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High school students must “opt out” of harassment by those military recruiters
Did you know that your school administration must give your name, address and phone number to military recruiters? As part of the “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001, your high school is required to give your personal information to military recruiters when ever they ask for it.
Yes, you read that correctly. Since the Bush-Kennedy bill was put into law all that any branch of the military has to do is ask for your name, address and phone number and your high school is required to give it to them.
The paperwork that your high school is doing for the recruiters will also come in handy if they decide to bring back military conscription – also known as The Draft.
Somewhere in all that paper they were supposed to tell you about this policy and let you decide if you want to give out your vitals. They must also tell you of your right to opt out.
It is simple to opt out. Here is the piece of information you need to do this. It’s Section 9528 of the “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001. It gives you the right to request that no information about you be released to any military recruiter without your written consent. School administrators must honor your request and protect your right to privacy.
You can do it, or your parents can do this for you if you ask them—or you can do it together. It just has to be one sentence long on any piece of paper. Nothing fancy— “I’m exercising my right under the No Child Left Behind Act to opt out.” Then you put your signature on that sheet.
Giving your note to a school official should be done soon after school starts this year. But there’s no “deadline.” it can be done any time.
There is an opt-out form for the national data base now. Go to
www.leavemychildalone.org
for all info and forms.
So, think long and hard about whether you want your personal information given out to military recruiter. Decide for yourself… after all it is your right.