CAMS and UTLA and LAUSD

CAMS was first formed in the Human Rights Committee of UTLA, the United Teachers Los Angeles. UTLA is the union of teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest public school in the nation. UTLA has over 44,000 member teachers and many of them are concerned with how militarism is affecting the public school environment. When teachers see students placed involuntarily into military style programs, run by non-credentialed military personnel, when their curricular choices become limited to a one-size fits all dumbed-down set of lessons designed for testing rather than a true understanding of the value of education, and when LAUSD inner-city high schools have huge drop-out rates in the same schools that military recruiters spend most of their time, it is easy to get frustrated and just throw up your hands in surrender, close your door and try to teach as best you can. At UTLA's Human Rights Committee we felt that these conditions required us to act and to organize for change. Since forming CAMS we have had some success in correcting the above issues, particularly in stopping the involuntary placement of students in JROTC and in making sure all teachers of LAUSD youth are credentialed by the state of California, and we continue to work on remedying the others, as well as expanding and designing new programs to benefit the students of LAUSD, of youth in public schools across the nation, and to protect teachers who choose to teach peace and social justice in their classrooms. We have found that having the union behind us has been extremely helpful in negotiating with the school district on the issues of treating students with respect and dignity. Teachers from other districts interested in protecting students from military predators should use their own unions for leverage. Contact your union, start a Human Rights Committee, and write a resolution like the one below.

Organize! ORGANIZE! ORGANIZE!

Below is a resolution which we introduced to the UTLA House of Representatives. We will continue to work to make our schools safer learning environments for students a well as teachers and we will continue to advocate for non-militaristic practices and programs from LAUSD. More information on LAUSD can be found on our JROTC page.

We have our General CAMS Meetings usually on the first Saturday of each month at 2:00 PM at our UTLA Building, 3303 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90005. The UTLA Building is between downtown Los Angeles and Miracle Mile, just a few blocks west of the Vermont/Wilshire Red Line LA Metro stop.

Los Angeles Unified School District
Resolution on the Release of Directory Information to Military Recruiters
Human Rights Committee, UTLA

WHEREAS, high school students are vulnerable to the U.S. Military’s recruiting efforts and the military’s new open door access to student names, addresses and telephone listings, mandated by Section 9528 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 2001 under threat of loss of federal funding for schools; and,

WHEREAS, according to the above section of the ESEA, it is the district’s responsibility to inform parents and students of their rights to opt out of releasing personal contact information to military recruiters; and,

WHEREAS, when in mid September of 2003, 62,800 “opt-out” letters were mailed out to all juniors and seniors in LAUSD; only 1,499 eleventh graders and 921 twelfth graders requested that their personal information be withheld from military recruiters; and,

WHEREAS, based on information from students and parents, school office staff and teachers, this low return reflects a number of shortcomings in the process, such as a short deadline (2 weeks) for returning the form, lack of understanding of the form, staff and teachers who were unfamiliar with and/or did not understand the implications of the form; and,

WHEREAS, it is in the district’s interest to keep its students safe and aware of their rights to privacy, in regard to the release of any personal information;

NOW, LET IT THEREFORE BE RESOLVED, to ensure its compliance with its notification responsibilities, that the Los Angeles Unified School District will continue the policy of mailing, to the parents of juniors and seniors, a notice offering the option to withhold the release of directory information (name, address and telephone number) to the military, while still allowing the release of information to potential employers and institutions of higher education. This “Opt-Out” form will be standardized with the form in the Parent Teacher handbook and on the LAUSD web site in a link that is accessible to parents. (www.lausd.net) Additionally, the Los Angeles Unified School District will direct the Superintendent and staff, for the 2004-2005 school year and subsequent years, to revise the student Emergency Card to prominently display a form that enables parents and students to “opt-out” of directory information releases to military recruiters;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that at any time a student or parent may change their “opt-out” decision by requesting, completing and submitting a new form with an understanding that college deadlines may require the information by a certain date,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that LAUSD should state unequivocally that if a parent or student “opts-out” that option will remain in effect until the parent or student has changed the choice; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a communication plan and notification documents be developed at every high school in LAUSD to inform the school community of their rights to “opt-out” through existing meetings, existing student and staff orientation, and the www.lausd.net web site in languages the district presently provides; and,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that to assure protection for students and their families, entities receiving student directory information will sign an affidavit identifying the specific use of the information and certifying that use of the information conforms with all city, state and federal laws regarding privacy and discrimination against legally identified minority groups.
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