COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Counter-Recruitment: General
Restrictions spreading for military recruiters at South Shore high schools
JENNIFER MANN, The Patriot Ledger
May 23, 2007
SCITUATE - Scituate has joined a handful of South Shore communities that are limiting how military recruiters interact with students at school.No longer will recruiters have free rein to attract students with flashy displays, appealing messages and gifts in Scituate High School’s cafeteria.
Their visits with students will be scheduled ahead of time and take place in the guidance department, the same procedures followed for college recruiters. Parents will be notified when recruiters are coming, and students will need a teacher’s permission to schedule a meeting.
The change in policy was urged by a small group of parents concerned about recruiters’ tactics.
‘‘They look great in their uniform and they’re handing out gifts and they’re talking about all the incredible benefits of military service without really giving these kids a picture of the risks involved,’’ said Louellyn Lambros, whose son is a sophomore. ‘‘We want to take these recruiters out of the line of vision of kids as they’re eating their lunch.’’
Last year, Marshfield put similar restrictions on the visits of military recruiters, and required parental permission before students under age 18 meet with a recruiter. Braintree High School and Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston limit the number of times military recruiters can visit the schools.
Scituate Superintendent Mark Mason said there are probably more districts considering the issue because ‘‘this is a very contentious time in this nation.’’
Lambros said part of her concern stems from experience: A good friend’s son, who died in Iraq two years ago, first had contact with a military recruiter at school when he was 13.
Lambros is a member of Scituate Citizens for Peace, an anti-war group, but says this is not an effort on behalf of the group.
Mason said there was not ‘‘an outcry in the community’’ for the change in policy, and likely an equal number of parents are saying ‘‘this country is at war and we have a duty and obligation to support that cause.’’
The superintendent said he and school committee members were careful in drafting the new policy to deal only with parity issues and avoid wading into political waters.
‘‘The policy ... took a very fine line,’’ he said. ‘‘We would never inhibit our military recruiters, but we tried to make sure the same parameters were established for all the groups recruiting.’’
The school committee unanimously adopted the new rule this week, and decided to review the policy book to make sure other recruiting groups have the same standards.
‘‘I think it’s a policy that’s needed to allow fair and equal access and to have supervision for all our students,’’ school committee member Maura Curran said.
A provision of the federal No Child Left Behind Law requires public high schools and private schools that receive federal money to provide contact information for juniors and seniors to recruiters. But the law also allows parents to remove their children’s name from the lists given to recruiters.
Mason said few families at Scituate High have opted out.
Lambros said many parents are not versed in how the recruiting occurs and what their rights are as parents.
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