"Leave My Child Alone"

Buried deep within the No Child Left Behind Act is a provision that requires public high schools to hand over private student information to military recruiters. The purpose of this invasion of family privacy is to allow minor students to be recruited at home by telephone calls, mail and personal visits. If a school does not comply, it risks losing vital federal education funds. The only way to keep your children’s contact information from military recruiters, is to submit an “opt-out” letter in writing to your school district’s superintendent.

This provision known as section 9528 was inserted with almost no debate into the No Child Left Behind Act by Rep. David Vitter of Louisiana, who learned from the Pentagon that many public schools had strict privacy policies protecting student information from being released to any outside parties, thus preventing aggressive military recruiting.

For more information on how to protect the privacy of your family, visit the "Leave My Child Alone" website. They supply complete "what can I do" lists, organizational materials, flyers and more.