TESTIMONY

Good afternoon, Honorable members of NJ State Board of Education.  We are
here today as a group of individuals and organizations from around the
state, concerned about student privacy and the appropriate role of military
recruiters in our high schools.  We are appealing to you to ensure the
fullest measure of student privacy required by the law and regulated by the
State Board of Education and to further ensure a safe, non-coercive and
uncompromised
educational environment for all students throughout NJ, as is your role.

N.J.S.A. 18A:36-19 requires that the State Board of Education adopt
regulations to protect student privacy.  In order to protect student privacy
and to comply with the above rulemaking requirements,  N.J.A.C . 6:3-6.5 was
adopted by the State Board and provides that only authorized organizations,
agencies or persons as defined in that regulation, shall have access to
pupil records.  Military recruiters are not specifically authorized by that
regulation to have access to student records.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a federal statute that preempts
State privacy regulations, but only to the limited extent provided by that
federal law.  NCLB requires schools to release ONLY the names, mailing
addresses and telephone numbers of students to military recruiters upon
request.  NCLB also requires that parents and secondary school students be
given the opportunity to opt out of providing that private information and
that parents be notified of this right.

School districts throughout New Jersey have been releasing information to
military recruiters inconsistently and beyond the scope of the limited NCLB
exception to State privacy statutes and regulations.  For example, some
districts are releasing more student directory information than a student's
name, address and telephone number.  Other districts are not providing the
required notification of the right to opt out at all.  Most districts are
not recognizing the separate right of students themselves to opt out. Many
districts are not developing user friendly formats for parents to opt out.
Many parents and students around the state are completely unaware that they
have the right to withhold the requested information from the military due
to inadequate procedures in place for informed consent at the local level.
Neither parents nor students are adequately or fully protected as prescribed
by law.

We therefore petition the New Jersey State Board of Education to amend its
privacy regulations to establish uniform procedures that all State school
districts must follow to ensure that the student privacy protections
established by NJSA 18A:35-19 and NJAC 6:3-6.5 are protected to the fullest
extent required by law.

We recommend the following uniform policy:

1)Parents and guardians be informed of the current NCLB policy to release
the student name, address and phone number to military recruiters and of the
right of parents, guardians and students to withhold this information. They
should be provided written notice at the start of each school year and upon
enrollment mid-year, and on any available school website.

2)A simple check-off form to indicate WHETHER OR NOT the parent or guardian
wishes to withhold information from the military should be mailed to the
home of all secondary school students, grades 9-12.  This check-off form
should be included in the summer packet or at the beginning of the school
year amongst the "required" forms of the district to be completed by
parents/guardians with a due date for return.

3)All information about the requirements of NCLB should be written in the
dominant language of the parent or guardian, as currently required by State
Board regulation.

4)There will be a 60 day waiting period after the first mailing to the
parents/guardians before any information is passed along to the military.
During this time, the school personnel will make a good faith effort to
contact the parents or guardians of those who did not return the form to
confirm that they did receive and understand the form.

5) The option to withhold student information from the military will be
treated separately from the right to withhold information to institutions of
higher education as also required by NCLB.

6) Since NCLB also provides that student have an separate right to choose to
withhold their directory information from the military, opt out forms should
be distributed to all secondary school students at the beginning of each
school year.

7) An opt out shall be effective if a check-off is provided by a parent,
guardian or student.