By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, August 6, 2009 1:00 am
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska wants to make sure parents know they can keep their high school students' records from military recruiters - if they wish.
A portion of the federal No Child Left Behind law requires that schools provide the names, addresses and phone numbers of juniors and seniors to all branches of the military, although it allows parents to "opt out."
"Consent is assumed unless a parent takes affirmative steps," said Amy Miller. legal director of ACLU Nebraska.
The problem: Some parents say they didn't realize they had the option to refuse release of the information.
In one instance at Lincoln Public Schools, a parent did opt out but still got the recruiting calls, Miller said.
That situation appears to be an honest mistake by the school district, and typically districts are following the letter of the law. But some should be going a little further, she said.
LPS, for instance, includes the information at the back of an "important information" handbook mailed at the beginning of the year.
That can easily be overlooked in the flurry of start-of-school paperwork parents receive, Miller said.
It would be better, she said, if LPS officials sent it as a separate form so parents would be more likely to see it. Some schools already do that, she said.
Marilyn Moore, LPS associate superintendent of instruction, said the handbook tells parents to call their child's school if they don't want the military to get the information.
LPS could send a separate form, but it could send out separate information for much of the material in the handbook, she said.
"Separate mailings tend to get lost on the kitchen counter," Moore said.
Debbie Cannon, public affairs chief for the Denver Army Recruiting Battalion that includes Lincoln, said recruiters call every high school student on the lists they get from the schools.
But the depressed economy tends to draw more enlistees and allows recruiters to be more selective, she said.
The number of Army recruits from the Lincoln area has increased from 100 in 2005 to 122 last year, she said.
Over the past few years, the ACLU has gotten about a dozen complaints from parents statewide, four or five of those from LPS parents, Miller said.
The ACLU had been handling them individually but decided to send a letter clarifying the rules to schools because it's an important issue, Miller said.
As long as students are living at home, parents should have the issue placed in front of them so they can decide, Miller said.
"This is a federal law that allows the military to bypass parents," she said.
Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.