"Opt Out...How to Get the Military Off Our Students' Backs"

One of the major ideas we are working on at P and J is to assist teachers in a push to publicize and get "opt out forms" to be made available to high school students and their parents. In Des Moines there has been a successful effort by a parent group to push the school district to make the "opt out" forms available during registration.Here is some background information on the current situation...

How Do Students Get Recruited?In the US, public schools are frequent targets of military advertising, military youth programs, and visits by military recruiters. The No Child Left Behind Act guarantees recruiters the right to private contact information for all secondary school students, so that students may also be contacted at home. Many school administrators and teachers are unaware of, or turn a blind eye to recruiter abuses of their privileges.Recruiters employ a variety of ways to get personal contact information, including student lists from schools, JROTC, marketing databases, the ASVAB test and other standardized tests like the SATs.

Follow this link to the American Friends Service Committee's "Opt Out" page where you can download an "opt out" form. Then discuss on this blog how we can support each other in a campaign to help make "opt out" forms widely available throughout the schools of the Midwest.
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/militarism-in-schools/default.htm#opt

Tom Wolfe said...
Andy -Thanks to the information you sent me from Des Moines, I've found a Davenport teacher who is now seeking parents who will approach the Board so that a clear district policy might be advertised widely. Perhaps it already is done, but I doubt it. Thans for your help.Tom Wolfe
9:26 PM

Razzpunk said...
Tom,That is great news. Keep me up to date on what happens there and I will post it here on our site. Also any P and J members who want to contact me with news of their own "opt out" campaigns please do so at my e-mail which is...razzman11_2000@yahoo.com
10:21 PM

alwaysthinking62 said...
I'm pretty sure some interesting things were done in either Seattle or Portland, maybe both. I'll try to investigate a little. - Alan Young
11:30 PM

Paul Mann said...
Andy, I like what you have done with our blog! Thanks! Paul Mann
8:18 PM