- Blog
- What do I think about military recruiters in public school?
- My Story.
- My Checklist of Changes:
- Letter to School Board December 2010
- Letter to School Board January 2012
- Local Newspaper Article
- Guest Column in the Oregonian 26FEB12
- Join me on my protest - by proxy!
- It pays to go to college!
- Veterans for Peace article.
- The State of Military Recruiting
- After High School - Great reference!
- Motives of the Military article - Good Read.
What have I accomplished?
Military recruiters used to set up table in the hall with their brochures and "free" items for children at lunchtime.
Now they are still there at lunchtime - but in a classroom.
Check.
Military recruitment visits to the school occurred - but they were not listed on the online school calendar - so nobody knew when or how often they came to campus.
Now the school lists all recruiter visits online.
Check.
Military recruiters were allowed to solicit all students in the building. That would be 7-12 grade students.
Now the school only allows high school students to be solicited by the recruiters.
Check.
Sometimes military recruiters come in groups, and only one of them signs the visitor log.
Now all recruiters must sign in.
Check.
Citizens are allowed by administrative rule to be in the room with the recruiter, as long as they do not interrupt the recruiter. (uh, that would be me. I am there every time a recruiter is there...)
Check.
Next three items on my checklist:
1. The district needs to amend the opt-out form to apply to ALL students in the secondary school, because, by law, the recruiters may ask for a child's information, and by law the school is obligated to hand that over. UNLESS a parent signs the opt-out form, which as of today, only applies to 11th and 12 graders.
Update: Next year the opt-out form will apply to 9-12th graders.
Close - but still not ALL secondary students.
2. The district needs to prevent the recruiters from soliciting a child's contact information on campus. I have personally witnessed this and it can be in direct violation of a parent's legal opt-out form. The recruiter may give the child, his or her contact info.
3. The district needs to discontinue the "open recruiter" policy that allows recruiters to visit pretty much whenever they want to. I have suggested 2 on campus visits per year from each recruiting organization.
That would be: 2 Navy - 2 Harvard -2 Art Institute -etc visits per year. I believe that is the way the law is supposed to be.
Military recruiters are allowed SAME access as other recruiters.
Not MORE, as has been the case at this district.
That's it.
Not unreasonable.
Just common sense.
Military recruiters used to set up table in the hall with their brochures and "free" items for children at lunchtime.
Now they are still there at lunchtime - but in a classroom.
Check.
Military recruitment visits to the school occurred - but they were not listed on the online school calendar - so nobody knew when or how often they came to campus.
Now the school lists all recruiter visits online.
Check.
Military recruiters were allowed to solicit all students in the building. That would be 7-12 grade students.
Now the school only allows high school students to be solicited by the recruiters.
Check.
Sometimes military recruiters come in groups, and only one of them signs the visitor log.
Now all recruiters must sign in.
Check.
Citizens are allowed by administrative rule to be in the room with the recruiter, as long as they do not interrupt the recruiter. (uh, that would be me. I am there every time a recruiter is there...)
Check.
Next three items on my checklist:
1. The district needs to amend the opt-out form to apply to ALL students in the secondary school, because, by law, the recruiters may ask for a child's information, and by law the school is obligated to hand that over. UNLESS a parent signs the opt-out form, which as of today, only applies to 11th and 12 graders.
Update: Next year the opt-out form will apply to 9-12th graders.
Close - but still not ALL secondary students.
2. The district needs to prevent the recruiters from soliciting a child's contact information on campus. I have personally witnessed this and it can be in direct violation of a parent's legal opt-out form. The recruiter may give the child, his or her contact info.
3. The district needs to discontinue the "open recruiter" policy that allows recruiters to visit pretty much whenever they want to. I have suggested 2 on campus visits per year from each recruiting organization.
That would be: 2 Navy - 2 Harvard -2 Art Institute -etc visits per year. I believe that is the way the law is supposed to be.
Military recruiters are allowed SAME access as other recruiters.
Not MORE, as has been the case at this district.
That's it.
Not unreasonable.
Just common sense.