Bills to Curb Military Recruiters in High Schools

Related story with photos of demonstration calling for limiting recruiter access to students
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/15/18479423.php

LIEBER BILL WOULD TIGHTEN RECRUITERS' ACCESS TO STUDENTS

by Casey Weiss
Mountain View Voice Staff

Activists protesting outside the new Army Career Center in Mountain View last week called for more honesty and tighter policies for military recruiting among high school students.

Their wishes could be partially granted if the state Legislature passes a bill reintroduced this week by local Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, who said it would help to better inform parent and students about military recruiting policies on high school campuses. Recruiters currently have access to high school students' contact information -- unless parents sign a denial of consent form.

Although all families are required to receive this opt-out form with other registration and back-to-school information, Lieber said they often miss the form, which is on page 78 of a packet for Mountain View and Los Altos high school students.

"The bill would put it front and center where families can see it," Lieber said.

Under the proposed bill, the option to opt out of the recruitment process would be on the emergency contact form. The bill would also push to inform students that the armed services receive their contact information if they take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, an online test that helps students explore career opportunities through math and verbal testing. The site's home page only refers to the test as the ASVAB career exploration program.

Lieber said she often hears complaints from families who are receiving constant calls and e-mails from recruiters.

"We see this as an important privacy issue. California, unlike other states, has the right to privacy in our Constitution," Lieber said. "We have a responsibility."

Lieber is not directly working with last Friday's protesters. Paul George, director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center in Palo Alto, which helped organize the event, said he favors even tighter recruiting policies.

Calls to the local recruiting center were referred to the Army's local public affairs spokesman, who did not return several phone calls seeking comment. The Army's national media relations office in Kentucky also did not return calls seeking comment.

Under the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, all schools that receive federal funding must provide military recruiters with students' names, addresses and telephone numbers, unless parents have signed the consent forms. Public schools also must give military recruiters the same information colleges and potential employers receive, MVLA associate Superintendent Brigitte Sarraf said. The government will withhold funding from schools that do not comply with NCLB.

"If you allow college recruiters to come on campus, you have to make that option available to military recruiters," said Sarraf, referring to the law.

She said a fair number of parents opt out, and that only a few students from the high schools enlist each year.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill co-sponsored by Lieber in 2006, but the assemblywoman said this time, with more people critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, she is hopeful it will pass.

While Lieber's bill, which she will present to the Assembly on Friday, would cover only California students, Congressman Mike Honda, D-San Jose, is pushing for a national opt-in policy, which would prevent release of information to recruiters unless a guardian signs a consent form.

http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=426