By Mark Weisenmiller
TAMPA, Florida, Dec 4 (IPS) - Public school districts in two Florida counties are refusing to allow members of a peace organisation to counter the presence of military recruiters by talking with high school students about options other than joining the service, according to a spokesperson for the group.
"They (the Manatee and Sarasota County School Districts) are saying that we can't go on their campuses because we aren't offering any sort of information on post-secondary opportunities," said Don Thompson, co-chairman of the Coalition of Concerned Patriots (CCP), a Florida-based peace group. "But that's an excuse because we tell the students that the Job Corps and the Peace Corps are possible opportunities for jobs."
"Some of the military recruiters (who visit students on high school campuses) aren't telling the truth about the ways of the military. We don't question the existence of the military; we question the duplicity of military recruiters," Thompson, a retired United Methodist minister, told IPS.
Under President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, signed in 2002, public high schools must give military recruiters access to students, including their names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Parents and students can "opt out" of this requirement by filling out a form, but many are apparently unaware that they have the right to do so.
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