Waynepeace criticizes ‘aggressive’ military recruitment

By LISA CUTRONI

HONESDALE, PA — As the war continues in Iraq, a group of residents remains vigilant.

The grassroots organization Waynepeace has made informing parents and students about the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) a central mission.

“There has been a growing concern among local parents about the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act and the aggressive recruitment by the military in our schools,” said Waynepeace member Leah Dobrowolski.

Waynepeace’s special October 4 meeting at the Honesdale Public Library focused on NCLB’s section 9528, which requires public schools to provide a directory of all students to the U.S. Department of Defense.

At issue for Waynepeace members is the approach to recruiting teenagers taken by the military, which they is invasive and breaks down the sanctity of privacy.

“Nobody wants to be hounded by a telemarketer. It’s harassment,” said Waynepeace co-founder Skip Mendler.

Honesdale High School Principal Jim Rodda said the military recruiters who frequent his school have not, to his knowledge, invasively targeted any of his students.

“We inform the students over the PA system that the Army or Navy [or other branch] has set up a table and that any interested students should speak with them during lunch hours,” Rodda said. “The same we do for college recruiters coming into our school.”

NCLB, a version of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by President Bush in 2001, requires secondary schools to establish a directory of student information and make it available to any military branch. If a school chooses not to comply with the act, it risks losing federal funding.

However, there is some measure of individual control. Tucked away in section 9528 is a clause that allows parents and/or students to “opt out” by signing a waiver requesting that their school eliminate names from the list.

At Honesdale High School, juniors and seniors are offered two official times to opt out, though submitting the opt-out form is possible at any time.

According to Rodda, the high school has been offering this opt-out clause for years. “We are 100 percent in full compliance with the law,” Rodda said. He has noticed an increase in opt-out forms since NCLB, he said.

One Honesdale student feels different about the military’s role in school.

“It’s a good thing to get students involved with, but personally, I think they [the military recruiters] are here too often,” said Leslie Sikora, a senior and the student council president. “My boyfriend tested for the recruiters, but then decided not to join. They called him persistently, even after he asked them to stop.”

More than one list

There is an additional list of personal data that has been created by the Joint Advertising and Marketing Research Services (JAMRS). JAMRS is a collection of over 30 million 16-to-25-year-old citizens’ data, used for advertising purposes and mass mailings. The data, said Lieutenant Cornell Ellen Krenke, Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson, does not come from the schools, but from the Department of Motor Vehicles, Selective Services and commercial vendors and is updated daily.

The idea for JAMRS originated in 1982 when Congress mandated that the military and their recruiting officers be allowed to collect student information. After 23 years of creating their own lists, the military now leaves it to BeNow, a database company, and JAMRS.

Students and/or parents are able to opt out of the JAMRS database as well. “They have to send a type-written letter explaining that they want their son/daughter’s information out of the JAMRS database,” Krenke said. “Opting out of just the school list is not enough,” Krenke continued. Once BeNow receives the letter, access to the child’s information is blocked.

“This is nothing new. The government has been compiling this information since 1982,” Krenke said. She likens the emotional outpouring involving NCLB to the prolonged conflict in Iraq. “Every branch of the military has fallen short of their quotas—roughly 7,000 less [then what was initially requested],” Krenke continued.

To parents, quotas are nonessential—it’s the privacy of their children that concerns them. “I am not against the military, I would just like to know what is being said to my four children. There are a lot of ways the Pentagon can get their hands on our children. We just want to send them the message that we have the right to control that information, at least in the schools.” Dobrowolski said.

For more information visit jamrs.org.