Military Test Violating Students' Privacy

The Memphis City Schools will be administering the military aptitude test known as ASVAB, or Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test. Our issue with the schools is allowing the military to run roughshod over the educations system. The ASVAB is used primarily for military recruiting. In the words of the military’s own recruiting manual: “The objective of the School Recruiting Program [is to] effectively penetrate the school market.  The goal is school ownership...”

ASVAB goes a long way toward attaining that ownership. Neither the students taking the test nor their parents have traditionally been kept in the dark about ASBAB’s costs in terms of privacy loss. Students must record their names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, ethnicity, and, most important, the test results. The school district has been informed about all this, and recently turned down an opportunity to allow the tests to continue under a method of ensuring student privacy district wide. That method is called “option 8.”
Instead, the district superintendent announced that from now on parents will be notified on the day prior to the test being given. And that any parent wishing to do so may prohibit their child from taking the test.  Students too will be informed of their right to “opt-out” of having their information turned over to the recruiters. They do this by checking “option 8” on the answer sheet.

While this marks an improvement, we feel that the new “opt-out” system will still allow many kids to take the test without being adequately informed.  (A recommended “active consent” for parents, was disregarded.) We believe that many students will unknowingly take the test and be unaware of their right to check the Option 8 (prvacy option) bubble. In that event, the students will have a recruiter bird dogging him or her for possibly years, with the military’s sole purpose of sending the student to Iraq.  Our aim is to make sure that when kids arrive at school on the morning of the ASVAB, they will be informed of their privacy rights. To be involved in our leafletting campaign or to learn more about this loss of privacy contact us.

Opt-Out of Giving Recruiters your Personal Information

Many parents are unware that the No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2001, requires that all public high schools accepting federal money turn over their student roster to the military. That seven a.m. phone call to your house might be an Army recruiter, wanting to speak with your son or your daughter.

If this were a commercial telemarketer, you might be able to do something. Actually there is a way, but few know about it. The NCLB Act allows parents to opt out of having your information disclosed. Furthermore, it requires school districts to inform parents of this right.It is alarming, but luckily you can 'opt-out ' of having this information turned over to the military. All you have to do is download this form and return it to your school. Unless you do this you may recieved repeated calls from military recruiters.

With this in mind, the Coalition approached the school board last summer and reminded them of their legal requirements to notify parents of their rights. We offered an informative flyer they might use at school registration. To our surprise and satisfaction, the board used the flyers, sending them out to Memphis parents.

The number of parents who returned the "opt-out" flyers numbered 1,600, or something like five percent. While this represent one hundred-fold gain over the previous year, we've a long way to go to reach the 90 percent level of return rate found in some East Coast school districts. .

Download Memphis and Shelby County Opt-Out Forms and return them to your school.