Parents to Protect Children

Most parents don't know that they can stop the destruction of their public schools by saying no to the non-stop testing madness. Most of these same parents don't know that NCLB requires their school to turn over personal information on their children to military recruiters. Today's Washington Post carries on this story on how parents are angrily responding to this invasion of privacy.

Here is what NCLB requires:

Text of Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act Regarding Military Recruitment
December 2002

115 STAT. 1425 PUBLIC LAW 107–110—JAN. 8, 2002
Public Law 107–110
107th Congress

An Act To close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child is left behind.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Jan. 8, 2002 [H.R. 1]

‘‘SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.

‘‘(a) POLICY.—

‘‘(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.

‘‘(2) CONSENT.—A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.

‘‘(3) SAME ACCESS TO STUDENTS.—Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students.

‘‘(b) NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall, not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, notify principals, school administrators, and other educators about the requirements of this section.

‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—The requirements of this section do not apply to a private secondary school that maintains a religious objection to service in the Armed Forces if the objection is verifiable through the corporate or other organizational documents or materials of that school.

‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULE.—A local educational agency prohibited by Connecticut State law (either explicitly by statute or through statutory interpretation by the State Supreme Court or State Attorney General) from providing military recruiters with information or access as required by this section shall have until May 31, 2002, to comply with that requirement.

Here is a link to Leave My Child Alone, where you can find information on how to make sure that your family's privacy is respected.

Jim Horn