Where DFA Meets the Anti-war Movement: Leave My Child Alone!
by Rebecca Romani, LeftTurn.org
What
happens when a warmongering government starts preying on its
children? The grassroots organize to stop it, that's what.
It
looked like any average parent meeting with a sprinkling of
twenty-somethings and senior citizens, complete with pizza, fries and
speakers. But for these people coming out to a pizza parlor on a
weeknight, the main attraction was not the food but an earnest
discussion of the presence of military recruiters on high school
campuses and a little known document called the “opt-out” form.
The
almost 100 people who turned out in the San Diego region, a heavily
militarized area home to a Marine base and Navy Seals, were part of a
nation-wide call to meet on the first day of June, put out by MMOB, The
Main Street Moms Operation Blue. MMOB,
a relatively new grassroots group, is taking a page out of the Howard
Dean playbook and rallying people though a well-orchestrated internet
campaign.
According
to Charlie Imes, chair of the local chapter of Democracy for America
(DFA), the MMOB contacted him and asked him to put the Military
Recruiter discussion at the top of the night’s agenda. “They asked and
I said great,” said Imes, who was enthusiastic about the night’s
turnout.
Twenty
miles north in Carlsbad, dozens of people turned out to hear speakers
and to fill out opt out forms, according to Jeeni Criscenzo, a member
of the North County Peace and Justice Coalition who coordinated the
event with MMOB.
The opt out form is provided for in section 9528, A, 1. of the No Child Left Behind Act, in part, because schools receiving federal funding are required to provide the following:
“1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION–
Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education
Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each local
educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide,
on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher
education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and
telephone listings…” in addition to granting recruiters physical access
to the campus or lose much needed federal funds. (Source)
The opt out form makes the child’s information unavailable to military recruiters and puts the child on a do not call list.
Federal law requires school districts to inform parents about the opt
out form. While some school districts list the form on either the
school district website or the high school website, the San Diego
school district does not.
A brief glance at MMOB’s site (www.themmob.org),
showed at least 20 such meetings planned for June 1, from Bakersfield
to Boston.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
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