Problems with the City School District's military recruitment policy have resurfaced.

Military recruiters have argued that the district's policy is not in compliance with federal laws.

During a presentation last night to members of the School Board's policy committee, Marine Captain A. Selvidge said that the district's policy is not in compliance with No Child Left Behind and the National Defense Authorization Act because it uses an "opt-in" approach instead of the preferred "opt-out" approach.

To opt-out, the onus is on parents to contact district officials and instruct them not to release personal information to military recruiters - the names, addresses, and phone numbers of students.

"There is no such thing as opt-in," said Selvidge, a recruiter out of the Marine Corp's Buffalo office.

Selvidge said the government, for all intents and purposes, does not recognize "opt-in" and that the City School District essentially twisted the policy to suit its own needs.

But most of the policy committee members did not agree.

The district's policy involves obtaining written permission from parents before releasing confidential student information.

The reason recruiters didn't get what they consider to be an adequate number of responses from the Rochester School District, Powell says, is because the administration failed to send out the necessary forms at the beginning of this school year.

The administration, Powell says, also wanted to drop a key element of the policy: obtaining emergency contact information for every student.

The emergency contact information served two purposes, Powell says. It helped with follow-up on obtaining the information that recruiters wanted, and it also provided the district with current numbers to reach parents or guardians in case of an emergency.

"Imagine a child falling unconscious for some reason and nobody in the district knows how to reach a parent," she said.

The policy committee approved a revised version of the district's policy concerning military recruitment. The new policy, "1240.1-Recruiting by Organizations with Restrictive Membership or Employment Practices Authorized and Permitted by Law," keeps the emergency contact form and adds a paragraph that requires principals at each high school "make every effort" to distribute the forms and obtain responses from parents. Postage paid return envelopes will now be included with the forms.

The new policy could go before the full board for a vote on Tuesday, April 28, but it is more likely to come up during the May meeting, Powell says.

Selvidge did not indicate that any action would be taken against the district for not implementing an opt-out policy.