COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Coalition Stands Up to Military Recruiters
Kim Centazzo, Connection News Papers
June 6, 2007
The Army recently requested Loudoun County Public Schools distributea survey to high-school juniors and seniors to gauge their interest
in military services.
When Leesburg resident Michelle Grise got wind of the survey, she
responded by forming the Loudoun Coalition on Recruitment Issues. The
group is made up of parents concerned about just how vigorously the
Army is recruiting in local high schools to make their quotas.
Under No Child Left Behind, military recruiters are permitted to
stand outside of high-school cafeterias and recruit students to the military.
"We do not allow colleges or businesses access to our students in a
classroom nor should we allow military recruiters," Grise said. "Our
students' time is for learning, it is not for making our recruiters'
job easier."
While college recruiters meet with students in a supervised setting,
Grise said military recruiters are permitted to talk to students
one-on-one in the halls.
"They are allowed to set up tables in front of the cafeteria, where
virtually every student must pass. They are also not supervised by
school staff," she said. "This means we can not be sure that our
students are being protected against recruiters who may not be
telling the truth. We are also leaving our students vulnerable to
sexual improprieties. "
WHEN GRISE asked parents around the county if they knew about the
recruitment policy in place, she said they were unaware their
children's information was being released to the armed services.
"They also had no idea that in order to prevent this from happening
that they needed write a letter within 14 days of the start of school
explaining they did not want their information released to the
military," she said. "And the reason they didn't know that is because
that information appeared on the short paragraph on page 23 of the
handbook. An opt-out form at the beginning of the handbook would most
likely prevent this from happening."
Grise requested School Board members rethink their recruitment policy
and requested a military opt-out form be placed in the front of
Students Rights and Responsibility Handbook at the beginning of the
2007-2008 school year.
MARK NUZACCO (CATOCTIN), chairman of the legislative policy
committee, said he received a letter from Army Staff Sgt. Robert
Trujillo March 13 requesting high-school juniors and seniors complete
a survey gauging their interest in the Army.
Trujillo said the point of the survey was to eliminate unnecessary
calls from recruiters to the homes of students who are not interested
in the military.
"I understand the Army is not for everyone," Trujillo said in his
letter. "In an effort to eliminate the need to call students, please
pass out the attached surveys."
Trujillo requested the surveys be passed out by a teacher, and after
the students complete the survey, only those students that expressed
interest in military service would be contacted by an Army recruiter.
The legislative policy committee requested Trujillo revamp the survey
so it was applicable to all areas of the military.
Nuzacco said the committee would consider a uniform recruitment
survey of all branches of the military service.
"We might or might not agree with what they proposal," Nuzacco said.
The school system's current policy allows recruiters access to
students in the guidance offices and high-school cafeterias, not
during class time.
"That's been the current practice and will be until we decide a
change needs to be made," he said.
DON EAVES, a member of the coalition, asked the School Board to
consider bringing recently discharged veterans without conflicts of
interest to high schools to talk about their experiences, both
positive and negative, to provide teenagers with first-hand accounts
of military life and the realities of war.
"We are working as quickly as possible to get the School Board to
adopt a military opt-out form which will be in place for the upcoming
school year," Grise said.
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