COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
No Soldier Left Behind
Marcia Vanderlip, Columbia MO Tribune
March 5, 2006
John Johnson wishes he could have kept military recruiters away fromhis daughter, LaVena, during her high school days in north St. Louis. But
the recruiters had her number. They also had her name, her address and her
complete attention.
Like most Missouri parents, Johnson didn't know he could have kept her
information from recruiters. He didn't realize privacy was an option.
LaVena was set on going to college, so Johnson was stunned when the
honor roll student told him she was joining the Army.
"She had asked me about college. I told her I would make sure she got a
college education and that" her younger sister "LaKesha would, too," he
said, "even if I had to work two jobs."
He regrets those last words.
The 17-year-old Florissant senior had been talking to recruiters at
school.
"They had already painted a picture," Johnson said. "They were
aggressive."
As soon as they learned she wanted to go to college, "they convinced
her that the Army would be the way to get there." LaVena wanted to be
independent, and she wanted to pay her own way through school, he said.
Johnson, who worked with the military for 28 years, tried to dissuade
her.
"They got a war on now," he said. "This might not be the best time."
She told him not to worry. Recruiters "told her that because she was female
the likelihood of her going to Iraq was remote," he said. "They told her
she would be able to travel and save money for school."
Four months after LaVena graduated from high school in May 2004, she
enlisted. After boot camp in Fort Campbell, Ky., the Army sent her to
Iraq. Ten weeks later, at age 19, she was dead.
On July 19, 2005, Pvt. LaVena Johnson became the first Missouri woman
to die in the Iraq war. Her death remains under criminal investigation by
the Army.
"She thought she was safe on a military base," her father said. "She
wasn't."
After LaVena's death, Johnson found a flier from the Army tucked away
in her dresser. It read: "Earn $25,000 toward college."
His second daughter, LaKesha, now a high school senior, ignores
recruiters at her school who have tried to talk to her when she walks by the table
they have set up to lure interested high-schoolers. When they started
calling for LaKesha at home, Johnson finally told them that his older
daughter had died in Iraq and that no one else would be enlisting.
"We still got calls," he said.
The law
Federal law mandates schools must notify parents if they disclose
names, addresses and phone numbers to military recruiters. Parents or students
may instruct the school to withhold the information.
In Florissant, Hazelwood Central Principal Frank Smith said he notifies
parents about the release of student information to military recruiters
in a back-to-school newsletter. The Johnsons never saw that notice.
Many parents are unaware that schools give information to recruiters,
in part because instructions about privacy rights are often hard to find
or nonexistent.
Some districts mention the so-called "opt-out" provision in
newsletters. Others refer parents to the student handbook, where the instructions
might be buried in a barrage of rules and regulations.
Hazelwood's Smith notified parents in a newsletter. He sees no harm in
giving recruiters access to campus and to students' personal
information. When military fliers came to his house addressed to his son, Smith
said, "we just tore them up."
"The military offers opportunities like any other business," he said.
"They follow through" on those opportunities, "but the price could be
death," he said. "That's the difference between what the military
offers and what other careers offer."
That dire distinction has many parents concerned about recruiters
contacting underage children without their permission. As U.S.
casualties in Iraq mount, parents in many communities have asked that their
children be taken off directory lists that end up in recruiters' hands.
The three high schools in Columbia house 3,828 students. This year,
school officials received 22 parental requests to "opt out" of information
supplied to recruiters. Neither the district nor individual schools
informed parents about the option. They found the information elsewhere
— "word of mouth," Superintendent Phyllis Chase believes. Other
administrators with Columbia Public Schools were surprised when the
military opt-out forms appeared. The district was not prepared for
administering such an option.
The fine print
Confusion can be traced back to an add-on provision in the 660-page
school reform law called the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Here is how it works:
The addition required that public schools allow military recruiters
on campus and give recruiters the names, addresses and phone numbers of
all high school juniors and seniors upon request — or risk losing federal
funding. Schools got that message loud and clear. Even so, a second
part went largely unnoticed.
Under the law, schools are also required to notify parents that
schools give recruiters the information. The same provision requires that
schools notify parents of their right to keep the information from recruiters.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, referred to as
FERPA, governed the release of information to the military until 2002.
When No Child Left Behind came along, schools were required to rewrite
notification and opt-out forms to reflect the military provision, said
Jim Bradshaw, spokesman with the U.S. Department of Education.
"It has taken awhile to get the word out," he said.
The education department said "a single notice provided through a
mailing, student handbook or other method that is reasonably calculated to
inform parents" was sufficient to inform parents of their opt-out right to
privacy. It seemed simple. But it wasn't.
Columbia has tried to apply the law.
As a matter of course, the Columbia district informs parents every year
in the student handbook and a newspaper ad — curiously titled "Pupil
Personnel Information" — that certain student information is released to "the
public" and that parents can opt out, or withhold that personal information, by
contacting the district.
Each district in the state determines what constitutes "directory
information."
In the 1980s and '90s, many Missouri school administrators, sensitive
to privacy concerns of parents, began releasing only names and grade
levels as directory information, said Mark VanZandt, general counsel for the
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Columbia continued to
release student names, phone numbers and addresses.
Columbia did not change its notification policy in 2002 because
administrators didn't think it was required. The district was already
releasing names, addresses and phone numbers to anyone who asked for
them.
Kelli Hopkins, director of education policy for the Missouri School
Boards Association, suggests parents might want to question who else is
getting information about their children.
Last May, she said, the association, a policy-writing organization for
public schools, changed its recommendation to specifically list
military recruiters and colleges among the potential recipients of personal
student information. Columbia is among 285 Missouri districts that pay for the
policy drafts from the not-for-profit organization. Columbia's notice
last August did not reflect the association's recommended change.
"Once the district told parents it was going to release information to
anyone, I'm not sure parents would need to see a specific list of
everyone included," Hopkins said.
Apparently, that is how Lynn Barnett read it, too. Barnett,
superintendent for student support services for Columbia schools, remains under the
impression that the district is not required to notify parents that the
list is given to military recruiters.
"There is no requirement that we do that," she said, but the district
will honor requests to withhold information from recruiters.
Until this year, Columbia parents who wanted their children's
information withheld from the military were told "they opted out of everything,"
Barnett said. That meant the student's information would be excluded
from the yearbook and honor roll lists in the newspaper and the student
would likely receive no information from colleges.
This year, after "a few parents" inquired about removing their children
from the recruitment lists, Barnett said, she began honoring their
requests.
"The military opt-out forms appeared," she said, "because parents found
them on the Internet." Before that, "this was a nonissue."
Now, she said, "They can opt out of the military but can still be
included for all of the other things."
"We are still trying to manage that. We literally have to pull the
labels by hand. That is what is tough."
As a result of parents' requests, she said, a notice that specifically
addresses the military opt-out issue will be included in the student
handbook next year.
Barnett was under the impression that only seven families had opted
out, but her secretary, Linda Borgmeyer, who handles the requests, reported
receiving 14 parental requests to be removed from recruitment lists.
Later she found another request misfiled in the "general opt-out pile." That
number was revised again to 22 in January after the Tribune contacted
Hope Burkart, a secretary in the office of the assistant superintendent of
secondary education. Both offices have handled requests, and some
others filter down from the superintendent's office. Borgmeyer enters the
requests into the district's computer system.
Borgmeyer also handles the written requests for directory lists from
recruiters. She said she releases lists of juniors and seniors and
sometimes sophomores. Barnett said the school releases only juniors'
names.
One parent's frustration
Jane Accurso would like to see more clarity in the policy and perhaps
better coordination of requests. Last fall, Accurso, the mother of a
Hickman High School student, tried to protect her daughter's
information from recruiters.
"It was really difficult," she said. "I got several different stories.
At first, I was told there was a form to fill out. So I went to the main
office at Hickman High, where nobody knew about the form. They called
the administrative offices, and the administrative office agreed that I
needed some form, but no one there knew anything about the forms either.
Nobody was educated about this. They weren't being difficult, they were just
uninformed."
After Accurso contacted Wanda Brown, assistant superintendent for
secondary education, her daughter's name was placed on the "general opt-out" list
rather than the military opt-out.
"We were trying to figure out how to do this," Brown said. "I didn't
think you could opt out of military recruitment lists without opting out of
all directory lists. I think we ended up taking her daughter off of
everything."
Chase and Barnett said they believed the guidance counselors' offices
had the forms, but they were unavailable at either the Hickman or Rock
Bridge guidance offices.
Hickman Principal Mike Jeffers recalls that while he was principal at
Truman High School in Independence, notification and opt-out were
handled at the high school level.
"We sent out a newsletter at the beginning of the year notifying
parents," he said, and there was little response at first. But recently, because
of the Iraq war, he said, "I think a lot more parents are saying 'off the
list.' "
Other opinions
"Half of the problem is that parents aren't being notified," said
Felicity Crush, spokesperson for Mainstreet Moms, Leave My Child Alone. Crush is
a San Francisco mom who became involved in an Internet effort to inform
parents and schools about the law.
In the past year, more than 37,000 parents have downloaded the opt-out
forms available on the Leave My Child Alone Web site. Crush said that
across the country, parental notification still "doesn't happen in some
districts, and the policy varies wildly from district to district. I
think that, administratively, it is not clear how to do it."
In Columbia, school policy on opt-out appears to be a work in progress.
Columbia school board member Darin Preis began looking into the issue
last August at the urging of Bill Monroe, president of Democracy for
Missouri.
"I became concerned about the inconsistencies between what the law says
and what parents are told," Preis said. Monroe invited him to an
informational meeting about the provision. Preis brought Chase with him. As a result,
he said, "there will be a page in the student handbook next year that very
explicitly says parents have the option to withhold their children's
information." Chase confirmed that an opt-out form would be included in
the student handbook.
"That is a good beginning," said Jeff Stack of Mid-Missouri Fellowship
for Reconciliation. For the past 10 years, Stack has set up a table in
local high schools providing information to counter military recruitment
efforts.
"We want the students to have other perspectives as well," he said. His
group thinks students should be aware that "the military is primarily a
fighting force, not a job-training program."
Stack would like to see a letter go out to parents during the summer so
they can opt out before recruiters acquire lists in September.
The recruitment provision has been confusing to everyone, Stack said.
"This is new ground, so it's a little murky," he said. "I don't think
the district is trying to be malicious in any way. I think they are just
trying to work through new ground."
Recruiters speak out
Recruiters say the new requirements have had little effect on their
efforts in Missouri.
"We cover 574 high schools, and no one is refusing us a list or
access," said Dave Palmer, Army chief of advertising and public affairs for the
St Louis Battalion. "We have access to schools because we have good
working relationships with schools."
Counselors at Rock Bridge and Hickman say military recruiters from all
branches are scheduled once or twice a month through the guidance
office and are confined to tables during their visits to campuses.
"Normally, the school sets the tone" when recruiters come to campuses,
Palmer said. "The guys don't have free rein. We provide brochures and
trinkets."
"We aren't a last-choice occupation," he said. "We bring a lot to the
table," including "up to $70,000 for college."
"We don't do a lot of targeting of high schools," he said, though
recruiters are a visible presence in area schools.
"We make school presentations; we start relationships; we do mail and
phone campaigns. We make special events, sponsor sporting events, monster
trucks," Palmer said. "Recruiters live in the community three to six
years. They have kids in schools, too."
Schools are saving tax dollars by providing lists to recruiters and
allowing them in schools, said Marine Sgt. Catherin Randall, a
marketing and public affairs representative for Recruiting Station Kansas City.
"We get paid; we operate off of tax dollars. So the less we have to
spend on recruiting efforts, the more tax dollars we save," she said. "The
public looks at it like 'Oh they are in our schools, they are trying to
recruit our kids,' but you have to look at the bigger picture. It saves tax
dollars. … We have always, for the most part, received cooperation from
high schools."
"People seem to be patriotic in the Columbia and Jefferson City areas,"
she said. "They support the military."
Continuing controversy
Preis, the Columbia school board member, found it curious that military
recruitment ended up in an education bill in the first place. He also
finds the bill confusing.
"The law says parents must be notified," he said, "but it doesn't say
how to do it."
Preis believes the confusion is deliberate. He points to an October
2002 letter to educators from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and
Secretary of Education Rod Paige that "talks about recruiting kids through the
schools," he said. "I found it extremely disturbing that the secretary
of defense would have that kind of collaborative relationship with the
secretary of education."
The letter said: "For some students, this may be the best opportunity
they have to get a college education." Preis takes that to mean "the
military needs more recruits, and it is targeting the economically vulnerable to
get them."
Jay Webster, principal at Boonville R-1 High School, has a different
reaction: Boonville is a town that "takes pride in the country," he
said.
"We have a lot of kids that go into the military," Webster said. He
said he tells parents about the No Child law in back-to-school orientation
meetings and that none of his 550 students has opted out.
John Johnson, the Florissant father who is still mourning his
daughter's death in Iraq, insists he is patriotic. He was in the Army for three
years before college and served as a military consultant for 25 years. Still,
he believes the military should not lead children to make decisions about
their futures. He sees it as interference in a family matter.
"I am opposed to having the military coming into schools and classrooms
and contacting students at home. They need to talk openly to both the
student and their parents," he said.
"Students need to talk with their parents about these decisions," he
said. "If we had known LaVena had been talking to the military, we would have
really explored this as a family."
Reach Marcia Vanderlip at (573) 815-1718 or mvanderlip@tribmail.com.
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