COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: No Child Left Behind
North Bend parents share concern over military exam
Jessica Musicar, The World Link
November 22, 2007
NORTH BEND - Three parents expressed their concerns to the North Bend School
Board about an exam designed by the U.S. Department of Defense. They had
misgivings, they said, that the aptitude test releases personal information
to military recruiters who may pressure teens to enlist.
At the meeting, held Monday in a cramped room of the School District
offices, Barbara Taylor, Janice and Tom Wilczek shared many of the same
sentiments about the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Test, which
is administered at North Bend High School to juniors. They told the board
that the ASVAB violates the Family Education Rights Privacy Act of 1974
because it releases information from a student's educational record without
the written permission of a parent or guardian.
The next test is scheduled on Dec. 12 for all North Bend juniors.
"Students are led to believe that taking the ASVAB is a way to learn about
themselves and the world of work. They are also led to believe that taking
the test is mandatory," said Taylor, adding students are required to sign a
statement allowing the school to release information to military recruiters.
Along with test results, Taylor said recruiters have received names,
addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, sex,
ethnic groups, post-graduation plans and the interests of testing students,
she said. The test will not be scored unless a student signs the privacy
statement.
"The decision to enlist in the military can carry serious, far-reaching
consequences. This is why many parents try to limit the military from
contacting their children," Taylor said. "The point of distancing military
recruiters from our children is so the decision of whether to enlist in the
military is made in consultation with those who love and care for the child
and not solely in consultation with people whose very job it is to recruit
the child for the military."
Taylor said she had addressed her concerns about the test to a school
counselor and the school principal and was told that a letter concerning the
ASVAB would be sent home. While she said the letter included an opt-in form
requiring a parent signature to release the results to the military, she
found the information to be "incomplete, confusing, disingenuous and
deceptive."
"I feel that administration of the ASVAB by North Bend High School is a
backdoor approach to coerce minors into considering a military career. My
preference would be to drop the use of the test entirely," Taylor said.
According to a letter sent to parents of the Class of 2009 by Principal Bill
Lucero, school administration has chosen not to release student scores to
the military without parental consent and students would not be asked for
Social Security numbers, home numbers, racial or ethnic classification when
filling out the answer sheet for the test.
"Students are highly encouraged to take the test and use the results as part
of their information- gathering process as they move towards graduation and
post-high school options," Lucero wrote.
Janice Wilczek, the parent of a senior at North Bend High, said she recently
discovered that her son took the ASVAB last year and was dismayed by the
news.
"This test was given to my son without my knowledge or consent," she said,
adding that if the high school is releasing her son's educational record
than it is violating FERPA.
She asked the North Bend School Board to discontinue the use of the test at
the high school or to choose the least intrusive release option, known as
Option 8, which gives no personal information to recruiters.
"The ASVAB is a military entrance exam and a recruitment tool that involves
complex legal and bureaucratic processes and I believe by its use, the North
Bend School District enables the goals of military recruitment and strays
from its noble mission to educate students."
Like Taylor, Wilczek said she discussed the issue with Lucero and
Superintendent B.J. Hollensteiner and was told they would look into it.
She said the school policy has since changed to use a split option release
plan, in which some student information will be released, and other
students' information would remain private.
"I am troubled by this new plan and by the letter. First, the split option
is not fail safe and it is not the simplest and easiest option that will
provide the most protection to parents, students and the district," Wilczek
told the board. "When I asked why the school insists upon releasing
information to recruiters, I was told that some students want the military
to have their results; that the military is their career choice. ... Why
can't those students sit down with the recruiter with their test results in
hand"
However, on Tuesday, Lucero said the split option was just a consideration
and that the school is switching over to Option 8 from now on, unless a
student and his guardian specifically ask that his information be passed on
to the military. He said the decision was made about two weeks ago after
conversations with Wilczek. He added the test is not used as a recruiting
tool.
After the parents' comments, School Board Chairwoman Karen Helland said the
board would not discuss the test at the meeting, but felt positive about the
input. She said changes will be made but it will be left to school
administration to work it out.
"We are going to leave that up to the administration to settle it," Helland
said.
In other business, the board welcomed a new member into its fold and
approved a contract for a virtual charter school.
After receiving two applications to fill a board vacancy left by elected
member Tom Hibbert, who resigned from his seat on Sept. 27, the School Board
selected Robert C. Adams Jr. for Position No. 7, and plans to ask George J.
Terpack Jr. to serve as the chairman of the district's foundation.
Adams, who was sworn in at the meeting, is the father of six children,
serves as the information services manager for Bay Area Hospital and is a
former member of the Coos Bay Library Board of Directors and Foundation
Board.
His appointment may represent the end of a rocky year for the board, which
has lost three members in four months.
The School Board also unanimously approved a contract for the Oregon Virtual
Academy, an online charter school that is expected to cater to students
throughout the state and to be especially attractive to children who don't
mesh with the traditional public school model.
Hollensteiner said she recently testified in Salem in front of the State
Board of Education in favor of the charter school. The district and the
nonprofit organization - the Oregon Virtual Academy - which applied for the
online academy, are seeking a waiver to a rule that asks any charter school
to pick up 50 percent of its student body from its sponsoring district.
Without the waiver, the school district will not support the charter school,
said Jim Moyer, the director of curriculum and instruction, last week.
This archive consists of a topically organized selection of
articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
publications and web sites. The archive is not complete. We have chosen
material relevant to the work of