Brief Report - Military Recruiters' Access to Student Information

School Board Meeting Feb 26 - brief report back

The February 26 Rochester City School Board meeting took up the issue of military recruiters’ access to student information. According to Superintendant Brizard the district is being pressured by Marine Corps officials to release student information. The district, and School Board member Cynthia Elliott, are claiming that the local school board policy protecting student privacy is not in compliance with federal No Child Left Behind Act provisions. Other members of the board, NYCLU and other advocates argue that the local policy is not in conflict with federal law.

Amid charges of insubordination, Rochester City School Superintendant Brizard backtracked temporarily from implementing a new procedure for releasing student information to military recruiters without parental consent. The board’s existing policy requires written parental permission for release of information to the military. Superintendant Brizard violated board policy in January with a letter stating that if parents did not return a release form by February 6 stating their intentions regarding release of information, their child’s information would be given to military recruiters.

During the public comment time more than a dozen people spoke in favor of maintaining the current policy which protects privacy – students from Students for a Democratic Society, parents, several veterans including three Iraq Veterans Against the War members, parents of soldiers, the director of the local NYCLU and members of antiwar groups presented diverse perspectives on why changing the existing policy would be harmful for students.. There were approximately eight uniformed military recruiters present, but none of them spoke publicly. The recruiters were, however, making themselves available for media interviews outside the meeting room.

Superintendant Brizard argued his intention for the district to “comply” with federal law, despite reasonable doubts about whether that law is in fact settled, despite clearly articulated wishes of parents and community members regarding our children’s’ best interests, despite the absence of any school district in the Unites States ever having been sanctioned for local “noncompliance” with NCLB, and despite existing, deliberated school board policy that clearly and reasonably describes how to handle this issue.

The existing Board policy stands for now, and Superintendant Brizard did affirm that the district will not release information to the military until the policy is changed by the board, a complete turn-around from the district’s position last week. The next step is for the board to review a written proposal to change policy, to have a board business meeting that will be devoted to discussion of this issue. Then, thirty days after that, the board would reconvene to vote on proposed changes.