No Child Left Behind. (i.e. you're all on the military's recruiting list)

each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.

Link to NCLB's full policy here.

The "requests" are described here in such a way as to appear random and sporadic - they are not. The names of any child who is not covered by an "opt-out" parental letter is submitted. Those in low-income areas, or schools that do not have high college enrollment rates, are especially targeted for recruitment. I saw this happen in two districts I worked in - kids "suddenly" started getting letters.

Now, as a teacher, I have many educational complaints about NCLB. But how does sending these lists to recruiters possibly help a student's education? And if the school refuses, it can lose federal funding.

This came up in discussion over the weekend, and I was reminded to check out my own school district's "Opt-Out" policy. In some schools, the "opt-out" letter is actually contained in the informational packets given to all incoming freshmen.

More info about NCLB, and the pentagon's database (which requires a different letter for opting out) can be found here.