B-R won’t bow to ACLU
A recent article about the continuing efforts to make available counter-recruiting information at Bridgewater-Raynham High School.
American Civil Liberties Union steps into fray over counter-recruiters in school
By Theresa Knapp Enos
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
Posted Dec 29, 2008 @ 03:12 AM
BRIDGEWATER —
School Committee members say they won’t be “bullied, threatened or intimidated” into changing their decision now that the American Civil Liberties Union is stepping into the fray over whether to allow counter-recruiting peace activists inside the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School.
After having a request denied by the committee in September to allow counter-recruiters alongside military tables at the school, Ray Ajemian, of the Bridgewater-based peace group, Citizens for an Informed Community, says he turned to the Boston office of the ACLU for help.
Last week, the ACLU sent a four-page letter to B-R Superintendent Jacqueline Forbes, B-R Principal Jeffrey Granatino, and B-R School Committee Chairman Gordon Luciano seeking documents related to the issue.
“I think that, if this is an attempt by the ACLU to try to bully, threaten or intimidate us to try to change our vote, that they will fail,” said Luciano. He said district officials will be meeting with School Committee attorneys this week to discuss the matter.
Luciano said the superintendent’s and principal’s regular duties will have to be put aside to address the ACLU’s request, and that he will have to take personal vacation time to address the questions.
He questioned the timing of the request, which arrived just before school vacation began, and said the request will likely raise questions to the public about the intentions of the “loosely-based” CIC group and the “agenda” of the ACLU.
Ajemian says the letter is not an attempt to bully the School Committee, but that he turned to the ACLU because he is not an attorney and does not know if further action can be taken.
“CIC is a small, very poor community group that is not qualified to go through the legal process, thus the request to the ACLU,” said Ajemian. “Nothing came of our request (to be allowed equal access to the students) so what else could we do?”
Ajemian said his group would have been happy with a compromise, such as providing pamphlets to the B-R guidance office or training for guidance staff, but they were flatly denied.
“The ACLU cares about the issue of military recruiting in the schools across the country,” said ACLU staff attorney Susan Wunsch, author of the Dec. 16 letter to B-R district officials.
“We also are concerned about the national problems of recruiters being deceptive with young people about what the real terms of enlistment are, and about their targeting of poor students and students of color,” she said.
Under the Massachusetts Freedom of Information Act, the ACLU has requested copies of records relating primarily to military recruiters and their access to students at B-R Regional High School from January 2007 to present.
It also asks for requests from peace, anti-war, or other organizations or individuals seeking to communicate with students on Bridgewater-Raynham public school property, about the subjects of military recruitment and/or peace or war; and documents from recruiters for colleges and universities and employers who ask for access to students in the B-R schools.
Under the law, the district has 10 days to provide the documentation, which school officials say was requested on Dec. 19, but the ACLU has granted an extension to Jan. 9.
Luciano says the School Committee will discuss the ACLU’s letter at its Jan. 14 meeting.
“Currently, I sense no discussion coming forward to change that vote (to deny CIC access to the B-R students) short of a court order,” he said.
The original article can be found at http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1113937448/B-R-won-t-bow-to-ACLU
Posted on Jan 04, 2009 by Citizens for an Informed Community
Visit to Senators to Push for Peace in Afghanistan
Wright Salisbury, of MAPJEN member group Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, was one of a group of peace activists who visited the offices of Massachusetts Senators Kennedy and Kerry in Boston on December 17, 2008.
The group of 8 activists, including representatives of Peaceful Tomorrows, veterans groups and the Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, delivered copies of Afghanistan: Ending A Failed Military Strategy --- A Primer for Activists to the Senators? offices and made a plea to seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Afghanistan.
The 22 page primer is a project of Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn their grief into action for peace. By developing and advocating nonviolent options and actions in the pursuit of justice, they hope to break the cycles of violence engendered by war and terrorism.
This primer outlines ten reasons the US should end the occupation in Afghanistan. It calls instead for a drastically revamped US policy focused on diplomacy, negotiation, aid, reconstruction and international cooperation.
Peaceful Tomorrows maintains that, as calls grow louder for the US military to send more troops to Afghanistan, it is up to the US peace movement to address the realities and counter the misconceptions surrounding the war and occupation. We must educate our own communities about the true consequences of US foreign policy in Afghanistan, connect with Afghan peacemakers and grassroots movements that are calling for alternatives to military action, and devise strategies for joining together to build a lasting peace.
Recommendations for a Changed US Policy:
1. Set a swift timetable for the withdrawal of US and NATO military forces, to be substituted by UN forces for short-term security.
2. Immediately cease air strikes on targets in Afghanistan and Pakstan.
3. Support negotiations between all parties involved in the conflict, including Afghan women leaders.
4. Reform humanitarian aid and reconstruction funding efforts to prioritize Afghan organizations over foreign contractors. Ensure that funded projects address the needs and requests of Afghans and are not simple pet projects of foreign donors.
5. Invest in long-term aid that increases self-reliance such as sustainable agriculture efforts.
6. Immediately discontinue the use of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which are costly, inefficient, and have militarized the aid process.
7. Standardize, increase, and publicly document compensation to Afghan families and communities affected by US military actions.
8. Sign the treaty to ban cluster bombs, pay for cluster bomb and landmine clean up in Afghanistan, and pledge never to use these weapons again.
A downloadable pdf version of the paper can be found at:
http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/article.php?id=914
For more information about Peaceful Tomorrows, see: www.peacefultomorrows.org
For information about the Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding, see: www.allianceforunderstanding.org
Posted on Dec 22, 2008 by Alliance for Jewish-Christian-Muslim Understanding (and Interfaith Peace)
Job fair debate persists: Peace group denied seat with military
Job fair debate persists
Peace group denied seat with military
By Christine Legere, Globe Correspondent | November 16, 2008
Though an antiwar group lost its attempt this fall to participate in job-recruitment fairs at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, the topic remains alive in the communities.
The issue brought out about 100 people for a debate last Wednesday at the high school, where most of the students who attended believed so-called counter-recruiters should be allowed to point out the downside of joining the armed services, since recruiters for the military are allowed to promote their side at the school.
"It's important that both sides are represented equally," said Lucas Ivaldi, a senior at the high school. "School is about education, after all."
Fellow senior Ryan Duclos agreed: "Coming from a family with a long military tradition, I have learned all about the recruitment process, both firsthand and through my family. I feel the additional information is an important part of this decision."
During Wednesday's debate, organized by the high school's newly formed Civics Club, Bridgewater resident Ray Ajemian, a founding member of Citizens for an Informed Community, the antiwar group that had approached the school board about allowing counter-recruiters in, promoted that cause.
"I think schools should be a focal point of discussion," said Ajemian, who is an adjunct professor at Massasoit Community College. "As a school system, that should be encouraged. All I'm saying is if you bring in one side, you should bring in the other."
On the other side was the regional School Committee's vice chairman, Joe Gillis, who had chaired a subcommittee that studied the issue last summer. The subcommittee recommended against counter-recruiters in the school, and the School Committee denied the request in September.
Gillis said he was participating in the debate as a Bridgewater resident and parent.
"There's a finite amount of time in a school day," Gillis said. "During that time, we want to give the students positive opportunities and positive options."
Gillis said Citizens for an Informed Community was not offering any kind of positive career information. He pointed out that military recruiters, who have been known to use hard-sell tactics in other parts of the country, do not use such measures at the local high school, where they are periodically allowed to come in and set up information tables.
As he listened to the debaters, Bridgewater-Raynham senior Sullivan Cohen said he had experienced hard-sell tactics used by some recruiters.
"I have been lied to by recruiters regarding the G.I. Bill and the military college fund," Cohen said. "Both were promised to me, but when I did more research on the issue, I found that a rather large percentage of people don't actually receive the promised benefits of either of these."
Cohen said he had not filed a complaint, even though he had encountered a problem, because it isn't easy.
"No formal complaint has ever been made by me because the school board isn't an open room forum, and I don't believe my complaint would move up the chain of command," Cohen said.
Some military recruiters from the area attended Wednesday's debate. Sergeant First Class Steven Gainey, a 16-year Army veteran, heads up the Army's Brockton recruiting office.
"I feel I'm 100 percent honest with the kids," Gainey said. "I have friends deployed who were killed. I tell kids up front this is no video game. If you're hit, you'll be injured or you'll die."
Gainey said he was not opposed to giving the counter-recruiters a table in the school. But he added: "All they are offering is an opinion. There's no career, no paycheck, and no training. We offer a viable option."
Sergeant First Class Arturo Arreola, who recruits for the Army at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, said his job is to tell students "the whole picture." He characterized Ajemian's view of military recruiters as old opinions based on old experiences.
"It's not about just the war," Arreola said. "We look at the young soldier's future. We give them training and hands-on experience."
High school senior Karley Logan said counter-recruiters should stay out of the school.
"I have a boyfriend in the Army," Logan said. "I think this country just can't run without a strong military."
The debate was arranged to allow both sides an opportunity to air views. It had no effect on the September vote of the School Committee.
One question from the audience was whether the counter-recruiters would be interested in coming on probation. Ajemian was enthusiastic about that possibility, but Gillis was not in favor.
Siobhan Ditchfield, a Bridgewater-Raynham senior and Civics Club member who moderated the debate, said most of the students she knew didn't oppose counter-recruiters.
"I talked to a lot of my friends, and they didn't think it would be a problem," Ditchfield said.
Still, she said, she did not envision her fellow students organizing an effort to get the school board to reverse its vote.
"I feel most of the students are kind of apathetic," Ditchfield said.
Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/16/job_fair_debate_persists?mode=PF
© Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Posted on Nov 16, 2008 by Citizens for an Informed Community
Antiwar Activists Want Table at School Career Day
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/17/11038/
Published on Sunday, August 17, 2008 by The Boston Globe
Antiwar Activists Want Table at School Career Day
by Christine Legere
At Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School, back-to-school preparations include a debate over whether antiwar activists will be allowed at the school's annual career day, just as military recruiters are.
The effort is led by a Bridgewater-based group called Citizens for an Informed Community. Spokesman Vernon Domingo, a Bridgewater resident and Bridgewater State College geography professor, said the group simply wants to promote thought-provoking discussion.
"We're local, we live here and work here, and we support this country," said Domingo. "We're patriotic in the sense that we want this country to be as good as it can be."
Domingo, along with Bridgewater resident and former Massasoit Community College adjunct professor Raymond Ajemian, helped form Citizens for an In formed Community shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Since then, it has enjoyed some local success, for example, prompting Bridgewater Town Meeting to formally protest the federal Patriot Act in 2004, and, more recently, to call on Congress to get out of Iraq.
Citizens for an Informed Community is now looking to make some policy changes in the School Department that would allow the group to deliver its message at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School. At least two other towns - Cohasset and Milton - have allowed antiwar representatives to attend career days.
Ajemian said the group has three goals: to secure the right to set up a table at the high school's career days; and to get school administrators to better inform students of their right to opt out of the armed services vocational aptitude tests given at high schools, and of their right to block the military from getting personal information for recruitment purposes.
The information that military recruiters hand out at career day doesn't paint a full picture, said Ajemian.
"The brochures say nothing about dying and nothing about post-traumatic stress syndrome," said Ajemian, who is a Vietnam era veteran.
He also said that promises of college tuition payments for those who sign up for duty sometimes don't pan out.
"The issue is, both sides should be allowed in, or neither side should be," Ajemian said. "What's the fear? That students are going to get indoctrinated?"
Last spring, Ajemian secured permission from high school principal Jeffrey Granatino to come for Bridgewater-Raynham's career day. Superintendent George Guasconi, who has since retired, overruled the decision, saying it was not within school policy.
Citizens for an Informed Community recently repeated the request to the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School Committee, and a subcommittee was formed to study the issue.
Study committee member Joseph Gillis says he agrees with Guasconi's call, but his group is still researching the issue, and will meet with Granatino before returning to the full School Committee next month with a recommendation.
"Career days are to provide our students with steps they can take after graduation, whether that be Brown University, Bridgewater State College, New England Tractor-Trailer School or the Army or Navy," Gillis said.
"This group wants to have a debate. That's not what these career days are for."
Gillis said that allowing the citizens group in to career day would open a "Pandora's box."
"If we open it up to them, others, seeing it as a forum for discussion, will want to set up tables, too," Gillis continued. "That's not the purpose of the fair."
Members of Citizens for an Informed Community met with the subcommittee recently. Gillis said group members talked about students being harassed by recruiters, even at their homes.
"But most of the horror stories they told were from far off, in other parts of the country, not in Bridgewater," Gillis said. "Because I'm not hearing complaints from people here in town, I'm not sure we need to do anything about this."
In Cohasset, Schools Superintendent Denise Walsh said she left the decision of whether to allow the counter-recruiters in to the high school to principal Joel Antolini, "just as we would have if the Garden Club or any other group wanted to come in." Antolini said the group was granted permission to come to the school two years ago.
"We allow them to come and display antiwar messages and antirecruitment materials, at the same time we allow military recruiters to come," Antolini said. They can set up tables during lunchtime, but they have to wait for students to approach them, rather than initiating contact, he said.
Antolini said Cohasset High School's handbook provides students and parents with information on withholding information used by military recruiters. "Also when we announce our back-to-school program, we inform the students they can sign forms that night to opt out," he said.
Milton High School principal John Drottar said he allows the counter-recruiters to hand out literature at the school's three career fairs, just as military recruiters are allowed to do.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
Posted on Aug 23, 2008 by Citizens for an Informed Community
Groups Protest Prisoner Suicides at Smithfield
About two dozen protesters participated in a vigil Saturday December 29, 2007 at the SCI Smithfield state prison, Huntingdon, PA in an effort to gain support for an independent investigation into suicide deaths that happened within the past six months in the prison's Restricted Housing Unit (RHU). Of the over two dozen-plus prisons operated by the state Department of Corrections, fully one-third of those suicides took place in the Smithfield prison's RHU.
Parents, relatives, friends and prison-rights advocates are calling for such an investigation. "We are seeking to raise awareness and an outside oversight into the conditions at Smithfield," Naimi Black of the American Friends Service Committee - a Quaker organization - told The Daily News. "Three suicides in six months should be a red flag."
MAPJEN member group New Vision Organization, Inc, which works on prison/prisoner rights issues, was one of the vigil organizers. For information, see: http://mysite.verizon.net/bizuiard/newvisionorg2.
Posted on Jan 16, 2008 by