You may be aware that under a newly enacted provision of the No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), Public Law
107-110 section 9528, high schools across the nation are
required to provide the Defense Department a
directory with the name, address and telephone of all juniors
and seniors or risk losing federal funding. Prior to
this provision, many of the nation's high schools refused
recruiters' requests for students' names or access to
campus because they believed it was inappropriate. Below are
some basic facts about the rights of students,
parents and schools under the NCLB.
The Local Education Agency (LEA), i.e. the District
Office--not individual schools--has the authority to release
confidential student information like name, address and phone
number.
Individual schools have been singled out by military
recruiters and persuaded to sign already-prepared documents saying
that they are not complying with the No Child Left Behind Act and
are at risk for losing their federal funding. Schools should
contact their LEA for support.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires that parents be notified
about the potential for their child'spersonal information being
released to military recruiters. Yet not all schools necessarily
ensure that parents are well-informed. The notification may appear
in the fine print of a 200 page student handbook. Some districts
are mailing individual letters to parents with all pertinent,
updated information regarding students' privacy, however.
Parents may write letters to their child's school
administration stating that they decline to have their child's
privileged information released to military recruiters. Students
may write on their own behalf as well.
Since September 11, 2001, the FBI has requested students'
personal information from over 200 colleges as a part of their
inquiry into potential terrorist links. Only one college--Earlham
in Indiana--refused to release this information about their
students to the government. This new exception under the No Child
Left Behind Act is another slide down the slippery slope eroding
students' right to privacy.
Nothing in the No Child Left Behind Act would preclude a
school district from passing along the costs of preparing the
directory lists, including the costs of safeguarding of student
privacy rights, to the entity that requests it. A school may try
asking the recruitment agency to reimburse such costs.
Schools are not required to give preferential campus access to
the military, but may employ the same restrictions that would
apply to representatives of higher education and prospective
employers. For instance, schools that require students to hear
alternative views on controversial issues or exclude employers
that practice discrimination have the right to apply those
policies to the military. (Note: The military engages in
discrimination based on sexual orientation.)
The No Child Left Behind Act will assist the military in their
current practice of targeting communities of color and
economically disadvantaged communities for recruitment. Though
people of color are more likely to be assigned low-level jobs and
passed over for promotion in the military, recruiters actively
targeted them with tactics such as specialized ad campaigns.
This fact sheet was compiled by the Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation.