COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Schools to limit military recruiting
Emily Heffter, Seattle Times
August 2, 2007
The Seattle School Board voted Wednesday night to limit military
recruiters to two visits per year to each school.
College and career recruiters will face the same limits under the new
policy. Under federal law, the district has to provide equal access
to all recruiters or face losing federal funding.
Previously, the policy said no recruiter could visit more often than
other recruiters, but didn't limit the number of visits.
Students and other activists have spoken at several School Board
meetings over the past two months, at one point launching a protest
so disruptive it prompted the board to move its meeting to another room.
About a dozen student activists spoke to the board Wednesday about
the recruiting policy, which they say doesn't go far enough.
They have proposed the district ban all recruiters from schools but
host two recruiting fairs each year so all students would have access
to all recruiters. They said the current policy allows the military
to "target" low-income and minority students.
The board said the new policy addresses that by ensuring that no
campus would be visited by military recruiters but not college recruiters.
Some School Board members praised the students' activism.
Brita Butler-Wall, chair of the board's Student Learning Committee,
said the district will continue its annual recruitment fair in the
hopes that someday the fair could replace school visits altogether.
Board member Sally Soriano called the new policy "a small step forward."
Board member Michael DeBell told the students that their activism was
misplaced and "overshadowed" more important issues, such as the
district's student-assignment plan.
If students want to protest the war, he said, they should protest to
the federal government.
Also Wednesday, the board voted to rename as West Seattle Elementary
School the building that now houses High Point Elementary School. The
school has merged with Fairmount Park Elementary, which the board
voted last fall to close.
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