A battle over access for recruiters

The battle begins here, at a hallway table outside the lunchroom at Rainier Beach High. The table is covered with Marine Corps brochures, questionnaires and free "Semper Fi"-emblazoned water bottles.

The noon bell rings, and for the next hour Sgt. Anthony D'Abreu, his uniform flawless and his shoes polished to a brilliant shine, finds himself in a sometimes-humorous, often-futile campaign to persuade a few smart, physically fit teens to trade in their baggy jeans and Air Jordans after graduation for camouflage fatigues and combat boots.

"A lot of times they have this perceived image of what the Marines are about from TV, their parents, teachers," says D'Abreu, an infantryman by training now in his second year of recruiter duty. "My job is to show them what the Marines are truly about."

High schools are ground zero for the men and women charged with enlisting 356,000 new active-duty and reserve soldiers each year. But military recruiters say mining these rich repositories of youth has become increasingly difficult in recent years with the proliferation of student-privacy laws, the growing lure of college and the shrinking ranks of teachers, counselors, coaches and parents who have military experience.

The war on terrorism and the buildup of homeland defenses using reserve and National Guard troops has heightened the pressure on recruiters to keep the ranks filled.

Their jobs could soon be made easier under proposed legislation that would give military headhunters far greater access to students by requiring all high schools that receive federal aid to turn over lists of their students' names, addresses and phone numbers.

Schools that didn't comply or that denied on-campus visits would risk losing federal grants and contracts, said U.S. Rep. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who pushed for the amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The legislation could affect 2,000 to 3,000 high schools nationwide — including all five Bellevue public high schools — that deny recruiters access to their campuses or student contact information, according to Pentagon numbers.

Opponents of the measure say it conflicts with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which prohibits the release of information about students without permission from their parents.

But in a sign of how times have changed since the war on terrorism began, hardly a whisper of dissent is being heard inside or outside the halls of Congress.

"The events of Sept. 11th had absolutely nothing to do with the genesis of the amendment, but it has everything to do with its acceptance," said Isakson, adding that the military is the best chance for up to 40 to 50 percent of graduating seniors to gain a college education.

Even the National Education Association (NEA) and the National School Boards Association — groups normally hawkish on keeping education policies within the control of local school boards — have hardly taken notice.

"It's been pretty much noncontroversial, and at a time like this I can understand why," said Darryl Figueroa, an NEA spokeswoman.

About the only national education group to voice opposition is the American Association of School Administrators, which calls the bill unnecessary.

"The overwhelming majority of high schools already provide recruiters with access to their campuses," said Bruce Hunter, a lobbyist for the association.

"What they want is to go a step further by getting these students' home information, and federal law is very clear that educational institutions can't give out that information without the parents' say-so."

The lack of controversy surrounding the bill is good news for the armed services, which experienced recruiting slumps in the booming economy of the late 1990s and now face the challenge of keeping their ranks filled in a time of war.

Pentagon officials say the bill would give the military the same access afforded to colleges and businesses.

"Directory information is the most effective way of ensuring that young people have the chance to consider the military along with college and work," said Army Maj. James Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman for military personnel and recruiting issues.

But the bill could also have the unintended consequence of opening the door to other groups that seek the information.

"In my view, that's a risk," said Sharon Howard, assistant superintendent of the Bellevue School District, which forbids the sharing of any personal information about students to outside entities.

"If the military is entitled, it may be fairly difficult to draw distinctions."

A watered-down version of the bill was passed last year. It urged districts to keep their campuses open and turn over directory information but imposed no penalties.

In 1996 and 1997, Congress enacted laws that cut federal grants and contracts to colleges that deny military recruiters access to their campuses or student addresses and phone numbers.

The Pentagon says it is time for similar sanctions to be imposed on high schools that deny access.

The Bellevue School District is among the most restrictive in Washington. Recruiters are allowed to visit any of the district's five high schools but cannot access directories of student names, addresses and phone numbers.

The Shoreline School District recently lifted a temporary ban on Army recruiters from its two high schools. The ban was ordered by the School Board after two incidences in 1998 and 1999 in which recruiters were accused of sexually harassing female students.

Seattle public schools generally allow open access to military recruiters and give out student contact information, unless a parent submits a form asking to have the information withheld.

But the Seattle district, the state's largest, has not been outright friendly to the military. Junior ROTC programs, an enormous recruiting tool, aren't allowed. And district policy requires that wherever military brochures are displayed on campus, literature espousing alternatives to the military must also be displayed.

Otherwise, Washington includes itself among the more military-friendly states, with only 15 percent of high schools restricting access. Most of those are private schools.

"We try to accommodate them as much as possible," said Gretta Merwin, superintendent of the Ellensburg School District in Central Washington and president of the Washington Association of School Administrators.

"In my experience, these people are well-trained, and they know how to work with students. They do a very professional job in selling what they have to offer."

States that would be most affected by the amendment include Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts, where more than 80 percent of high schools limit or deny recruiter access.

Nearly half of all high schools in California also restrict access to some degree, as do 66 percent of schools in New York.

By contrast, recruiters are given nearly free run of schools in more-conservative states such as Texas, Colorado, Utah and South Dakota.

The Portland School Board banned military recruiting on its campuses in 1995 in protest to the armed services' "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward homosexuals. The ban, however, was fueled in part by parents and educators who were angry at what they called overly aggressive recruiting methods, said School Board member Marc Abrams, who authored the restriction.

"What we were told is it wasn't just the mail — it was two, three, four phone calls a week," Abrams said. "It was showing up on students' doors unannounced, it was inundating these kids with the kind of high-pressure sales tactics beyond what one would associate with the door-to-door sale of aluminum siding."

U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., is one in a small minority of dissenting voices in the House.

"I think young people ought to have access to information about military careers," he said. "But it seems inappropriate for Congress to interfere with what should be a local decision."

Peace groups have worked for years to rein in military recruiting in high schools, beginning with a series of successful lawsuits in the 1980s that required public schools in various states to give equal access to groups espousing military alternatives.

The current legislation moving swiftly through Congress would strike a blow to those efforts, the groups say.

"The military has this huge budget for painting this rosy picture of life in the military," said Mike Barton of the Seattle Draft Center, part of a nationwide network of nonprofit groups called the GI Rights Network that assists enlistees and soldiers seeking to get out of the military.

"One of our biggest challenges right now is making sure students see the real picture and have all the pros and cons of joining the military."

With or without the bill, the military is working to improve relations with schools.

"I think it's gotten better over the years," said Maj. Chris Dowling, commander of the Marine Corps' Seattle recruiting district, which covers all of Washington and northern Idaho. "And I think the reason it's gotten better is all the services have gone and established a rapport with not only the students but with the administrators and the teachers.

"It's more of a trust thing," he added. "We try to convey our concerns and we try to understand theirs."

As a parent, Dowling said he understands the privacy concerns raised by the proposed legislation and urges the recruiters under his command to avoid late-night calls and to respect family wishes.

Nonetheless, he said, the phone numbers and addresses the legislation would provide would go a long way in helping spread the Marine Corps' message.

"I don't care if you're in a great economy or a poor economy, everyone needs an opportunity," he said. "And not everyone's ready for college."

Ray Rivera can be reached at 206-464-2926 or rayrivera@seattletimes.com.