Recently at Suwannee High School all juniors were required to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test despite some parents' view that the test should only be optional. For several parents, and apparently several students who hid out on testing day Nov. 17, full junior class test participation became a major issue.

"If they come to school on that day, they take it," said Jim Simpson, assistant principal at SHS. "We require it as part of our school's yearly curriculum."

The ASVAB "is a timed multi-aptitude test, which is given at over 14,000 schools and Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) nationwide and is developed and maintained by the Department of Defense," according to the armed services Web site www.military.com.

The site suggests that anyone serious about joining the military should take the ASVAB.

At SHS, Simpson said the test is used "for the kids' sake, to determine job and career paths they'll be suited for. It has a correlation score to the ACT, which makes it a great practice for that exam."

Donna Odom, the parent of an 11th grade student, spoke recently with the Democrat about issues she has with the exam and the way it is administered at the school.

"The students were told that they had no option but to take it," Odom said. "They were told it was a skills assessment test sponsored by the military."

Although juniors are required to take the ASVAB at SHS, the option to withhold personal information, including social security numbers, from recruiters is available, but left to the school's discretion.

SHS, like many schools, has selected to share students results and personal contact information with recruiters, according to Simpson.

That being the case, students were left with the option of submitting a written opt-out letter prior to the exam being administered.

"Under the No Child Left Behind Act, parents have the right to request that their child opt-out in writing, but if parents do not object in writing, the schools must provide the students name to the military," said Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Dept of Education.

Many students simply didn't know they had that option.

In any case, the same law that gives students the right to opt out, requires schools to provide students' names to the military upon request regardless of whether they take the ASVAB or not.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), does not protect students rights in this case. FERPA contains an exception giving schools the right to disclose student records to "organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school."

This exception, which permits disclosure without consent, grants disclosure of student records by school officials "for legitimate educational interests," and therefore shields the ASVAB under FERPA law, according to the ASVAB counselor manual.

Odom worried the school would suffer under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which penalizes schools for absenteeism.

"They should have had an alternative place for those who did not want to take it," Odom said. "Instead, kids were told the only way to avoid taking the exam was to stay home."

Odom was initially under the assumption that students could chose to withhold their information from recruiters through "Option 8," listed in the ASVAB counselor manual.

This is not the case.

This choice is left to the school's discretion. Option 8 is built into the constructs of the ASVAB, and "provides no recruiter contact from the listing of student results," according to the manual. With this option, a student's test results are not released to recruiter services. However, SHS administrators have chosen to forego that option.

Odom also noted that the test gives military recruiters access to students' personal information such as social security numbers, addresses and phone numbers, making it easy to contact and "harass" kids, particularly those like her son, who have no interest in joining the military at the current time.

"I just have issues with it," Odom said. "My son is not enlisting in the military. I'm not anti-military, in fact I'm the daughter of a retired colonel and fighter pilot, but my son has no intentions to join."

Simpson said, as far as he knows, students can chose not to give their personal information on the exam.

"I've never known a test to force students to put their social security on it. Usually that has always been optional, and students can leave that area blank."

Still some argue that the ASVAB is not required by the Florida Department of Education, and therefore should not be forced upon students.

"I had a couple of students who tried to hide out the day of the test, but we found them. We tell them they need to take it," Simpson said. "If they don't come to school that day we're not going to chase them down or anything."

At least one student, the Democrat has learned, was placed into in-school suspension for writing a false name on his/her ASVAB exam. The parent of that child has chosen not to come forward for fear her child could be ostracized by school officials.

Such was the case with other parents as well, who chose not to speak for fear of potential repercussions.

Across the county line at Columbia High School, the ASVAB is administered a bit differently.

"Our students opt in to take it," said Kay Dekle, assistant principal at CHS. "They sign up to take it."

The test will be administered on Dec. 12 at CHS to 11th and 12th graders who registered to take it, Dekle said.

As it stands, school officials stand behind the way in which the ASVAB is administered at SHS.

"It's helping the students plan their future, which is what we're about," Simpson said. "We're not in the business to help out the military, we're in the business of helping out the students."