The history of this Opt-Out notification starts with the Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas, located in Wichita. In the fall of 2004, a high school student came to the Peace Center to talk to Horace Santry, then Peace Center director, about a little known provision of the No Child Left Behind Law of 2001. According to Section 9528 of the law, schools that receive federal money must release students' contact information to the military for recruitment purposes, unless students or parents choose to opt-out of this release in writing. It is the school's responsibility to notify parents of this provision in a timely manner so they may notify the school that their student is opting out and doesn't want to be contacted by recruiters.

The USD 259 board had complied with part of the law by releasing student information to military recruiters for three years, but had not notified parents that these names were being released.

Santry and other Peace Center members contacted students, parents and other concerned community members to get an Opt-Out form passed by the USD 259 Board of Education. After studying section 9528, the group sent a letter to the BOE on April 5, 2005. The letter asked for board compliance in informing parents and students of their rights to Opt-Out.

Winston Brooks, then superintendent for the Wichita school district, referred the matter to attorney Thomas Powell. Powell advised the board to change only one sentence in the "Student Records and Your Rights" document referencing the law to inform parents about the release of their students' names. On June 3, 2005, Santry, writing for the parents who signed the original letter, pointed out the inaccuracies in the board's understanding of the law. Further, he asked that the district go beyond the requirements of informing and provide a form with which parents and students would be able to make an informed choice.

Finally, on June 27, 2005, Peace Center members, concerned parents, and other community members attended the Wichita BOE meeting. Santry gave board members information packets showing the Opt-Out forms used in other school districts. He asked that a board policy be established and that it be placed on the agenda for the next scheduled BOE meeting.

Speakers at the July 11, 2005, board meeting supporting the change in board included Santry, Thomas Witt and Celeste Hutton, both parents of high school students, and Louis Goseland, a high school student.

The motion to approve providing high school parents or eligible students the ability to opt-out of releasing individual student directory information to military recruiters failed 3-3. Board chair Connie Dietz then moved, with a second by Lanora Nolan, that the board instruct staff to use the Opt-Out Notification for Military Recruiters for the 2005-06 school year as a test only, to determine what the response was and how much work it involved for staff. During this year, staff would also determine what it would cost to upgrade the Student Information System (SIS) so that this process could be managed electronically. The motion passed 5-1.

At the end of the test year, several Peace Center members attended the BOE meeting for a review and to request that the BOE include the Opt-Out Notification for Military Recruiters in the enrollment packets of high school students permanently.

From the June 26, 2006 BOE minutes:

High School Student Directory Information Plan Appendix 9: '2005-06 was a test year to determine the level of response and the amount of work required to use the Opt-Out Notification for Military Recruiters for Wichita Public School high school students. This process started with August 2005 enrollment and concluded on September 20, 2005. The district received a total of 1,337 requests for opt-out. All 2005 opt-out requests had to be entered manually by Pupil Accounting. The Student Information System (eSIS) now has a field available to enable authorized high school staff to check this opt-out field upon written request. This will allow data entry to be completed at each high school site so this process can be managed electronically. The Opt-Out Notification for Military Recruiters form is attached in the Appendix.'

Ms. Nolan (Mr. Harding) moved that the Wichita Public Schools provide high school parents, guardians, or eligible students the ability to opt-out of releasing individual student directory information to military recruiters. The opt-out process will begin each year during August enrollment, conclude on September 20, and be independent of release of student directory information for other purposes such as school publications.

The motion passed 5-2.

Yeas: Connie Dietz, Kevass Harding, Shirley Jefferson, Lanora Nolan, and Sarah Skelton.

Nays: Chip Gramke, Lynn Rogers.

This was a victory for Peace Center members, but it was even more of a victory for parents and students of USD 259 who now had an instrument for informing school authorities that they did not want to be bothered by military recruiters. If it shows nothing else, the increasing number of parents choosing to opt their children out of contact by military recruiters shows that parents want want their children to avoid harassment by recruiters anxious to make a quota.

In September, the Peace Center received a grant from RESIST to fund the Center's efforts to spread the Opt-Out program to school districts outside of Wichita. Director Cathy Benton is overseeing the grant and would like to hear from parents and students who are interested in getting the Opt-Out program into their school districts. The Peace Center phone number is: 316-263-5886. The e-mail address is: director@peacecenter.kscoxmail.com.

(Note: Thanks to Horace Santry, former Peace Center director, for compiling a history of the Opt-Out campaign, to Janice Bradley for collecting and compiling each year's figures, to current Peace Center director Cathy Benton for continuing the work on this project, to all the students, parents, and community members who worked to get the Opt-Out forms in the packets and to the USD 259 Board of Education members who supported the Opt-Out campaign.)