No meeting today

Late announcement: This week's (2/17) YAA meeting has been rescheduled because of the Historians Against War conference. Instead we'll be meeting on Sunday at about 4 pm. If you'd like to attend let us know in the comments and we can forward you more information.

And a quick update about our campaign to limit military recruiter access in AISD schools: YAA members and Nonmilitary Options for Youth met with AISD general counsel Mel Waxler on Wednesday to discuss the legal implications of our proposed limitations (see below). Mr. Waxler informed us that our proposal was being taken into consideration and he would make a recommendation to the board at some point in the near future. He also confirmed, to our surprise and delight, that AISD is already moving towards a modified version of the SR-290 opt-out form that makes clear military recruiters' access to student information. The new form may even provide students and parents the opportunity to separately and exclusively opt-out from sharing their information with military recruiters - who would use such information, for instance, to call you on your birthday telling you to join the military, an unpleasant experience that interrupted a YAA member's birthday party just last year.

The struggle continues, even though there's no meeting today.

Draft of military recruiter policy at AISD

In the interest of openness and providing the public the opportunity to give us feedback, we decided at the last YAA meeting to publish our draft list of proposals for military recruiter limitations at AISD. We'd like to emphasize that this is our draft and is subject to revision as negotiations with AISD continue. It's likely that this list would be substantially altered before being implemented as AISD policy. Stay tuned for updates, and in the meantime, please let us know what you think in the comment section.

Here is the draft:

Prepared by Youth Activists of Austin and Nonmilitary Options for Youth for discussion with members of AISD school board - January 2006

1. Military recruiters will check in at the school’s administrative office and get a visitor badge every time they go onto school property.
2. Military recruiters will be restricted to designated areas in the schools, such as career centers. One-on-one visits will be monitored by a counselor or another school staff person.
3. Military recruiters will not approach students in hallways, and the student will be the one to initiate discussion with a military recruiter.
4. The SR-290 form will be revised to clearly state that military recruiters are among the organizations that request student directoryinformation, and we would prefer that there be a military-only opt-outprovision (that is, a way for students to withhold their directory information from military recruiters while allowing it to be given to college and job recruiters).
5. All guidance counselors will be made aware that students who sign up for the military through the Delayed Entry Program (DEP) are legally allowed to separate from the program if they change their minds prior to their report dates for basic training, and counselors will be able to guide students through the separation process.
6. The ASVAB test (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) will not be administered during class time or without parental approval to students under 18.
7. There will be no military hardware, military vehicles or military recreational equipment on school campuses (eg. Army Cinema Vans, humvees, helicopters, video game systems or rock-climbing equipment), and no recruitment posters featuring weapons will be displayed in schools.
8. Military recruiters will not speak in classrooms or school assemblies unless their presentations correspond to class curriculum.
9. Schools will continue to allow information about alternatives to the military to be made available to students in a manner and location similar to recruiting information.
10. Military recruiters who violate these policies will be disallowed from visiting schools within the district for a determined length of time.