective employers. With each
separate military branch allowed one visit per school quarter, this
can mean significant military presence on school campuses.
Just Don't Go's most recent effort is to be in the schools alongside
the recruiters, offering their own perspective and information about
a potential military future (reasons not to join).
To support their equal-access cause, the group cites a 1986 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals decision, San Diego Committee v. Governing
Bd., in which an anti-recruitment group took an ad out in the school
newspaper advocating other avenues for potential recruits. The school
board sued, and the court ruled in favor of the anti-recruitment group.
The decision states that since military recruitment historically has
a political element, when the school board "permitted mixed political
and commercial speech advocating military service, but attempted to
bar the same type of speech opposing such service," they violated the
opposition's First Amendment rights.
So far, Just Don't Go's efforts in this area have resulted only in
after-school access. They place the hold-up mainly on Messinger's
shoulders, though they are also lobbying the school board and hope to
present their position at the next board meeting. For his part, the
superintendent says, "We're in the learning phase" on counter-recruitment .
The members of Just Don't Go believe that time is ticking, the war is
still not showing signs of slowing down, and, meanwhile, kids are
being duped. The date given for the release of student names is October 15.
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