thedrifter
09-29-06, 08:14 AM
Recruitment 'Opt Out' Deadline Approaching For Students
By Rob Manning
PORTLAND, OR 2006-09-28 One issue Oregon voters may well be weighing as they look at Oregon's governor's race is education. One of the issues that Oregon high schools are dealing with this week has to do with how much access military recruiters are given to students. As Rob Manning reports, Friday's the deadline for students to let school districts know if they do not want to hear from military recruiters.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind act, school districts are required to hand over information on high school students to military recruiters. Families do get the chance to "opt out" of the contact list before it goes to the Department of Defense. But the law's not clear on how much time families should get.
The Portland school district is typical. It gives parents an October 1st deadline to remove themselves from the list that's sent to recruiters. Portland's legal counsel Jollee Patterson says once the information is out, juniors and seniors can expect to be contacted.
Jollee Patterson: "Once a military recruiter is given the addresses and phone numbers of students who haven't opted out, they get to do whatever they are allowed to do with that information under their protocols. We know that means door-to-door contacts, phone calls, and similar kinds of actions."
Patterson says many families take care of the recruiter question at registration time. But she says if students don't get off the list then and their name goes to recruiters, it gets very hard to stop the contact.
For many students, hearing from recruiters is OK, even welcome. They see the armed forces as an honorable career, or a convenient step toward higher education.
Charles Glenn is a public affairs specialist with the Portland area's recruiting battalion. He says recruiters want to connect with teenagers.
Charles Glenn: "Especially these days, recruiters are showing them how they can get from where they are now, to where they want to be -- including the way the Army can do that."
But what Glenn characterizes as a "counselor" role, some teachers and students say becomes uncomfortable and misleading. Julie O'Neill is a political science teacher at Portland's Franklin High. She often teaches a unit on military recruitment.
Julie O'Neill: "The big sell is 'we will pay for your education.' And then it becomes what you're interested in, and then what we find is regardless of what you're interested in, the military has a place for them. We've had everything from concrete careers to 'you can snowboard, you can snowboard for the Marines'."
O'Neill says she had one student who joined the army as a step toward a career in education.
Julie O'Neill: "He signed up to be an elementary school teacher, and now he is in artillery in Afghanistan. He was being changed to a different position in Afghanistan -- he was being re-deployed. And he didn't want to tell his Mom what they were changing his job status to be, because it was far more dangerous. He kept laughing -- 'all I wanted to do was be a teacher.'"
Glenn concedes that army recruiters will offer students opportunities that don't always pan out. But he says sometimes taking advantage of them is up to the recruits.
Charles Glenn: "If someone signs a contract and gets a guaranteed school to be trained to be an engineer, they'll be trained as an engineer, unless they fail in some step of the process, you know, (fail to uphold) their end of the contract."
O'Neill says that watching the language of that contract is key. But she's also worried about what recruiters do to get kids to the brink of signing on the dotted line. And she says sometimes teenagers can't avoid recruiters by signing onto the opt-out list.
Julie O'Neill: "Kids have said, 'You know, I've opted out every year, and every year, I've been contacted.' So, something is broken in the system, and hopefully they'll fix it this year."
Charles Glenn, with Army public affairs, says it's possible that old lists weren't getting checked, or recuriter's were getting additional referrals, but says he hasn't heard much about students opting out and being contacted anyway.
Portland legal counsel Jollee Patterson says she sent a memo to schools earlier this year -- but she says it clarifies only what recruiters can do on campus, and the opt-out policy hasn't changed.
But Oregon education officials are tweaking overall state policy. Secondary students will soon be able to opt out without a signature from their parents.
Army recruiting spokesman Charles Glenn says that's unfortunate -- because parents can play an important role.
Charles Glenn: "Recruiters usually spend as much time talking to Mom and Dad about the army and the opportunities they can bring the son or daughter, as they do with the son or daughter. In general terms, recruiters consider the family, the Mom and Dad, to be as important in that decision process as the man or woman is."
Glenn says in spite of the negative news coming out about Iraq and Afghanistan, recruiting numbers in Oregon are up significantly this year.
The state's military and reserve recruits are up in 2006 from a slump last year, by as much as 40%.
Ellie
By Rob Manning
PORTLAND, OR 2006-09-28 One issue Oregon voters may well be weighing as they look at Oregon's governor's race is education. One of the issues that Oregon high schools are dealing with this week has to do with how much access military recruiters are given to students. As Rob Manning reports, Friday's the deadline for students to let school districts know if they do not want to hear from military recruiters.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind act, school districts are required to hand over information on high school students to military recruiters. Families do get the chance to "opt out" of the contact list before it goes to the Department of Defense. But the law's not clear on how much time families should get.
The Portland school district is typical. It gives parents an October 1st deadline to remove themselves from the list that's sent to recruiters. Portland's legal counsel Jollee Patterson says once the information is out, juniors and seniors can expect to be contacted.
Jollee Patterson: "Once a military recruiter is given the addresses and phone numbers of students who haven't opted out, they get to do whatever they are allowed to do with that information under their protocols. We know that means door-to-door contacts, phone calls, and similar kinds of actions."
Patterson says many families take care of the recruiter question at registration time. But she says if students don't get off the list then and their name goes to recruiters, it gets very hard to stop the contact.
For many students, hearing from recruiters is OK, even welcome. They see the armed forces as an honorable career, or a convenient step toward higher education.
Charles Glenn is a public affairs specialist with the Portland area's recruiting battalion. He says recruiters want to connect with teenagers.
Charles Glenn: "Especially these days, recruiters are showing them how they can get from where they are now, to where they want to be -- including the way the Army can do that."
But what Glenn characterizes as a "counselor" role, some teachers and students say becomes uncomfortable and misleading. Julie O'Neill is a political science teacher at Portland's Franklin High. She often teaches a unit on military recruitment.
Julie O'Neill: "The big sell is 'we will pay for your education.' And then it becomes what you're interested in, and then what we find is regardless of what you're interested in, the military has a place for them. We've had everything from concrete careers to 'you can snowboard, you can snowboard for the Marines'."
O'Neill says she had one student who joined the army as a step toward a career in education.
Julie O'Neill: "He signed up to be an elementary school teacher, and now he is in artillery in Afghanistan. He was being changed to a different position in Afghanistan -- he was being re-deployed. And he didn't want to tell his Mom what they were changing his job status to be, because it was far more dangerous. He kept laughing -- 'all I wanted to do was be a teacher.'"
Glenn concedes that army recruiters will offer students opportunities that don't always pan out. But he says sometimes taking advantage of them is up to the recruits.
Charles Glenn: "If someone signs a contract and gets a guaranteed school to be trained to be an engineer, they'll be trained as an engineer, unless they fail in some step of the process, you know, (fail to uphold) their end of the contract."
O'Neill says that watching the language of that contract is key. But she's also worried about what recruiters do to get kids to the brink of signing on the dotted line. And she says sometimes teenagers can't avoid recruiters by signing onto the opt-out list.
Julie O'Neill: "Kids have said, 'You know, I've opted out every year, and every year, I've been contacted.' So, something is broken in the system, and hopefully they'll fix it this year."
Charles Glenn, with Army public affairs, says it's possible that old lists weren't getting checked, or recuriter's were getting additional referrals, but says he hasn't heard much about students opting out and being contacted anyway.
Portland legal counsel Jollee Patterson says she sent a memo to schools earlier this year -- but she says it clarifies only what recruiters can do on campus, and the opt-out policy hasn't changed.
But Oregon education officials are tweaking overall state policy. Secondary students will soon be able to opt out without a signature from their parents.
Army recruiting spokesman Charles Glenn says that's unfortunate -- because parents can play an important role.
Charles Glenn: "Recruiters usually spend as much time talking to Mom and Dad about the army and the opportunities they can bring the son or daughter, as they do with the son or daughter. In general terms, recruiters consider the family, the Mom and Dad, to be as important in that decision process as the man or woman is."
Glenn says in spite of the negative news coming out about Iraq and Afghanistan, recruiting numbers in Oregon are up significantly this year.
The state's military and reserve recruits are up in 2006 from a slump last year, by as much as 40%.
Ellie