But Students Do Not Opt to be Cannon Fodder
By Kenneth J. Theisen, 5/30/07
Threatened with the loss of approximately $10 million in
federal education money by the Department of Defense (DOD), the Berkeley school district recently modified its policy
regarding the furnishing of student information to U.S. military recruiters.
Apparently Berkeley
High School was the last
in the nation to comply with the Bush regime’s 2002 No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB). This law requires schools to
give the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all juniors and seniors to
military recruiters unless the students or their parents sign an opt-out form
stating that they do not want the information released. If a school refuses to
comply with the law, it loses its federal funding.
The Berkeley School District Superintendent Michele Lawrence
received notice from DOD that Berkeley
was the only school district in the country not in compliance with the law. Until
the recent change, Berkeley
students were required to sign an “opt-in” form if they wanted their
information given to the military. According to Lawrence, the policy also applied to all
other organizations. Personal information was kept confidential unless the
student or parents allowed the disclosure. School district spokesperson Mark
Coplan stated, “It’s been very important to the board that we don’t give
out personal information for students without direct permission from students.”
Under the opt-in policy the military was not too successful
at recruiting students in Berkeley
as cannon fodder for the Bush regime wars. According to Coplan, between 16 and
27 students of the 3000 student body signed the form each year asking that the
military recruiters contact them. But
even under the new policy it appears that the military may have problems in
getting Berkeley High students to “be all that they can be” in the U.S.
army.
The school held an assembly last week where the opt-out
forms were distributed and students were informed of their right to sign it.
Some 90% of the students have already said no to being contacted by military
recruiters according to Coplan. The remaining 10% are being contacted by
volunteers to ensure that they really want to have their personal information
provided to the military. Coplan said, “At the end of the day, we’ll be
able to say we’ve queried 100 percent of the students and based on that – here
are the names, addresses and phone numbers we give up.”
The Military already has access to student information
through the Selective Service. All 18 year-old males are required to register
with Selective Service. Penalties for failure to do so can include the denial
of education loans, grants, and scholarships.
For non-citizens deportation is even a possible penalty. But since there is no draft at the current
time, one of the reasons for the Selective Service requirement is obviously to
give military recruiters contact information for students.
It is unfortunate that the school district has been forced
to change it policy due to the threats of DOD. But not everyone has given
up. School Board Vice President John
Selawsky stated, “A military provision such as this has no place in an
education bill such as NCLB. Many districts started with the “opt-in” as a
policy but changed to “opt-out” when they started getting letters from the
federal government saying they were not in compliance with the NCLB. I spoke
with organizations such as the ACLU who said that we had a legal argument but
that it was weak. I am still researching this from a legal point of view to see
if we can challenge this particular provision in the NCLB.”
And even though the school district has capitulated, as
shown by the result of the school assembly most students have no interest in
joining up to fight the Bush regime’s wars. The bottom line is that Berkeley
High has never been and never will be a hotbed for military recruitment.