COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Uncle Sam sees decline in opt-outs
Krista J. Stockman, The Journal Gazette
Nov. 26, 2006
The number of students choosing to keep their contact information away from
military recruiters has dropped at all but three schools in Allen County
this year.
Schools are required by federal law to inform students they can opt out of
having their names, addresses and phone numbers given to military
recruiters. The No Child Left Behind Act, which primarily addresses student
achievement and school accountability, also requires schools to allow
parents and students to have their contact information taken off military
lists or risk losing federal funding.
Local schools let parents and students know through student handbooks,
newsletters or by including the opt-out forms in registration packets.
While most schools saw a drop in the number of students who requested to
keep their information private, few people have an explanation.
"I really don't have an answer for you," Woodlan Junior-Senior High School
Principal Ed Yoder said. He said the school didn't change the process to
notify students that they could opt out, yet the number of students
completing the form dropped to 27 students this year, down from 230 last year.
"It's their choice," Yoder said.
Throughout the county last year, 1,664 students signed the opt-out form,
and 1,551 did so this year. Nearly two-thirds of the students opting out
came from Homestead High School where only 30 juniors and seniors allowed
their information to be shared with recruiters.
Principal Dianne Moake said she isn't sure why so many students signed the
forms, but it grew from 660 last year to 984 this year.
"We didn't used to have those kinds of numbers," she said. Although federal
law began requiring the opt-out option only a few years ago, Indiana has
required it for many years.
Moake said she suspects the war in Iraq has made families think more about
military service. The school also included the opt-out form in the
registration packet the last couple of years instead of just notifying
students through the handbook or in a separate mailing.
"We felt like the registration packet was the way to go because they know
there's forms to fill out," she said.
Janet Mitchell, a member of the Peace and Justice Commission of the
Associated Churches, said she believes the reason Homestead has so many
students opt out and other schools don't is that Homestead does a better
job of informing students that they can opt out.
"It's obviously a matter of notification, " she said. "We're concerned that
the No Child Left Behind law isn't being complied with and that parents and
their children aren't being notified of their rights to opt out. It's a
privacy concern. It's a civil rights concern."
Mitchell said the organization is trying to work with schools to improve
how students are notified of their right to opt out.
"The most effective technique is to actually send it home so the parents
can see it," she said. "We're not trying to modify the law, we're just
trying to get it enforced."
David Greco, a junior at Homestead, said he decided to opt out of having
his information sent to recruiters because he saw how much mail and e-mail
his older brother received from recruiters.
"I just thought that if I was going to join the Army, I'd probably just do
it on my own," he said. And Greco hasn't ruled that out as an option.
"I'm not sure if I want to join the military," he said. But he wants to
think about it without having a recruiter call him or send him information.
Olen Hulbert, who oversees two recruiting offices in Fort Wayne for the
Indiana Army National Guard, said he believes it's often not the students
who aren't interested in the military, but their parents.
"It seems as if parents are more afraid of the war than students are," he
said. "When we approach somebody we make sure they understand there is a
conflict going on and they'd be called to serve.…Most of them have no
problem with that whatsoever. They are patriotic. They are willing to serve."
For those who aren't interested in joining the military, keeping their
names off the recruiting list actually makes his job easier, Hulbert said.
"We're not out there trying to force-feed anybody," he said. "We only want
to talk to people who are legitimately interested in exploring different
options for their future. If they want to close the door on us, that's fine."
Hulbert said he is concerned, however, that some schools are coercing
students to sign the opt-out forms and taking away their right to learn
more about an opportunity they could have.
"Now we have educators making decisions for their students," he said. "I
don't know why we're forcing the kids to opt out yet we're allowing every
college and university in the state to come in when 75 percent will never
get a degree."
At Carroll High School, where 30 students opted out this year, school
officials made the forms more accessible this year, but it didn't mail them
home.
Kathy Lepper, director of guidance, said the forms were available at
registration because parents wanted the forms to be more visible. Last
year, when only five students opted out, students were notified through the
student handbook.
"We wanted to take an impartial position, something we don't stand for or
against," Lepper said. She said the forms are still available and students
can still fill them out.
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