Join activists across the country by demanding that local school officials protect the privacy of high school students who take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, (ASVAB). Last year more than 600,000 school children took the ASVAB and all of the results, including personal information, were forwarded to military recruiters. The military refuses to publicly admit the ASVAB is a valuable recruiting tool. Instead, the ASVAB is marketed through schools as a "career exploration program" frequently without mentioning its affiliation with the military.

A little known option exists that allows school officials to preclude test data from winding up in the hands of military recruiters. We've provided the following template for you to use to create a letter to send to your local school officials. It works!

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ASVAB LETTER TEMPLATE

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Community Peace & Justice Coalition

Your Town, US

DATE

Superintendent of Schools

Address

Dear Superintendent ___________________:

We are writing to ask you to protect the privacy of students in the ________ Public Schools who take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, (ASVAB).

Although ___________ Public School System promotes the ASVAB as a voluntary "Career Exploration Program" administered to juniors and seniors, the US Army Recruiting Command's School Recruiting Program Handbook says the primary purpose of the ASVAB is to provide military recruiters "with a source of leads of high school juniors and seniors qualified through the ASVAB for enlistment into the Active Army and Army Reserve." See page 6: http://www.usarec.army.mil/im/formpub/REC_PUBS/p350_13.pdf

Visit the military's official "ASVAB" website and see if you can determine what the ASVAB acronym stands for, or if the program has anything to do with the military: http://www.asvabprogram.com/

Unless a school district takes measures to protect student privacy, the data from the ASVAB is automatically forwarded to military recruiting services. This practice runs counter to the opt-out provision of Section 9528 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and may violate (your state) law regarding student privacy.

Children who sit for the ASVAB are required to sign a "Privacy Statement" that gives permission to the military to use private information and test results for recruiting purposes. See DoD Form 1304-5AS: http://www.nnomy.org/joomla/index.phpoption=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=103&Itemid=68

This form is usually signed by students without the consent of their parents, a practice that may run counter to (your state)laws that protect the privacy rights of minors. (See this brief by the National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles Chapter.)

http://www.nlg-la.org/Final%20ASVAB%20Memo.pdf

In the last year, three of the nation's largest school systems, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland and the Los Angeles Unified School District have taken steps pursuant to military regulations that allow for the administration of the test but preclude test data from falling into the hands of military recruiters.

The U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command identifies 8 options schools have regarding the administration and release of ASVAB information. These options range from Option 1, which permits test results and other student information to be released to military recruiters without prior consent, to Option 8, which requires active consent to release the ASVAB test results and private information. School officials typically cite the importance of ensuring student privacy when selecting Option 8. Inaction on the part of a school system will cause the military to automatically select Option 1.

The Montgomery district requires students to have a signed parental permission form to take the test.

See USMEPCOM Regulation 601.4 Personnel Procurement Student Testing Program 25 July, 2005, pages 12 & 13 for an explanation of the various options available to public school systems: http://www.mepcom.army.mil/publications/pdf/regs/r-0601-004.pdf

Sincerely,

________________ for Community P&J Coalition