This practice fries my ass - school admins pre-check military forms

[Joanie Baloney]

Man - I am royally ticked off. Please read the whole article and tell me if this is something that goes on where you live as well.



Investigation halts transfer of student records to military
By Maureen Magee
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego school district has halted its annual transfer of student records to the military amid allegations that administrators pre-marked parental consent forms that give recruiters permission to contact families. District officials launched an investigation into the matter Wednesday and began sifting through thousands of high school enrollment documents.

De'Onte Victorian, a sophomore at Lincoln High School, brought his pre-checked form to Tuesday's school board meeting to protest what he described as “a scam to get him to join the military instead of going to college.” De'Onte noticed that the question asking, “Is it okay to release your child's information to military recruiters?” had a computer-generated check inside the box next to it. Other questions had also been answered, including one regarding migrant work and another asking whether a parent wants their address and phone number printed in a directory.

District officials at Tuesday's meeting said the forms likely included a cover letter asking parents to verify information it had on record. Still, school board members and some administrators said the letters were misleading, especially to parents who do not speak or read English. The enrollment forms were sent in English only.
“This was a mistake that we are going to correct,” said Deputy Superintendent Chuch Morris.

As required under federal law, San Diego Unified sends military recruiters records of students – unless their parents object – every October. But the district is required to notify parents of their right to opt out. Morris said the district would not release any student records to the military until it is confident parents had an opportunity to opt out.


Link to the article:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/sep/30/bn30military121536/

The form itself:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/images/090930permission.pdf


-JB :grr:

[KG]

1. NCLB

ain't it grand?

[Hekate]

2. No Child Left Unrecruited. We're going to be cleaning up after Bush forever.

:argh:

[Joanie Baloney]

24. Un-friggin-believable, isn't it?

He's like skunk spray...lingers forever.

:P

-JB

[Echo In Light]

30. Oh, don't think the interests in feeding the almighty War Machine begins & ends w/Bushco

[Hekate]

31. I know that all too well. Now that NCLB is in place it's going to be uphill work to get rid of it.nt

[waiting for hope]

3. NCLB is a travesty ... it should be

voted out.

[Joanie Baloney]

6. Let me understand you

The NCLB mandated schools to send info to the military recruiters. But, does it also allow for pre-checked answers on the consent form??

Please say it ain't so.

-JB

[Joanie Baloney]

15. I'm replying to my own reply

but, just in case anyone is interested...I found the entry in the San Diego Unified School District's section about the NCLB's provision to provide contact info to military recruiters and the parent opt out form. The link is here:

http://www.sandi.net/2045109613277203/site/default.asp

but I thought it was interesting that the school board offers the pdf form in 5 other languages besides English:

Parent Notification and Involvement
No Child Left Behind requires that districts provide information to parents about a variety of education related issues. Many of these notifications are provided in letters sent directly to parents at their home.


Letters regarding continuing English Learner (EL) students

Grades 1-2: English | Spanish
Grades 3-12: English | Spanish
Request to Withhold Student Information from Military Recruiters:
English | Spanish | Cambodian | Lao | Somali | Vietnamese

But yet, Lincoln High, in one of the poorer sections of San Diego sends out a pre-checked form in English. (See the chart below - it is Lincoln's School Accountability Report Card from last year.)

Student Enrollment by Group (2007–08)
# of students / % of school
African American 917 39.7
Asian 5 0.2
Filipino 24 1.0
Hispanic 1,205 52.2
Indochinese 70 3.0
Native American 3 0.1
Pacific Islander 36 1.6
White (Not Hispanic) 48 2.1
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged 1,757 76.1
English Learners 629 27.3
Students with Disabilities 312 13.5


http://studata.sandi.net/research/sarcs/index.asp


Nice.

[Control-Z]

4. I would be furious

if that happened in my son's district. I have always made a point of checking NO to, “Is it okay to release your child's information to military recruiters?” or any other question with regard to the military or government.

I looked at the form you linked to. It is a different form than the one in our district, which includes questions about internet use, video taping in the classroom/school, and news stories.

[Joanie Baloney]

5. Interesting

And I thought I heard on the news that other schools had different boxes checked such as "What are your plans after high school?" with the box marked "college" pre-checked. These schools are in affluent areas. If anyone has proof of that, I would be doubly interested in seeing those forms.

I am furious too, and I have no children. This is how the secret cannon-fodder draft works now??

[Control-Z]

9. Hey, Joanie Baloney

I haven't seen you in a while. How have you been?

- a fellow Joanie Baloney

[Joanie Baloney]

21. Hey back!

I'm good (all things considered!)

How you doin'???

:D

-JB

[MindPilot]

13. Rachel or Keith might be interested in this. n/t

[Joanie Baloney]

14. Good idea!

I would love to hear what they have to say.

(BTW - I just checked the comments at the U-T link....I apologize for that certain percentage of San Diegans who qualify as cretins.)

:P

-JB

[Cairycat]

7. Schools in my community don't even ask

no box to (pre)check. I have never heard boo from the school administration about giving or not giving my childrens information to the military. We are religious pacifists so have given opt-out forms to the administration. The military has pretty much left them alone, other than the army bringing in the rock wall into PE class and telling the kids they *have* to give their info.

ETA the opt out forms we use are from the American Friends Service Committee web site.

[BadgerKid]

10. Recruitment rock walls at NASCAR, too.

I'd never heard of military recruitment at rock walls before, but lo and behold this excerpt:



But military recruiters are interested in more than contacting students at their high schools and colleges. They are reaching out big time during the Nextel Cup season, Nascar's most important racing series, which travels from city to city. The Army alone is spending $16 million on Nascar this year, including $9 million to sponsor a race team. The other branches of the Armed Services also sponsor Nascar drivers and set up recruiting stands at race events.

The Army provides Nascar fans with a free interactive display that includes a rock-climbing wall, a pit-crew challenge where fans can compete as they change tires, and video games featuring combat on an imaginary street where Arabic writing appears on the walls of buildings.

"It's an opportunity for them to touch and feel the Army, to give them a real Army experience," said Col. Tom Nickerson, who is in charge of the Army's recruiting outreach program. Guy Morgan of Keystone Marketing Company, which operates the displays, said that they produce 1,000 to 2,000 leads for potential new recruits on each racing weekendónearly 40,000 leads a year. Fans aged 16-39 who want to visit a display must fill out release forms with personal information and their signatures.

http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/youandmilitary3.html

[chollybocker]

8. And the stupid RWers freak out about ACORN.

While this scam is outright institutionalized FRAUD.

[Joanie Baloney]

11. I totally agree

As far as I know, ACORN doesn't go into the schools.

Priorities, I guess. :puke:

[MindPilot]

12. I passed ticked-off so long ago I forgot what it looks like.

"the letters were misleading, especially to parents who do not speak or read English. The enrollment forms were sent in English only."

I guess the recruiters had to change their tactics since they got caught recruiting in Tijuana.

[BlooInBloo]

16. Sounds like a good way for principals to direct certain students to the military.

[Joanie Baloney]

17. Exactly!

"That's what I'm talkin' about, maaaan..."

:hippie:

-JB

[truedelphi]

18. Thank you for posting this.

Very sickening. Hope getting the word out can help.

I have suspected for some time that the more pro-military, anti-creativity you are, the more likely you will be appointed as a principal in California.

[Joanie Baloney]

23. I hope so too

The young man who went to the school board meeting with his pre-checked form in hand should be commended.

De'Onte Victorian for Congress!! (In a few years, at least!)

-JB

[Codeine]

19. A great story about this in the most recent Mother Jones. nt

[Joanie Baloney]

22. Thanks for the tip...

I'll check it out!

-JB

[Joanie Baloney]

28. Holy Crap, Batman!!

I just read the story in Mother jones and found this little tidbit:

The military has long struggled to find more effective ways to reach potential enlistees; for every new GI it signed up last year, the Army spent $24,500 on recruitment. (In contrast, four-year colleges spend an average of $2,000 per incoming student.) Recruiters hit pay dirt in 2002, when then-Rep. (now Sen.) David Vitter (R-La.) slipped a provision into the No Child Left Behind Act that requires high schools to give recruiters the names and contact details of all juniors and seniors. Schools that fail to comply risk losing their NCLB funding.

Yes - THAT David Vitter!!!

OMFG.

:wow:

-JB

Linkiepoo: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/few-good-kids

[orleans]

20. i'm sure it's illegal-- what the school did. parents or their kids have the

right to "opt out"

it's written in the stupid nclb law.

i went through all this crap with my daughter's high school. drove me fucking crazy. they didn't check boxes--they just didn't send the form home one way or the other.

[Joanie Baloney]

26. What did you do?

Did anything change??

sigh

-JB

[orleans]

29. that first year when they didn't give anyone a form

i made up forms that quoted the section from nclb and my daughter was handing them out to everyone she could at school.

it took months for the school to make their own form and by then the school year was over.(i was not aware that we should have gotten such a form or a chance to opt out at the beginning of the school year--i found out about this law later into the year when i started doing some research after my daughter was sent some information from one of the military branches--i thought: how the fuck did they get her name?) i was on the phone to the superintendent's office, i was told that it was an oversight that these forms were not handed out.

i was told that the opt out forms would be in the packets for all the kids when they picked up all their paperwork for the new school year.

and it was--they made up their own forms and enclosed them in the registration packets.

then... my daughter's name still ended up on a recruiting list! (i called and asked them to check--even though i had turned in a SECOND form to opt out)

it was a fucking mess. i was telling the superintendent if they don't get their shit together i was going to sue them because they were breaking the law.

they said that, to date, only one recruiter had come to pick up the printout and they called him and asked him to return that copy and gave him an updated copy.

i'm assuming he actually did return that print out where my daughter was listed because no one ever called her and we never got any other mailings.

but it was a fucking pain in the ass.

good luck.

[LWolf]

25. Parent consent isn't required.

Parents must opt out, or the students' information will automatically be sent.

Did parents get the information about opting out in a clear, timely manner?

This has been an issue since the inception of NCLB, since most of us think parents ought to be giving permission to release their students' info. Opting in, rather than out.

[Joanie Baloney]

27. Doesn't sound like they did

If the parents looked at the form at all. Most parents probably just signed the (pre-checked) form and went on with their busy lives.

If it's been an issue since its inception, now's the time to end the practice. If some people want to bolster military recruitment, time to start a draft...and include ALL eleigible youngsters. Those from poor schools and the high-income schools. Then we'll see things change.

Jackasses :dem:

-JB