COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Schools to limit visits by military
BETH QUIMBY, Portland Press Herald
December 8, 2005
Military and college recruiters may visit Portland's public high schoolsno more than seven times a year, under a policy adopted by the Portland
School Committee Wednesday night.
The policy is apparently the first of its kind in Maine. The action follows
moves by the School Committee to limit military recruitment. For instance,
this fall the committee made it easier for students to opt out of providing
their contact information to military recruiters by allowing them to check
off a box on their mandatory emergency notification cards.
"All sorts of folks are competing for our children's commitment," said
Stephen Spring, head of the subcommittee that drafted the policy.
School districts nationwide are debating whether to limit military
recruitment amid headlines of overly aggressive tactics by some recruiters.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, schools that receive
federal funding are required to release students' contact information to
military recruiters unless a student requests in writing that the
information be kept private. Schools also are required to provide
military recruiters the same access to students as college and
employment recruiters receive.
Portland's new policy, called the Equitable Recruitment Access Policy,
directs each school staff to designate a single area where recruitment
may take place.
Wednesday's vote was preceded by an unsuccessful motion by committee
member Otis Thompson to delete the section of the policy that limits the
number of visits by recruiters to seven each.
Last year, military recruiters visited Portland High School 28 times.
Thompson said the new policy might encourage military recruiters to make
even more visits, noting that if each branch of the military took full advantage
of the policy, they could visit Portland High 35 times collectively.
"I think we are in danger of breaking the Maine axiom 'If it's not broken,
don't fix it'," said Thompson.
He said he was also concerned about restricting students' options by
setting the limits.
Spring said the seven-visit limit was reached after determining that
colleges visit each high school about three times a year and would not
be negatively affected by the policy.
Committee member Ben Meiklejohn said limiting recruiters to seven visits
levels the playing field. He said military recruiters have more resources
and outspend college recruiters.
Several people spoke in favor of the policy and the limits on recruitment
visits. No members of the military were present.
"This policy does not obstruct anybody from enlisting," said William
Slavick, coordinator of Pax Christi Maine, a Catholic and ecumenical
peace movement.
Jack Russell of Maine Veterans for Peace urged committee members to
vote in favor of the policy because a written policy would ensure that
roughly 60 percent of the students who opted out of providing their
contact information this year would not be contacted by military recruiters.
Estelle L'Heureux of Portland questioned the need for the policy.
"I have two boys who graduated from Deering. Military recruitment has
not been an issue," she said.
The committee adopted the policy 6 to 3. Thompson, and members Jonathan
Radtke and John Coyne, who both supported Thompson's motion against
limiting visits, voted against the measure.
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