Several community members voiced concerns Monday night about how Evanston Township High School is providing students’ names to military recruiters.
The No Child Left Behind Act, passed by Congress in 2001, includes a provision that requires high schools receiving federal funding to provide the names, addresses and phone numbers of all juniors and seniors to military recruiters — unless parents notify the school that they do not want their child’s information released.
“Due to the passage of (the law), the ability of ETHS to continue to protect privacy rights has been compromised,” said Dickelle Fonda, an ETHS parent and member of Neighbors for Peace, an Evanston political advocacy group.
ETHS first informed parents of the recruiting provision in the November parent newsletter. The school sent out a letter Jan. 15 to remind parents of the requirement, setting a deadline of Jan. 24 to remove their students’ names from the list. Calls from concerned parents and community members pushed the deadline back to Feb. 28.
Members of Neighbors for Peace thanked school administrators for extending the deadline but encouraged the board to consider alternatives to implementing the law.
“The high school need only meet the letter of the law,” said Anya Cordell, a Neighbors for Peace member. “(They) don’t need to do anything to further encourage military involvement.”
The activist group’s members outlined three proposals: send parents a form in the mail so they can make their choice that way; give military recruiters no more access to students than ETHS gives to colleges or employers; and provide students with equal access to “counter-recruitment” alternatives.
Members of Neighbors for Peace said they wanted parents to receive a form with two boxes to check — either agreeing to release the information or declining to. If the form is not returned, the school should assume that permission to release the information to the military has been denied, they said.
Cordell said the high school has not made enough effort to inform students of the risks of military service or peaceful alternatives. She said the focus recruiters place on the financial benefits of military service create “in essence a poverty draft.”
Amy Kipfer, a member of the group and an Evanston/Skokie School District 65 teacher, said the primary job of educators is to help children stay alive, remain healthy and make good choices. As an example of the dangers of military service, she cited the thousands of Gulf War veterans who currently are classified as disabled.
“We do not want this to happen to our children,” Kipfer said.
Stanley McConner, who is running for a board position in the April election, said he was interested in hearing the debate.
“I don’t have a bone to pick, as long as ETHS is not in violation of federal law,” McConner said. “But part of being an American is serving your country.”
District 202 Superintendent Allan Alson said school administrators will consider the ideas proposed by Neighbors for Peace.
“The policy must reflect the law, but we can work on the procedure,” Alson said.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the board heard an update on a new requirement for next year’s freshman to take three years of math. District staff also presented the annual summer school report.
