Schools required to give students’ info to military

Question: How do military recruiters get the names and phone numbers of high school students? I don’t think this is right!

Answer: They get the contact information from the public schools, which are required under federal law to provide it unless students or their parents specifically opt out of the disclosure.

Section 8025 of the U.S. Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires the state Department of Education to provide U.S. military recruiters with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of secondary school students if the recruiters seek the information and the students or their parents have not previously stated in writing that they want the contact information withheld, according to the DOE. Unlisted telephone numbers are included in the disclosure.

Secondary students are broadly defined as those in grades seven through 12, although military recruiters generally focus on juniors and seniors in high school, according to the DOE.

The federal law also requires public school districts to inform students and parents of their right to prevent this disclosure, and Hawaii’s Education Department created a form that makes it simple to opt out. The form is distributed to parents at the start of the school year as part of an informational packet about student privacy, said Derek Inoshita, a DOE spokesman.

Although schools prefer to receive the form back by Sept. 1, you can download it at 808ne.ws/24yEtyF, print it, fill it out and submit it any time during the school year. Nondisclosure requests filed after the DOE has released students’ names to the armed forces Inter-Service Recruitment Council that school year would apply to future releases; that would be the case regarding your child, since you apparently missed the form this school year.

Once filed, a nondisclosure request stands until the student leaves the public school system or rescinds it in writing; you don’t have to fill out the form every year.

Although completing the “opt-out” form seems the simplest route, you also may specify nondisclosure via a letter of your own devising, submitted to the office of your child’s school. The written request must be legible and signed, and must include the school name and the student’s name and birthdate.

You can find out more about your child’s rights under the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act at 808ne.ws/1W8NDjS.

Q: Is it too late to vote in the UH T-shirt contest?

A: No, you can vote online until noon Monday. Choose from among five designs at 808ne.ws/23quedp.

The annual HI Pride T-Shirt Design Contest invites students throughout the University of Hawaii system to participate. Semifinalists in the 2016 contest — selected by a panel of UH Bookstore managers and student employees — include three UH-Manoa students, one from UH-Hilo and two from Kauai Community College (who collaborated on a single design), according to a UH news release.

The public vote determines the winning design, which will be printed on T-shirts and made available for purchase this fall at all UH Bookstores and online at www.bookstore.hawaii.edu.

Mahalo

On Feb. 9, because my car needed repairs, I had to ride TheBus for the first time in more than 10 years. TheBus website made it very easy for me to select the right bus to get me to my destination on time. I found the ride to be a delightful experience, primarily because of the woman driver of Route No. 20, who picked me up at 6:45 a.m. at the Aloha Stadium bus stop.

For nearly an hour on my way in to Ala Moana, I watched her greet each rider with a cheerful hello. She was especially attentive to Gary, who was in a wheelchair. She knew to allow him to do what he could and then would help him when he asked her.

She was an example of someone who loves her job and is definitely a positive asset to our public transportation system. I only regret that I didn’t get her name. — Ms. Wally Wake, Aiea

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.