Military Recruiting in
High
Schools
A Guide to Your Privacy Rights
NEW!
Questions
and Answers on Military Recruiting in the Schools
NUEVO!
PRIMERAS
10 PREGUNTAS ACERCA DE
RECLUTADORES MILITARES & ESTUDIANTES de PREPARATORIA
Military Opt Out Form:
In English: Click
Here
Forma Para Optar Fuera:
En Espanol: Aqui
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, THE LARGEST DISTRICT IN WISCONSIN,
VOTES TO
OPPOSE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND SECTION 9528
MILWAUKEE -- On Thursday, October 20, the Milwaukee Public School board
took a big step forward towards protecting the privacy rights of district
students and their families.
The board of the state’s largest public school district
voted 7-2 to direct their lobbyists to oppose Section 9528 of the No Child
Left Behind Act. That controversial law requires districts to give high
school students’ names, addresses, and phone numbers to military
recruiters. The board supports proposed federal legislation which
would require parents to actively choose to have military recruiters get
their children’s private information rather than have it handed
over without active approval.
“Right now the law is backwards,” said Chris
Ahmuty, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin.
“Military recruiters can get students’ private information
unless the student or a parent knows enough about the law to find and
fill out forms saying that information should not be turned over. We commend
MPS for taking this position.”
The MPS board also unanimously approved a plan to simplify
and distribute an “opt out” form to MPS high school students
at the beginning of each school year. The form can be filled out by either
the parent or the student. Privacy advocates, including ACLU of Wisconsin
attorney Karyn Rotker, have criticized the current “opt out”
form as being too long and confusing, and for being inconspicuously buried
at the end of the MPS handbook.
“We need an “Opt Out” form that is simple,
understandable and easy to find even by persons who don’t read well,”
noted Rotker who testified on these issues to the MPS Board on Tuesday
night. “We also need to make sure that form is available for parents
and students who don’t speak English.”
MPS Administration is holding the list from recruiters
at least until November 1, 2005 to ensure that parents and students who
would like to have their personal information removed from the list have
time to do so before the list is released.
MPS students from several high schools originally brought
the issue to the attention of the MPS School Board and the ACLU of Wisconsin.
The students are also concerned about military recruitment access to and
practices on MPS campuses. The School Board has directed the MPS administration
to compile a report on recruiter access to MPS campuses that is due later
this year. -end
Press
Release in .pdf
Schools MUST Tell Parents and Students
They Don't Have To Give Information To Military
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 26, 2005
CONTACT: Karyn Rotker, ACLU/WI, Poverty, Race & Civil Liberties Staff
Attorney, 414-272-4032, x. 21
Milwaukee -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is charging
that Wisconsin public schools, including the Milwaukee Public Schools,
are denying parents and students important information about military
recruitment.
The ACLU of Wisconsin is urging Milwaukee Public Schools
- and schools throughout the state - to comply with the law.
“Federal law makes it clear that schools need to
give parents and students the chance to say ‘No’ to giving
private information to military recruiters,” said Karyn Rotker,
an ACLU attorney. “And giving that chance requires more than burying
a hard-to-read notice inside the back cover of the district’s handbook.”
FULL
STORY...
Letter
to Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, Michael Andrekopolous.
US
Dept of Education Email on Students Ability to Opt Out
NEW!
Questions
and Answers on Military Recruiting in the Schools
NUEVO!
PRIMERAS
10 PREGUNTAS ACERCA DE
RECLUTADORES MILITARES & ESTUDIANTES de PREPARATORIA
Military Opt Out Form:
In English: Click
Here
Forma Para Optar Fuera:
En Espanol: Aqui
ACLU of WI Testifies on Military Opt Out to the MPS School
Board
As MPS students were about to return to school, they rallied
together several peers, parents, teachers, school board members and professionals
to help them deal with provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act that
require schools to give out student's name, address and telephone numbers
to military recruiters when asked. Parents and students do have the opportunity
to "Opt Out" and remove their names from the list, however,
concensus between activists, parents, students and school board members
was that most parents don't know they have the option to remove their
information from the list.
In addition, according to student testimony at the hearing,
students are frustrated with military recruitment strategies that appear
to be targeting poor and minority students, are interrupting their school
days and may also be coercive.
The ACLU of WI is disturbed by the testimony of the MPS
students and in particular concerned about the Privacy Rights of families
in Milwaukee and around the state. We are encouraged that the MPS School
Board and the Administration have decided to review their policies and
options, and encourage them to take every precaution necessary to protect
students and privacy concerns.
For a copy of the ACLU of WI testimony, including the ACLU
positions on this provision of the NCLB Act, click
here.
For a copy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Letter to the
Editor by our Associate Director, click
here.
Other Resources:
New
York Civil Liberties Union has done extensive work on Military Recruiting
in Schools.
http://www.leavemychildalone.org,
a coalition of groups, also has additional information and resources.
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