School Board Military Recruiters and Student Information

Rochester City School Board Policy Committee revisits policy on release of student information to military recruiters; Commissioner Van White appeals for sacrifice and makes case for RCSD court challenge to existing federal provisions of No Child Left Behind -- "unfair, inequitable and unjust" targeting of urban schools by recruiters.

The Policy Committee of the Rochester City School Board voted tonight to bring a proposed policy change regarding military recruiters’ access to student information to the next full school board meeting on Thursday, April 30 at 6:30pm. The new proposal is an amended version of Superintendant Brizard’s recently submitted policy change increasing recruiters’ access to student information. Apparently neither policy has been released to the general public for review.

Willa Powell, Policy Committee member, described how her suggested amendments to existing policy will require that each school perform a two step process to seek student permission for release of information and also for filling out emergency contact forms. First, during the beginning of school each year students will be asked to fill out the form asking whether they want their information released to the military. At the same time they will be given an emergency contact form to bring home to their parents to fill out and return. (Yes, current federal directives say that minor students may decide about releasing information to military recruiters, but only parents may fill out emergency contact information.) The second step will be for the district to mail out the same two forms to all parents with a postage-paid return envelope. The aim of the two step process is to maximize response rates. There was no discussion of what happens when there is a discrepancy between student and parent in wishes regarding military recruitment.

The Policy Committee meeting began with a lengthy powerpoint presentation from a Marine captain, including a point by point comparison trying to show how the School Board’s stated values coincide directly with the Marine Corps values. Policy Committee members Brennan and Powell, as well as Commissioner Van White (who participated but is not a committee member) acknowledged the Marine captain’s service but argued that their duty as school board members was to protect the integrity of school policies and student rights and interests.

Commissioner White’s comments were again notable. He argued that the No Child Left Behind Act ties funding for Title I schools such as RCSD with “unfair, inequitable and unjust” requirements which non-Title I suburban school districts may choose to disregard. Constitutional provisions of fairness are at stake, and Commissioner White argued that RCSD ought to be willing to sacrifice the cost of challenging in court the No Child Left Behind provisions regarding military recruiters’ access to student information.

There is a related Rochester Indymedia article dated Feb 27, 2009