You could be in the Army now

Braintree High School had been largely off-limits to Army National Guard recruiter Dave Petrie . So Petrie, eager for more access to prospective enlistees, polished his sales pitch, stressing the educational benefit to high school graduates of reserve duty, and tried again to persuade school officials to let him in.

It worked. After wrangling with Petrie over the details, school officials grudgingly agreed to let him visit the school more often, even allowing him to bring a rock-climbing wall to a recent physical education class for potential recruits to try.

"I let them know that I am not trying to get students to enlist that day," Petrie said. "I just want to give them the information. So they agreed to give us a little leeway."

The uneasy compromise typifies the vigorous tug of war between school officials and military recruiters over contact with students, particularly during a protracted, unpopular war that has hampered enlistment efforts. While recruiters regard face time with students as essential to their cause, parents and school officials typically want to minimize visits by the military, worried that impressionable teenagers could be coaxed into rash decisions.

The tension has sharpened under a little-known provision of the 2002 federal education law known as No Child Left Behind. It forbids schools from denying military recruiters the same access to public high school juniors and seniors that other organizations get.

The law also requires schools to, if asked, provide information on how students can be contacted -- unless those students have specifically asked that their contact information be kept private. They can do so through an "opt-out" provision in the law, but it is not widely publicized.

Privacy advocates have denounced the 2002 law, and some parents have urged administrators and school committees to publicize the opt-out provision more prominently than simply mentioning it in the student handbook or other form of paperwork.

Schools' attitudes vary widely. Some do not go out of their way to draw students' attention to the opt-out clause, while others have done so. Norwood High School, for example, spread the word by calling every student's home via an automated phone system. More commonly, schools have sent a letter home outlining a student's right to keep their contact information private.

At Weymouth High School, parents urged the school to aggressively publicize the opt-out provision, so the school sent a flier to students' homes and posted the opt-out form on the high school website. But only a small percentage completed the form, said Kevin Carter , a guidance counselor.

Carter said that while military recruiters are eager for more access, they have been careful to abide by school policy.

"We haven't had any bad experiences," he said. "I haven't seen any high-pressure tactics."

As a result, the school has allowed recruiters to make presentations in classes, as well as the cafeteria.

A letter was also sent home to Easton students. Once the letter was sent, the number of privacy requests jumped from a handful to more than 30 percent, officials said.

"It definitely heightened parents' sensibility," said Wesley Paul , principal at Easton's Oliver Ames High School. He said he felt it was important to let parents know what was going on. "We didn't want to be considered in any way disingenuous," he said.

Bill Haff , an Easton resident who urged the high school to send home letters, accused recruiters of glamorizing military service and whitewashing its darker realities.

"It's very offensive and inappropriate to promote a military career with a marketing campaign, like selling soft drinks," he said.

J.C. Allard , chief of public affairs for the New England Army Recruiting Battalion, dismisses concerns about enlisting high school students, saying graduates who have been out of school for a few years compose more of their recruits. He said he did not interpret resistance to recruiting as anti military, but conceded that in affluent communities, a "military choice is often the second choice."

Schools in blue-collar communities and technical schools have generally been more welcoming than the Westwoods and Scituates of the world, he said.

"Those are the places where we've really benefitted from increased access" provided by the No Child Left Behind law, he said. "It has opened doors that were previously closed. . . . The law has definitely leveled the playing field."

Now, with the muscle of the new law behind them, recruiters are lobbying not only for more visits, but to be in more prominent locations, such as the cafeteria or hallway rather than the guidance office.

As a result, educators are feeling pressure. They say they are doing their best to comply with the law, though some note that it runs contrary to deeply held beliefs about student privacy, and that obliging all the service branches can be disruptive.

Many schools are handling the new requirement by limiting access to all outside visitors, a policy already in place in an effort to reach rigorous educational standards. Given the crush of recruiters -- military, college, and career -- angling to make their case to students, schools are paring visits across the board.

"It's equal access, but equal access means very little," said Norton High School principal Ray Dewar .

Allard said that even the limited access is still broader than before, when recruiters were "spending an inordinate amount of time just trying to get into the school." But many educators said recruiters rarely seem content.

"If they were left to their own devices, they'd be here every week," said Braintree High School guidance director Anthony King, whose school also sent home letters about the opt-out provision. "But we don't feel it's our job to help their recruiting. They would like ready access to our students; we compromised on limited access."

Petrie, the recruiter who won access to Braintree High, sees common ground ahead.

The military's commitment to education can help bridge the rift, he said. "If we can make that connection, then we have a common goal."