Military Recruitment in Western Massachusetts High Schools 2016 – 2017 A Report by Viola Sharron, Larkin Christie and Jeff Napolitano Third Annual Report March 2018 The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice (TRC) is a non-profit organization committed to social justice and peace. Our fiscal sponsor is the Warren J. Plaut Charitable Trust. Our mission is to train the next generation of social justice leadership, preparing people with tools for nonviolent direct action, and promoting a culture of peace and justice. We are the successor organization to the Western Massachusetts program of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). About the Authors Viola Sharron was the Military Recruitment Intern with the Western Massachusetts program of AFSC. She is a Psychology major at UMass Amherst, minoring in French, class of 2019. She worked with AFSC from November 2015 to May 2017. Larkin Christie was an intern with The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice (TRC) beginning in September 2017. They are also the co-founder of Youth Rise Together, a youth activism group located in the Pioneer Valley. Jeff Napolitano is the Executive Director of The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice (TRC) and the former Program Coordinator for the Western Massachusetts program of AFSC. For over 10 years he has focused on work ranging from youth military recruitment, immigration advocacy, anti-war organizing, to economic justice. Acknowledgments TRC would like to thank those that reviewed and contributed to this report, including Bruce Hawkins, Emily Lewis, Sabine Merz, Claire Peterson, Karen Tozzi, and others. A special thanks goes to Katherine Hamilton, an intern during the summer of 2018. This report was accomplished through the wonderful work of our volunteers, committee members, and interns. Much of the data collected in this report was done so during the tenure of the Western Massachusetts program of AFSC, and we thank AFSC, particularly Regional Director Keith Harvey and Dr. Joseph Gerson, for the use of this data and their generosity and enduring commitment to social justice. We dedicate this report to the students of Western Massachusetts. Published by The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice 2 Conz Street, Suite 2B Northampton, MA 01060 [email protected] (413) 584-8975 © 2018 The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice Available online at http://TheResistanceCenter.org Cover Artwork: J. Andrew World | [email protected] | http://www.right-about-now.com Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 METHODOLOGY 2 ASSUMPTIONS 5 STUDENT OPINIONS 5 LAWMAKERS AND THE EFFECTS OF THE POLICY 7 MENTAL HEALTH RISKS AND DISABILITY 8 JOB INSECURITY 9 MILITARY SEXUAL TRAUMA 10 LACK OF STANDARDS AND OVERSIGHT OF RECRUITERS IN SCHOOLS 10 RECOMMENDATIONS TO SCHOOLS 12 RESPONSES AND GRADES 12 • HAMPSHIRE COUNTY SCHOOLS 15 • HAMPDEN COUNTY SCHOOLS 38 • BERKSHIRE COUNTY SCHOOLS 67 • FRANKLIN COUNTY SCHOOLS 82 Executive Summary “There are public health reasons to be concerned about military recruitment in public elementary and secondary schools. Adolescent recruitment targets are at a vulnerable stage of brain development and may experience adverse health consequences from stress. Given their limitations in judging risk at this stage in life, they are also unable to fully evaluate the consequences of making a choice to enter the military.” American Public Health Association (2013)1 In the past two decades, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) of Western Massachusetts, now The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice, has been involved in school systems to engage and educate students about post-graduation alternatives to military recruitment, such as community colleges and universities, volunteer opportunities, and labor apprenticeships. The presence of military recruiters in high schools is not new, but since the “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) act of 2001 that presence has increased and access to student information has been not just been codified, but mandated by the federal government. This publication is the third of its kind, and contains information about the 2016-2017 school year. It encompasses fifty-one schools in the four counties of western Massachusetts: Hampshire, Hampden, Berkshire, and Franklin. There was much variation of how well schools record recruiter interaction with students: schools that had no visits; schools that dictated where recruiters were stationed and took note of dates; durations and promotional items; and schools who could provide only a month when asked what dates recruiters visited. We sent the first copy of questions as public records request to schools on November 12, 2016. Of the fifty-one schools that received public records requests, only twenty-three of them responded. To schools that did not respond, a second request was made on February 1st, 2017, and ten schools responded. There were many others with which we had contact with including one that (incorrectly) didn’t accept that some or all of the information requested was covered by public records laws. This series of reports are the first of their kind in the state. From the recent years of visiting a handful of high schools, we realized that (1) we did not have comprehensive data about military recruitment in high schools across all of Western Massachusetts, and (2) we needed to bring this information to light, so that parents, school committee members, and others were more aware of the environment in which our children are being raised. We found that many (if not most) parents are not aware of the level of interaction with and the extent of disclosed information given to the military by their children and their schools. When we started several years ago by sending simple, one page requests to public high schools for information about the frequency of visits by military recruiters, they were largely ignored by most schools. We then put our inquiries in the form of Massachusetts Public Records Act requests, and those results were compiled into the first report. This year, we also sent voluntary student surveys along with our public records requests. These 1 American Public Health Association. (October 30, 2012). Cessation of Military Recruiting in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. Web: http://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy- database/2014/07/23/11/19/cessation-of-military-recruiting-in-public-elementary-and-secondary-schools 1 surveys were created to hear from students about their experience with military recruiters. We received 207 responses from two high schools. The most striking observations of sending these requests and collecting responses has been the lack of basic records kept (though there was some improvement from the first report) as well as the inconsistent reporting by schools. It often took multiple formal requests over the course of the past couple of years to get complete responses from schools. Responses were often incomplete and/or illegible. And in some cases, the data we were provided seemed like dubious outliers. We realize that public schools are not operating with an abundance of resources. Nevertheless, the interaction between school youth and the most advanced and well-financed military institution in the world merits monitoring. Therefore, we intend to make this report an annual publication. This will provide the Western Massachusetts community with the most accurate information regarding military recruitment in public high schools. It should also push schools to track, disclose, and make this process more transparent. Because this is only the third report of its kind, and because our methodology improves with each report, we are aware that there might be discrepancies and inaccuracies in this report. However, with each iteration, we hope that the response from schools becomes more accurate and expect our reporting of this data to become more comprehensive. We hope this report will spark a conversation to change the practices of schools so they can better protect their students, and so that parents are more aware of the totality of their children’s school environment. Methodology From October 2016 to the summer of 2017 we submitted public records requests to all public high schools within the four counties of Western Massachusetts: Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Berkshire. The public records requests were crafted and sent via certified USPS mail. If a response was not received after two weeks, another request was sent to the school, and this pattern was repeated for up to three occurrences. Terms ASVAB The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is a standardized test distributed by the military to those who decide to take it. In order to take the test, students are required to sign a privacy agreement releasing both their results and personal information to the military (even if they are underage); in effect, this negates the opt-out forms of those students. This exam is marketed as career inventory test – both by the military and schools – however, the US Army Recruiting Command School Recruiting Program has stated, “The ASVAB is used by the Armed Forces for recruiting purposes… The ASVAB's ability for determining civilian job skills has not yet been proven.” 2 OPTION 8: Schools and school districts have eight options in terms of releasing students’ test results Option for and personal data from the ASVAB. Option 8 either allows or prevents the military from Recruiter receiving any information without active consent of the student/parent. If they select Contact option 8, their name and contact should not be added to the recruiting list. Recruiters do not usually give information about options. 2National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth. Educator's Tour: Recruiting Children into the U.S. Web: https://nnomy.org/index.php/en/educators-tour-15511.html 2 JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is a curriculum of classes offered to high school students by schools who invite the armed services to teach the program.