Concerns raised over school privacy notice

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Dec/17/ln/ln11p.html

Sybil Arum's eighth-grade granddaughter came home this week worried that she was on the verge of being drafted by the military and sent off to war.

The reason for her fear was the Department of Education's annual privacy notice, which says contact information for secondary students as young as sixth-graders may be released to military recruiters unless the student, parent or legal guardian requests otherwise.

Arum, who is the child's guardian, quickly determined that her granddaughter was not being shipped off to Iraq, but became alarmed anyway. "I'm very upset with the age level that this policy encompasses," she said.

[noamnety]

1. 6th grade is plenty old enough

No reason a twelve year old can't have talks with a recruiter about committing to fighting in a war.

Just so long as nobody tells them about condoms, they'll be fine.

</sarcasm>

[leftofcool]

2. We must teach these children the right things ya know...

Abstinence and guns

Left of cool

[HockeyMom]

3. 3 years ago

when my daughter went through this, it was 16 years old or Juniors and Seniors in HS. If this is true, they must be REALLY GETTING DESPERATE. ROFL

[Xithras]

4. Been standard since the early 70's.

There was another thread on this a few days ago. Schools may, and sometimes must, disclose directory information about their students to any third party that requests it. This direcory information may include the student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance, but not their educational records such as grades or disciplinary actions.

Many school districts, colleges, and universities have policies in place to prevent Joe Blow from walking in off the street and requesting a list of all of their students, but anyone who can show the slightest legitimate reason to have the information, can usually get it. This information is often used legitimately by background check firms to verify a claimed educational background, award, or degree, but they also get used by recruiters, marketers, and credit card companies trying to sell them on something.

The parents, or the student him/herself simply has to request that they be removed from the list, and it will be done.

If you don't like the law, call your congresscritter and ask them to submit an amendment to the Family Educational Records and Privacy Act of 1974. This practice was specifically allowed when the law was drafted 30 years ago, but I have no idea why.