His letter probably surprised – and alarmed – many of the parents who received it. But Tonganoxie High School Principal Mike Bogart thought they should know.

Under a little-noticed provision of the federal No Child Left Behind Act – a new law designed to improve education standards – high schools are being ordered to provide the names, addresses and phone numbers of all their juniors and seniors to military recruiters upon request.

Tonganoxie High was preparing to do just that, Bogart wrote. But families could avoid the recruitersâ calls if they signed a form exempting their child from the list.

âÂÂIâÂÂm not an anti-military person myself,â Bogart said. âÂÂI just believe in the right to privacy.âÂÂ

Nearly a third of the 240 studentsâ families signed the exemption form before the deadline.

Bogart said Friday he was surprised by the response.

âÂÂA bit,â he said. âÂÂBut thereâÂÂs still two-thirds out there who recognized they may be contacted âÂÂ:quot; or ignored the letter.âÂÂ

Few know

The new law hasnâÂÂt been widely publicized. Both military recruiters and senior school officials in Lawrence said they were unaware of it.

âÂÂThatâÂÂs news to me,â said Sgt. 1st Class Donald Courtois of LawrenceâÂÂs U.S. Army Recruiting Station.

Not that it will change much in Lawrence anyway: Guidance counselors in the cityâÂÂs high schools said theyâÂÂd been providing student directories to military recruiters upon request for years. The recruiters use the information to pursue students through mailings, phone calls and personal visits.

âÂÂWeâÂÂre still operating pretty much the same way,â said Linda Allen, a guidance counselor at Lawrence High School.

Still, the new law has raised concerns, both nationally and in the Lawrence area, that the federal government is being given too much access to otherwise-private student records.

âÂÂItâÂÂs just one more step, in all of the things that are going on, to make information available to public agencies,â said Allan Hanson of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice. âÂÂThat has implications for privacy.âÂÂ

Supporting the military

Courtois, whose office recruits from 17 high schools in eastern Kansas, said heâÂÂd never had much difficulty obtaining information about students from those schools. His office typically recruits between 12 and 20 new soldiers every year.

âÂÂKansas is great,â he said. âÂÂTheyâÂÂre really supportive of the military here.âÂÂ

Kathy Toelkes, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Education, said state law required schools to make directories available to recruiters âÂÂ:quot; if, in fact, directories were being created by the schools. The schools that werenâÂÂt will now have to compile that information.

âÂÂThese provisions donâÂÂt change a lot in Kansas,â she said.

Kansasâ friendliness to recruiters isnâÂÂt duplicated everywhere, though.

Maj. Brenda Leong, director of accession policy for the Pentagon, said roughly 1,000 schools nationwide – out of about 22,000 schools – were withholding directory information by the time the new law went into effect in July.

âÂÂIt had been much higher than that in previous years,â Leong said. âÂÂIn the past, there were a lot of schools around the country that didnâÂÂt want to release the information to anyone âÂÂ:quot; not just recruiters, necessarily. This act provided a way for them to do that without having to give names to other marketers.âÂÂ

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, schools that refuse access to directory information and to school campuses could have their federal funds revoked.

âÂÂI keep hearing about scaled-back federal government,â Lawrence Supt. Randy Weseman, a Vietnam War veteran, said dryly last week. âÂÂBut IâÂÂve yet to see it.âÂÂ

Opting out

More than 1,600 students in Lawrence are covered by the new law. More than 50 students have opted out of the directory at Lawrence High School; a number was unavailable for students at Free State.

Those students and their families may be unaware of the new provisions, however. LHSâ Allen said her school wasnâÂÂt sending out a Tonganoxie-style special letter to parents.

âÂÂBasically, since weâÂÂre handling it the same way we always have, no weâÂÂre not,â she said.

Students at LHS seemed unfazed by the new requirement.

âÂÂIâÂÂm not going to join the Army anyway,â said Micah Adams, a junior, âÂÂso I donâÂÂt really care.âÂÂ

Arbelle Trotter, another junior, was concerned about privacy issues.

âÂÂI donâÂÂt mind for myself,â he said. âÂÂBut some people donâÂÂt want their business out there.âÂÂ

His friend Darrick Dew, another junior, was fatalistic.

âÂÂItâÂÂs all right – theyâÂÂll get it one way or another,â Dew said. âÂÂItâÂÂll make people mad, but theyâÂÂll get it anyway.âÂÂ

Weseman, who wasnâÂÂt aware of the lawâÂÂs requirement until told by the Journal-World, said he expected some parents would want to exempt their children from recruitersâ calls.

âÂÂIâÂÂm sure this will come as a shock to our parents,â he said. âÂÂIâÂÂve been doing this for 30 years, and IâÂÂve come to realize these are sensitive issues for some people.âÂÂ