In addition to undermining our public schools, the No Child Left Behind Act allows the military unprecedented access to our kids' contact information. Yes, under Section 9528 of the much-reviled act, the military is entitled to every junior and senior's name, address and telephone number - unless parents specifically decline to make that information available.
Parents have to process a ton of paperwork each school year, so it's easy to imagine many if not most forgetting to write that letter, or not getting around to it. Plus, many school districts don't even let parents know they can withhold their information from the military.
So I was gratified to learn recently that at our local high school in Evanston, Illinois, almost every family is refusing to turn their kids' contact information over to the military. Just 17 names appeared in the last directory handed over to military recruiters - down from more than 1,000 the first year the law was in effect.
Apparently the school has developed a form that makes it clear to parents that they have the right to opt out. It also seems that parent activists are doing great PR to let other parents know they have that alternative, according to our local
paper:
The school now provides parents with a check-off form when they register their students as ninth-graders - a single form that covers the student's four years of high school. Most parents grant selective permission for the information to be given to colleges and prospective employers, but not to the military.
(snip)
Former ETHS parent Dickelle Fonda was instrumental in persuading administrators to change how parents were notified of their right to opt-out.
"I think we did something very creative at Evanston by developing that form," said Fonda, who is working with an anti-recruitment group to reform the notification procedures used in Chicago.
"The only kids (at ETHS) now who even need to bother with it are freshmen and new transfer students," Fonda said.
Of course, the recruiters were flummoxed.
Marilyn Madden, Evanston Township High School's director of pupil services, said that when puzzled recruiters received the short list, "They called and said, 'This can't be all.' They thought I was kidding," Madden said.
"I said, 'You have to understand the community.'"
True, Evanston is probably one of the bluest areas in Illinois. Just about every other car still sports a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker, and many of us worked hard last fall to ensure not only that Illinois went blue but that Wisconsin did too. It's extremely diverse, both racially and economically, with a tradition of lively debate on almost every public issue. But this seems to be one topic that almost everyone in town can agree on.