AZ Rep article on Monday's actions and press conferences

[lonestarnot]

Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2007 11:32:43 -0700
> Subject: AZ Rep article on Monday's actions and press conferences
> From: [e-mail]
> To: [e-mail]
>
> Opt-out activists visit schools: They hand out forms to delete students'
> names from military recruitment lists
> U are invited to watch the video and make a comment if u like.
> http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0807optout0807.html
>
> Audrie Garrison
> The Arizona Republic (A.K.A. the AZ Repulsive)
> Aug. 7, 2007 12:00 AM
> A group of activists is visiting Valley high schools to hand out what they
> consider essential back-to-school information: military recruitment
> opt-out forms.
>
> Students at North High School were greeted on their first day of school
> Monday by protesters carrying banners with messages such as "Opt out of
> the military" and wearing bright yellow signs around their necks picturing
> a "wrong way" street sign with the words "Keep 'em safe - bring 'em home."
>
> The activists, representing the Arizona Advocacy Network Foundation, the
> Arizona Counter Recruitment Coalition, Parents Against Violence in
> Education and the End the War Coalition, handed out postcards for students
> to fill out and have their parents sign that would remove their contact
> information from a list that public schools have to provide to military
> recruiters.
>
> Schools that receive federal funding are required by the No Child Left
> Behind Act to provide the list to the armed forces; however, a statute in
> the act gives parents the option of signing an opt-out form that will take
> their child off the list.
>
> "The Arizona Advocacy Network has been working to mobilize people to voice
> their opposition to the war. The majority of the American people want this
> war to be over," said Linda Brown, one of the organizers of the effort.
> "What is the other option for us? Well, we can stop the stream of
> soldiers."
>
> Brown said the group plans to visit schools around the state over the next
> few weeks, when students are first going back to school.
>
> The group was outside Tolleson Union High School on Monday afternoon as
> students left school.
>
> Tolleson Union's opt-out policy changed this year. The district also
> prints a form in its student handbook. In previous years, students who
> asked to be removed from military recruitment lists also were removed from
> other directories, such as the yearbook or lists sent to colleges. This
> year, students will be able to pick which directories they would like to
> be left off, so they can opt out of the military list but still have their
> information sent to colleges, said Assistant Superintendent David Briggs.
>
> Most students at North High accepted the forms as they passed the group.
> Some stopped to hear more information, while others said they were in a
> hurry to get to class. Freshman Anissa Cristerna said she was unaware of
> the opt-out policy before Monday and said she was interested in learning
> more about it.
>
> "It sounds like a good program, because there's a lot of people that don't
> know anything about the war," she said. " I'm against the war, but I
> support the troops."
>
> Many of the activists became involved in the cause after their own
> children started receiving phone calls from military recruiters.
>
> "I basically would like my children to come to a safe and comforting
> learning environment free of military recruiters," said volunteer Dolores
> Martinez.
>
> Phoenix Union High School District prints the opt-out form in its student
> handbook and asks parents who are interested to turn in the form within
> the first two weeks of school, said Phoenix Union spokesman Craig
> Pletenik. The district has a separate contact list it sends to colleges,
> so students left off the military recruitment list will not be left off
> the college recruitment list.
>
> About 2,200 district students opted out last year, Pletenik said. The
> school with the highest opt-out rate was Trevor Browne High School, where
> 38 percent of the students asked to be removed from the list.
>
> North High administrators asked the group to stay on the sidewalk outside
> of campus. Pletenik said he did not think the campus was an appropriate
> place for the activists to be because the district is complying with the
> statute.
>
> "They ought to be at the recruiting station, not at one of our schools,
> particularly on the first day of school," Pletenik said.
>
> "We're doing what we can to protect our kids' privacy, but we're doing it
> within the limits of the law."
>
>
> Respectfully,
> -Facilitator
>
> AZ Counter-Recruitment Coalition
> http://arizonacrc.org

:applause: