Families of students who feel dogged by military back AB1778

He politely told them he wasn't interested in joining the service, but in the following weeks and months, he kept getting calls and even a letter in the mail from the Army urging him to reconsider. He felt so pressured that he asked his mother if they could move back to their hometown of Morelia in the Mexican state of Michoacan so he wouldn't have to enlist in the U.S. military, said Reyes, now 20.

"I felt like they were going to force me to join," he said.

What also surprised Reyes was that the recruiter had his home address and phone number. Reyes and his mother didn't realize that his school was releasing contact information for all juniors and seniors to military recruiters under a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act in order to receive federal funding.

The incident is at the heart of a bill working its way through the state Assembly. Under AB1778, school districts would be required to notify parents or legal guardians that they have the right to opt out of the student lists sent to military recruiters. The legislation also would add an opt-out request to students' emergency contact forms.

Supporters of the legislation argue that many schools don't do an adequate job of notifying parents of that option now. They also charge that with military recruiters having more difficulty meeting their goals in recent years, parents need to be aware that their children can be targets of heavy-handed recruiting attempts.

Read the rest of the article (w/ photo) here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/05/06/BAGOIIMPS61.DTL