Schools Required to Disclose Student Contact Details to Military
Kucinich posted the following article to his website on August 26, 2005:
Federal law requires public and private school districts receiving federal funds to provide lists of secondary school students, including address and telephone contact information, to military recruiters upon request. (Read the law.) Parents or students who do not want their records disclosed to the military may submit a written opt-out request.
Opt-out letters must be sent both to the Superintendent of the school district affected, as well as to the Pentagon. A project called Leave My Child Alone has created a system to make opting out easier. Link to the opt-out page.
Sec. 9528.a.2 of the law states that "A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student's name, address, and telephone listing ... not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request." (Emphasis added.) Has your local school district informed you and other parents in your community of your right to opt out? If not, you may wish to bring the matter to the attention of your school board for the benefit of others in your district who may not be aware of the issue.
Dennis Kucinich is a cosponsor of H.R. 551, the Student Privacy Protection Act, which seeks to amend the law to provide that records may not be released without an explicit opt-in by a student's parents. Please contact your Member of Congress, if he or she is not already a cosponsor, to ask for support of this Bill.
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