Local antiwar groups are focusing attention on a
provision of the federal No Child Left Behind Act that requires public
schools to provide military recruiters with contact information for juniors
and seniors. Schools must comply with the provision, known as Section 9528,
or risk losing federal educational funding.
Peace groups such as the Conscientious Objection
Group of Springfield see the mandate as an invasion of students’
rights to privacy while others suggest it’s an underhanded way to
boost enlistment during wartime.
The rationale behind Section 9528 is that recruiters
for the armed services have as much right to contact high school students
as do prospective colleges and employers.
By submitting an “opt-out” letter to
school officials, Section 9528 does allow parents to place their children
on a recruiting no-call list. But members of the Conscientious Objection
Group, which is sponsoring a forum on the subject next week, complain that
Springfield District 186 uses a confusing form that discourages parents
from saying no.
The District 186 form, mailed to students’
homes in the spring, asks parents to check a box if they do not want their
children to receive information from the military and from colleges.
District 186 officials say it’s all or nothing, because that’s
the way the database system is set up.
Lewania Baker, director of District 186’s Title
I program, says she was not aware that parents were confused by the
district’s opt-out form but that she would bring parental concerns to
the attention of Student Services.
“We’re always looking for ways to
improve,”
Baker says.
The COGS organization includes members of the Abraham
Lincoln Unitarian-Universalist Congregation,
Pax Christi Springfield,
parents and students.
The Conscientious Objection Group of Springfield holds
a forum on military recruiting in Springfield high schools at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 14, at the First Church of the Brethren, 2015 South Yale.
This article appears in Sep 8-14, 2005.
