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From the Mail Bag: Dear Peace Makers--help protect our young people!

By Admin, Section News
Posted on Tue Sep 05, 2006 at 02:40:41 PM EST

Many PNO folks have responded to the call to plan ways to inform students and parents about recruiting practices and procedures. We've come up with a plan and need your help in making these efforts truly effective.

The first item we're tackling is the No Child Left Behind Act which requires schools to send student directory information to the military (Section 9528) or lose their federal funding. The law also says parents must be notified that they can opt their student out of this data gathering for military recruiting, but most schools choose to bury that information in a page titled "Student Directory Information" where students/parents can check they do not want to release that information. But if they do choose to "opt out," the students will be penalized by losing their right to be contacted by college reps or having his/her name listed in school activities. Orwell's 1984 describes this action perfectly: the student is "disappeared."

We have two strategies to deal with this injustice:

First, PNO Chair Gene Davison will speak to the school board at its September 5th meeting--5:30 PM, 940 N. Jefferson. He will request that the high schools distribute the opt out form PNO has developed to inform students of the law and that provides a way for students to opt out (See below.). If the district again chooses--as they did last year--not to be forthright in their handling of this matter, Gene will inform the board that PNO will distribute the forms to all high school students as they leave school during September. (October is the month this data is sent to the Pentagon/military.) Your presence at the school board meeting will cause this message to be more clearly heard.

Second, we ask each of you to print as many of the opt out forms as you can and pass out to parents and young people. If you live in another school district, contact your school board members and ask how your school handles this requirement from our federal government. If they have not been forthright in telling parents and students where they send student information and why, or have not provided an opt out form that does not penalize students by opting them out of all school activities, then perhaps a visit about fairness and justice is in order.

Young people and parents have a right to know what our government and our schools are doing. Help spread the word. And be at the Springfield School Board meeting Tuesday, Sept. 5, 5:30. Our young people need your help.

The Counter-Recruitment Committee of Peace Network of the Ozarks.
Joan Collins, chair--742-3120

(Present or mail to school superintendent)

RELEASE OF INFORMATION TO MILITARY RECRUITERS

Your child's name, address and phone number WILL be released to military recruiters UNLESS you specify here that you want this information
withheld.

___________ DO NOT release my child's directory information to military recruiters without my written consent.

__________________ ________________________
(student name) (name of school)

______________________________ ___________
(parent signature) (date)

Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to send all student directory information to the military or schools will lose their federal funding. Schools are required to notify parents that they can opt out their student.

Peace Network of the Ozarks would like to know how you received information on opting out.
You can contact us at: peacenetwork@ozarkpeace.net or www.ozarkpeace.net

Peace Network of the Ozarks believes a young person's decisions about his/her future should be founded on accurate and thorough information. To that end, we recommend visiting these websites to read about the truthfulness of recruiting practices and to find out how the military uses data obtained from schools to track possible recruits--and how to opt out of that data mining collection without penalizing the student.

For more information, check out these websites:
www.leavemychildalone.org
www.vetsforpeace.org
www.ozarkpeace.net

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From the Mail Bag: Dear Peace Makers--help protect our young people!

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