Students As Well As Parents Have Opt-out Right

On Friday, September 16, 2005, the Family Policy Compliance Office of the United States Department of Education (FPCO), which administers the military recruiter provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, confirmed that students are permitted to exercise opt-out rights under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Following an inquiry from the New York Civil Liberties Union, an official at the office wrote: Under the military recruiter provisions, a school is required to notify parents and provide them with an opportunity to opt out.   However, because the statute also mentions that students may opt out, we have determined that a school must honor a request made by a student who took the initiative to tell a school not to disclose his or her name, address, & telephone number to military recruiters.   The confusion over this issue is due to the fact that the question has only recently been raised to us and we have not issued any guidance on this matter (emphasis supplied).

While a parent can overrule the choice of a minor student, it should be noted that students over the age of 18 must be permitted to make the decision themselves.

More information:

• FAQs about FERPA, NCLB, and privacy rights.
• Sample opt-out form for families or students to send to their school (PDF document).
• The Electronic Privacy Information Center offers a detailed analysis of the Pentagon's military recruitment database at EPIC's Web site.
• Leave My Child Alone is a family privacy project of Working assets, Mainstreet Moms, and ACORN. The site has lots of information about military recruitment issues.
• The Resource Center for Nonviolence has very specific information about the NCLB's military recruitment provision, opt-out rights, and how the issue is playing out in schools around the country. Sample school policies on protection of student information are included.

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