Secondary school students who don't want their information submitted to military recruiters have until Sept. 15 to submit an "opt out" request to military recruiters.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires the DOE to provide names, addresses, and telephone numbers (including unlisted numbers) of secondary students to military recruiters when requested.

Secondary school students are broadly defined as students enrolled in middle, intermediate and high schools, the Department of Education said.

A student in a secondary school can, on his/her own, submit a signed, written request for nondisclosure of his/her information. Or the parent/guardian of a secondary student or an eligible student (18 years or older) can submit the "opt out" request.

Although not legally required, the DOE has developed an "opt out" form for military recruiting to facilitate response from students or their parents.

The form can be downloaded from the DOE Web site at doe.k12.hi.us.

If an "opt out" for military recruiters was filed with the school during the 2007-08 school year, the request will be honored until the student leaves the Hawai'i DOE public school system or until the submitter rescinds the "opt out" request.

"Opt out" requests will be accepted at anytime during the school year, DOE officials said.

However, the DOE is required to turn over a student list to the Inter-Service Recruitment Council in mid-October. If a request comes in after student lists have been submitted to the IRC, the DOE Information Resource Management Branch will inform the IRC to have recruiters remove the student's information from the list.

Students or their parents should submit "Opt out" requests to school offices no later than Sept. 15. Schools will distribute annual notices by the end this month.

For questions, call the DOE IRM Branch 692-7290, option No. 5.