Pax Christi says federal law helps military recruit students

Published: 2005-09-22

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (CNS) -- A provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that gives military recruiters access to the names of high school students for possible contact leaves parents out, according to the Catholic peace group Pax Christi and other peace activists. Pax Christi of Long Island has joined with the Suffolk Peace Network and other groups in an effort to alert parents that the provision requires schools receiving federal funding to disclose the names of high school students to local military recruiters. But the groups also want parents to know that the same law gives them the right to instruct schools not to release their children's names to military recruiters. Once recruiters for the U.S. armed services receive the students' names, they are free to contact students by mail, phone or in person without obtaining parents' permission. "It's not only that the recruiters are notified," said Sheila Croke, a member of the central council for Pax Christi of Long Island, but the parents often are not aware of the notification and often do not know they have the right to opt out. By law, schools are required to notify parents and students that names could be given to military recruiters, said Karen Sackett, a member of a Suffolk Peace Network committee to counter military recruiting.

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