Military opt-out deadline looms

Spokane parents who don’t want their children contacted by military recruiters have until Oct. 24 to notify school officials.

That’s the deadline to withdraw their children’s names from military listings in Spokane Public Schools, after parents protested an earlier policy that would have required students who opted out of the military listings to also have their names removed from school activity lists, such as sports rosters.

“People have called expressing concerns, wondering if there was a particular motivation (on the district’s part),” said Emmett Arndt, executive director of teaching and learning services.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, public schools must provide lists of student names, addresses and telephone numbers for military recruiters upon request. Previously, parents had the right to keep their children’s names off the recruiting lists by writing a letter to the school.

Spokane Public Schools officials said that in August they were advised by an attorney that the district practice of how students’ names are supplied and withheld from military recruiters must change.

This fall, parents who chose to withhold their children’s names from military recruiter lists in Spokane Public Schools were told that the same names would also be withheld from all listings – including sports rosters, the school yearbook and honor student listings sent to the media.

Many parents felt the change was the wrong thing to do.

In the end, the parents won.

Renee Roehl was one of the parents who took issue with the district policy. She had always chosen to withhold her son’s name from military recruiters. Then she found out that her choice would also keep his name out of the school yearbook during his senior year.

“Are you kidding me?” Roehl said. “What happened here?”

Late last month, district officials decided to return to their old practice of honoring requests to opt out of military-recruiter lists while still being able to appear on other school activity lists.

Arndt said all he could do was explain that the district followed the advice of an attorney.

“We wanted to do the right thing,” Arndt said.

The Center for Justice, a nonprofit legal organization in Spokane, is following up on the matter.

“If they hadn’t changed the policy, it would have developed into potential litigation,” said Breean Beggs, director of the center.

Now that the policy has changed, Beggs is most concerned that the public be educated on their rights.

Juniors and seniors at Spokane Public Schools will soon be receiving a notice from their schools explaining the changes, Arndt said.

“Our interest is truly to respond to requests of parents and honor that request, particularly when the law says they can make that request,” Arndt said.

The Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane has been trying to publicize that parents have the opt-out option for military recruiters. At a Sept. 24 peace rally, forms for writing the school districts were made available.

The Central Valley and Mead school districts separate military lists and all other school activity lists. Each school district sets its own deadline for withdrawing from the military list.