COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
School districts differ on military's access to students
Cory de Vera, News-leader
September 23, 2007
If a high school student wants to keep contact information out of thehands of military recruiters, does it also have to be withheld from
colleges and prospective employers?
Springfield Public School officials say yes.
Other large districts in Missouri including Rockwood and Columbia say no.
A handful of local residents recently voiced their frustrations,
saying the Springfield district is trying to punish students who just
want military recruiters to leave them alone.
"I don't think anyone is saying military recruiters shouldn't be in
school. That's not the issue, because it's already in the law," said
Donna Culbertson, a parent lobbying the Springfield school board to
change its policy. "What we are trying to do is give kids an option"
about being contacted.
The federal No Child Left Behind law requires high schools give
military recruiters the same access to student contact information as
they typically give to colleges. It also gives students the right to
withhold their name from lists given to recruiters.
Last year, the 24,000-student Springfield district decided that names
of students who wanted their names off recruiter lists would be kept
private for all reasons. It even meant being excluded from the high
school yearbook.
This year, the district decided to distinguish between releasing
names for "district purposes" and "non-district purposes."
It means students can keep their names public for district purposes
such as yearbook, PTA directory and invitations to summer athletic
camps, and private from groups that may want the list for
non-district purposes such as military recruiters, businesses and job
recruiters.
Members of the Peace Network of the Ozarks argue that it's not fair
for students who don't want to deal with calls from military
recruiters to also be excluded from lists distributed to colleges or
businesses seeking job recruits.
Board defends action
According to a letter by Springfield school attorney Ransom Ellis
III, the way the district interpreted the release of student contact
information doesn't contradict guidance provided by the state
Department of Education.
Ellis wrote that withholding names from interested college recruiters
or job recruiters "is aligned with the spirit" of the law that
requires military recruiters to have the same access to students.
But Ellis' letter didn't satisfy board member Andy Hosmer, who also
is a lawyer. Member Debbie Tolliver said she thought recruiters were
so persistent with her son she found them "kind of annoying," and
probably would have opted to have her son's name withheld if she'd
had the chance. But she wouldn't want to have stopped information
from colleges coming to him.
Springfield' s interpretation of the law even raised questions from
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington.
In an e-mail to the News-Leader, he wrote that a parent or student
can opt out of military recruiting under No Child Left Behind, while
choosing to not opt out under Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act, the law that governs how a family can stop a district from
releasing names and addresses to other organizations.
"To our knowledge there have been no court cases or challenges
pertaining specifically to FERPA and recruiter access," wrote Withington.
Hosmer asked the district to find out how other districts handle the matter.
In Columbia, school officials considered setting up a system similar
to Springfield mostly for the ease of record-keeping.
"It is so hard to track those different options," said Lynn Barnett,
director of student services.
But after researching the issue, Barnett came to the conclusion that
the district couldn't force students to drop off all lists just
because they wanted off the military recruiting list.
When Columbia students opt out, their names don't fall off lists that
go to other organizations. Of about 4,000 high school students, 1,500
turned in military recruiting opt-out forms this year, she said.
Springfield board member Gerry Lee said he wasn't sure it was right
to single out the military as the only opt-out option.
There might be families that would rather not have colleges call, he said.
"Not that I would want a college recruiter to not call my child, but
there might some reason," said Lee.
Barnett said if Columbia residents have ever objected to the district
releasing student names to colleges or other organizations, the
complaints haven't reached her office.
"If they have disagreed, no one has made a big deal out of it," she said.
An official from the Rockwood district also said she's heard no
complaints about any other groups that have received district mailing
lists. She said names have been provided to organizations like
colleges, or vendors selling class rings.
"Our biggest concern is that the PTO runs the Buzz Book, and they all
want to get those out soon," said Sharon Sevier, director of guidance
and counseling for Rockwood.
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