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Pinellas may lift ban on antiwar organization

The School Board will consider letting Veterans for Peace have access again to high school campuses.

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published July 14, 2006

After an 18-month ban, antiwar protestors may soon be allowed on Pinellas County high school campuses.

This time with a focused message: alternatives to military careers.

The Pinellas County School Board on Thursday gave tentative support to allow a local 50-member Veterans for Peace chapter onto campus, agreeing it should have equal access to students who hear presentations from military recruiters.

School Board members asked superintendent Clayton Wilcox to draft a policy that would provide access for the veterans after reviewing a letter from the group saying it intends to present "positive, factual information about vital career options that are wholesome and oriented toward serving society, both at home and abroad."

"If the military recruiters are setting up a table, I don't know why the Veterans for Peace can't set up a table as well," board member Janet Clark said.

Since 2002, schools have been required to provide students' names, telephone numbers and addresses to military recruiters who ask for them under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

If a district fails to provide "directory" information to military recruiters, it can lose federal money. Some Veterans for Peace members think that's why the Pinellas and Hillsborough school districts have been reluctant to allow the group on high school campuses.

But School Board attorney Jim Robinson said his concern is that the veterans did not appear to be presenting career alternatives, but rather trying to refute the military recruiters' statements.

"That was a key point for me," he said.

Veterans for Peace president Dwight Lawton, 72, said the group would like to work with school guidance counselors to present information about careers with organizations such as the Peace Corps. He agreed that any printed material that is distributed to students would be subject to district approval.

As recently as April, school officials voiced concern that the group's purpose was to counter the military recruiters.

The St. Louis-based Veterans for Peace is a national organization of about 5,000 veterans of all eras, from World War II to Iraq.

The purpose of the group is to raise awareness about the consequences of war and to encourage peaceful alternatives

Board members will review a draft version of a policy that will allow the group to present its message at its Aug. 22 workshop.

[Last modified July 14, 2006, 00:44:32]