Organizing parents and faculty to limit military recruiting in public schools

Military conflict is arguably the most devastating vector for poor health in the world, when considering both direct and indirect effects.

The U.S. is currently waging two active wars, and threatening at least one more. U.S. military forces are staffed by “volunteers,” recruited from the ranks of those who view they have few other choices.

U.S. armed forces actively recruit from public high schools, with their right to do so trumping local control since the passage of Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Under 9528, secondary schools must allow military recruiters to have the same access to schools as job and college recruiters, and must give the military contact information for all students. Access to students is unrestricted, in practice, by many schools. Un-chaperoned recruiters follow students through the lunchrooms, hallways, and clubs, offering enticements to establish rapport. This unchecked access and home information is given to recruiters who have not passed background checks, and there have been many well-documented abuses of this access.

Parents can opt-out of having student information forwarded to the military, but are not necessarily aware of this option and without the activist involvement of parents and other child advocates, school districts can be easily intimidated by military authorities into allowing more access to students than required by law.

We describe a Parent/Teacher/Student Association campaign in Seattle, Washington, to change school district policy to significantly restrict military access to students, while staying within the requirements of the law.