Opt In Challenge
by Feds: The Federal
Government has given notice that Opt In "may" not
conform to the military recruiter access provisions of the
No Child Left
Behind
Act.
For
up-to-date news
& document links click
here.
| The
content of this page is contributed by Josh
Sonnenfeld, who, as a Santa Cruz High
School senior, successfully organized the School
District OPT IN campaign. Josh starts at the
University of California at Santa Cruz in Fall
2003 and is currently an intern at the Resource
Center for Nonviolence. Josh advises other districts
about OPT-IN. Information: josh_lizard@yahoo.com,
831/295-2139, or Bob Fitch, bobfitch@rcnv.org,
831/423-1626 x102. |
In
2001 George Bush signed the "No
Child Left Behind Act" which contains an onerous
extortion -- high
schools must provide military recruiters with student contact
information or lose federal funding. The Act also
requires that schools obtain "prior
written consent" from parents before
releasing student contact information to recruiters.
Text "No
Child" Military Recruitment Provisions:
This text is from section
9528 on pages 559 and 560 of the 670-page
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act
(ESEA), commonly known as the No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001:
SEC. 9528.
ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT
RECRUITING INFORMATION.
(a) POLICY-
(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION- Notwithstanding section
444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided
in paragraph (2), each
local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide,
on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher
education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and
telephone listings.
(2) CONSENT- A secondary school student
or the parent of the student may request that the student's name,
address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not
be released without prior written parental consent, and
the local educational agency or private school shall notify
parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with
any request.
(3) SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS- Each local
educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall
provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school
students as is provided generally to post secondary educational
institutions or to prospective employers of those students.
(b) NOTIFICATION- The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of
Defense, shall, not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of
the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, notify principals, school administrators,
and other educators about the requirements of this section.
(c) EXCEPTION- The requirements of this section do not apply to a private
secondary school that maintains a religious objection to service in the
Armed Forces if the objection is verifiable through the corporate or
other organizational documents or materials of that school.
(d) SPECIAL RULE- A local educational agency prohibited by Connecticut
State law (either explicitly by statute or through statutory interpretation
by the State Supreme Court or State Attorney General) from providing
military recruiters with information or access as required by this
section shall have until May 31, 2002, to comply with
that requirement. Special
amendment voting record to
top
Overview - Opt Out & Opt In
Most
schools administer this Act using an OPT
OUT procedure: It is presumed the school that
student contact information will be given to recruiters
unless
parents take the initiative to opt out. Notification
of parents about their consent option ranges from total
neglect
to a form letter. If, as is often the case,
a parent does not receive or respond to notification,
contact information
for their child will be given to recruiters...and their
student will have to deal with recruiter marketing
at school and at home!
If you school is using Opt Out --
1) Be sure the Opt Out notice is aggressively advertised
and circulated to
all families. This
is a school administration job, but some peace action
communities are actively leafleting students
and parents with Opt Out letter which parents can complete
and return to school administrators. 2)
Be sure the notification letter
is translated into a language use
by parents, and 3) written so that people can understand
it.
A few schools are
adopting a more proactive OPT IN procedure
which is sometimes called a "privacy & truth" resolution
-- information is released to to recruiters ONLY when
the parents Opt In by giving written permission for recruiter
contact. This procedure conforms to a a customary school practice
of requiring written consent from parents before their children
can participate in classes presenting controversial materials
or before students can take off campus excursions. Most opt
in resolutions also mandate that all students be given information
about the realities of military
service and options to military service.
If you want your school district to use the Opt In procedure,
study the resource links below and
review the personal
organizing narrative for one campaign to
top
1. AGGRESSIVE
RECRUITERS: Recruiters
can be very aggressive. Students should not be subjected
to aggressive recruitment unless they sign up for it.
Students & parents do not like recruiter marketing
at school and home without notice or consent.
2. ELITE PROTECTED: For districts that
choose to send out opt-out cards, the students who return the cards
tend to be
college bound and have no intention of joining the military. If the
students are under 18, their parents have to sign the card as well,
which that shows
that their parents do not want their children subjected to military
recruitment either. It seems to be a political statement more than
protection of the
students.
3. NOTICE LOST/IGNORED: Most students & parents
do not even receive the notice that they have the ability to opt-out.
It tends to be tucked into huge handbooks or packets of information
sent out.
Those that are most affected by military recruitment – working
families who may not read all of the information or students whose
parents may not
understand the packet due to a language barrier (not understating legal
jargon - Look at the Department of Education’s model notice to
see how confusing it is) do not benefit a great deal from opt-out.
Opt-in is
more helpful because if they do not understand what the letter says
or do not read it, the student’s information will not be given
out to the military recruiters. see
U.S. Dept. Education Model Notice
4. TRIVIALIZES IMPACT OF MILITARY SERVICE: Opt-out
systems insinuate that joining the military is not a very big deal – similar
to getting a new credit card. However, the military is an 8-year stint
that someone cannot get out of easily and can have drastic implications
for a person. Opt-in is the standard practice for school field trips. If
students have to opt-in for trips to the local zoo, than they should definitely
have to opt-in for giving their information to the military. to
top
Most peace or social justice groups
agree that morally, opt-in is what needs to be done.
However, in the past, we have disagreed about whether
or not opt-in is actually a legal option. In Santa Cruz,
we presented two legal opinions to the school board:
1. ACLU:A letter from Attorney
Ann Brick from San Francisco ACLU. Her argument was that
opt-in would be legal
within
the No Child Left Behind
Act’s military recruitment provision because it does not state
the method by which schools must notify parents. Click
to read letter
2. Constitution: A
letter
from Attorney Ed Frey. His argument was based
on the constitution as opposed to the No Child
Left Behind
Act itself. He stated that opt-in would be the only constitutional
way to provide notification to parents. click
to read letter to
top
Risk of Losing
Federal Funds
A policy has not been outlined for how federal
funding might be lost, nor has any school ever lost federal
funding because of non-compliance with this section of
the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Non-compliance with the No Child Act’s military
recruitment provision results in the military contacting
the governor. If the governor does not take any action,
the appropriate congressman is contacted, and if no action is taken, a senior
military official will come to the school. The local representative, Sam Farr
(D-Carmel, CA) told SC board members that they have nothing to worry about by
instituting an opt-in policy. If the district is about to lose federal funding
for some reason, they could change their policy to opt-out and would not lose
a cent.
It is interesting that the Army sent William Cala, Superintendent of the
Fairport Central School District a thank-you letter for releasing
the information of the students that opted in. see letter Actually, OPT
IN saves the recruiters time in that they receive permission only from interested
students and families. to
top
List
of Santa Cruz Contacts for Opt In Information
1.
Josh Sonnenfeld, Santa Cruz High Youth Alliance student
rep and
campaign organizer, josh_lizard@yahoo.com
2. Malcolm Terence, SCHS Youth Alliance Faculty Adviser,
mterence@sccs.santacruz.k12.ca.us
3. Cece Pinheiro, SC School
Board member,
cece@sccs.santacruz.k12.ca.us
4. Tim Willis, SC School Board
President, anzartw@aol.com
6. Felix Robles, SC School
Board vice-president,
frobles@sccs.santacruz.k12.ca.us
7. Ed Frey, Attorney at Law, (831)
479-8911 to
top
Contacts Other School
Districts with Opt In
1. William Cala, Superintendant
of Fairport Central School District, NY, william_cala@fairport.monroe.edu
2. Robert Shillito, Director
of Guidance, Columbia High School, Maplewood, NJ , rshillit@somsd.k12.nj.us to
top
List - Schools/Districts
with Opt In CAMPAIGNS
1.
Berkeley, CA: John Selawsky, Berkeley School Board Vice-President,
jwebsky@earthlink.net
2. Eugene, OR: Committee for Countering Military Recruitment - CCMR,
http://www.efn.org/~eugpeace/CCMR.html/; Phil Weaver, countermilitary@yahoo.com
3. Washington, DC: Trent Moyer, trent@mutualaid.org
4. Madison, WI: Madison Area Peace Coalition - MAPC, http://www.madpeace.org/
Michelle Nightoak, nightoak@aol.com.nightoak@aol.com.
5. San Diego, CA: Youth And Non-military
Opportunities (YANO), http:/projectyano.org/ &
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
http://comdsc.org, Rick
Jahnkow rjahnkow@aol.comrjahnkow@aol.com
6. Boise City School District, Boise, ID: Idaho
Peace
Coalition,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/idahopeacecoalition/,
Nino
Carpenter at kether@rmci.ne
7. Charlotte, NC: Charlotte Fellowship
of Reconciliation,
http://www.geocities.com/studentsprivacy/ ,
Charlotte FOR at
StudentsPrivacy@yahoo.com)
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