125 say ‘no’ to recruiter listing

Military recruiters will receive 125 fewer student names from Spokane Public Schools this year because parents exercised their right under federal law to specifically keep their children off those lists.

In the Central Valley School District, 38 students opted out; at West Valley High School, five students.

Under provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, student contact information must be sent to military recruiters each year unless parents send a letter requesting exclusion.

The military component of the No Child Left Behind Act may not be well-known to many parents. National and local anti-war groups have criticized school districts for not telling parents about their right to opt out.

This fall, several parents publicly criticized Spokane Public Schools for broadening the opt-out policy. Parents were told that if they chose to keep their children off military lists, their kids would also be kept off listings in the yearbook or sports rosters. The outcry from parents, like Renee Roehl, helped to change the policy again in October.

Now students can choose to be off military lists and remain on everything else.

Roehl was surprised Tuesday night to learn that 125 students had opted off the list.

“That’s all?” she said. “That’s really sad. I don’t believe the information got out there.”

Roehl praised North Central High School, where her child attends, for getting the word out to students. Roehl said parents of students from other schools have told her they had not seen any notice on the updated opt-out policy.

She said she believes the district dragged its feet in telling parents because it didn’t want students to opt out, although she doesn’t know why.

“You can just feel it. It’s palpable. They really don’t want these kids to opt out,” Roehl said.

Emmett Arndt, executive director of teaching and learning services for Spokane Public Schools, said several parents had contacted him – some with theories about the district’s motives.

“We’re trying to do the right thing,” Arndt said.

Notices were sent home with all juniors and seniors, he said. Each high school has at least a mention of the policy change on its Web site. North Central High School is in the process of contacting parents who opted out of all listings to make sure that’s their intention.

“It’s kind of arduous work, but schools are choosing to do that to make it work,” Arndt said.

Spokane high schools must submit their lists of student names and numbers to the district office by Friday morning. Those names will soon be sent to military recruiters.

Rogers High School teacher Brad Read, a former chair of the City of Spokane Human Rights Commission, said the public needs to be better educated about the federal law mandating that districts give student names to military recruiters.

“I don’t think it’s on the radar. There hasn’t been anything remotely resembling a public education campaign,” Read said. “You can’t just put it on the Web site. You can’t just put it in a letter.”

It’s a slightly different story in the Central Valley School District.

Like Spokane Public Schools, Central Valley does not have any kind of official form for parents to fill out. The district sends notices home in the fall with information packets telling parents they have the option of taking their children’s names off the lists provided to military recruiters. This year, Central Valley spokeswoman Melanie Rose put it in the district newsletter, as well.

“We didn’t ever publicize it too much before,” Rose said. But now, under new guidelines from No Child Left Behind, it’s become a hot-button issue, and the district makes a greater effort to educate parents.

Rose went so far as to suggest that parents who want their children off the list write a letter to the district when their child is a freshman or sophomore. Recruiters have started asking for the lists of students as young as sophomores.

“If they (parents) wait until they are a junior or a senior, at that point the recruiter has already got their name and phone number,” Rose said.

Arndt said in Spokane Public Schools they only supply the names of juniors and seniors to military recruiters.