Report Back: Rochester City School Board Meeting on Student Privacy and Military Recruiters

<img src="http://rochester.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/7/resist.jpg" align="right" alt="" style="margin:0px 0px 2px 2px;" /> <ul> <li>Amid charges of insubordination, Rochester City School Superintendant Brizard backtracks from district plans to release student information to military recruiters without parental consent.</li > <li>Continued threat from military and administration to pressure school board policy change to accommodate military recruiters despite clearly articulated opposition from students, parents, veterans, legal experts and community members at large.</li > <li>Expect contentious process as administration and military officials appear to launch pressure campaign on school board for policy change in upcoming weeks.</li > </ul > <p> The Rochester school board meeting last evening was very, very long. The threatened change to board policy regarding release of student information to military recruiters was on the “new business” agenda. The board’s existing policy requires that parent’s written permission is required for release of information to the military. Superintendant Brizard violated board policy this year with a parent letter stating that if parents did not return the release form by February 6, their child’s information would be given to military recruiters. This new “default” mode, handing over student information to the military without parental consent, violated existing board policy. </p ><p> 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 only two speakers who spoke about how joining the military was good for their now-adult-children and appeared to support giving recruiters open access to student data without parental consent. 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. </p > <p><a href="/newsite/node/6855">Read Full Article</a></p>

<p><img src="http://rochester.indymedia.org/usermedia/image/7/resist.jpg" align="right" alt="" style="margin:0px 0px 2px 2px;" /> </p><ul> <li>Amid charges of insubordination, Rochester City School Superintendant Brizard backtracks from district plans to release student information to military recruiters without parental consent.</li> <li>Continued threat from military and administration to pressure school board policy change to accommodate military recruiters despite clearly articulated opposition from students, parents, veterans, legal experts and community members at large.</li> <li>Expect contentious process as administration and military officials appear to launch pressure campaign on school board for policy change in upcoming weeks.</li> </ul> <p> The Rochester school board meeting last evening was very, very long. The threatened change to board policy regarding release of student information to military recruiters was on the “new business” agenda. The board’s existing policy requires that parent’s written permission is required for release of information to the military. Superintendant Brizard violated board policy this year with a parent letter stating that if parents did not return the release form by February 6, their child’s information would be given to military recruiters. This new “default” mode, handing over student information to the military without parental consent, violated existing board policy. </p> <p> 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 only two speakers who spoke about how joining the military was good for their now-adult-children and appeared to support giving recruiters open access to student data without parental consent. 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. </p> <p><a href="/newsite/node/6855">Read Full Article</a></p>