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Title: ACLU Sues Schools for Giving Out Students Phone Numbers
Author:
ID: LL173
Issue: SU2-4
Issue Date: 2005-07-01
Edition: School
Type: Article

Body: Public schools violate studentsí rights when they fail to notify parents that they can prevent their childrenís contact information from being sent to military recruiters, a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union in New Mexico claims.

The ACLU filed suit against the Albuquerque Public Schools in May alleging that district procedures violate studentsí privacy and due process rights as well as provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. Parents or students age 18 or older can "opt out" by submitting a written request to keep the information private.

ìNot all parents want their children to be plied with mailings and phone calls pushing them to enroll in the military,î Peter Simonson, the ACLUís New Mexico executive director, said in a prepared statement. ìAt a time when people who enter the military face the very real prospect of going into battle, parents should have the right to control what the U.S. Department of Defense knows about their children and how easily they can recruit them to become soldiers.î

The ACLU said that it has sent several letters to Albuquerque school officials asking them to comply with the privacy protections in the No Child Left Behind Act. The administration responded by creating a form for parents to opt out, but did not address the ACLUís concerns about the timing of the issuance of notice to parents.

ìItís important to get notice to parents in a timely fashion that their childrenís information is being disclosed in order for parents to be able to respond,î said Karen Meyers, a volunteer attorney for the ACLU. ìIt wouldnít surprise me if upon learning of this lawsuit many parents will find out for the first time that their childrenís contact information is going straight to military recruiters, courtesy of the Albuquerque Public Schools.î

A June 17 Associated Press story reported that a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to disclose studentsí phone numbers and addresses to military recruiters. Any school that fails to do so risks losing federal education funding.

None of the nation's approximately 22,600 high schools has failed to comply with the military provision of No Child Left Behind, although one is ìfinalizing its compliance,î Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told the AP. No school has lost funding.

ìIn the past, it was all too common for a school district to make student directory information readily available to vendors, prospective employers and post-secondary institutions while intentionally excluding the services,î Krenke said.

Pentagon officials told the AP that, before No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, about 12 percent of the nation's schools refused to turn over student records to military recruiters.



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