GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE GREETS PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY TO CAROLYN MALONEY’S WORKSHOP ON FUNDING A COLLEGE EDUCATION AND FINDS AN ALLY
A Monday night, families of high school juniors and seniors arrive to hear a presentation on how to afford college tuition. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has arranged a workshop where people can hear from representatives of Sallie Mae, and learn the steps involved in a successful admission to college, including grants, scholarships and loans.
The information is well-presented and the workshop is a fine contribution to the community. A drawing at the end of the presentation gives one student, the winner, a $500 scholarship to help with his first years tuition.
Outside Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, Eva-Lee, Caroline and Edith are leafleting parents and students with the info about opting out of military recruitment. People we encounter are responsive, many of them saying that they have already given the opt- out forms to their school principals.
Along comes a tall, fit community person on his way, as it happens, to play basketball in the Lenox Hill Gym. He’s a friend of Caroline’s and after introductions, Grannies tell Bill about the opt out requirement. “You mean the families must opt out rather than give permission to have their information given to the military by the schools?” Bill gets it. “Is anybody challenging this in the courts?” he asks, handing us his card. He’s with Volunteers for Legal Services, the chairman in fact. “I could get someone to work on this.” And he’s off to shoot a few hoops.
We realize again that it feels right to be out there, meeting people, any day and any place where heads and hearts can help kids and grandkids to an education and prospects for a healthy world.
– Caroline Chinlud
– Photo: Fran Sears
Granny Peace Brigade 
Bill is right on and ACLU and other legal groups have been working on changing the Opt-Out to an Opt-In. Several school districts have been able to achieve this, but it’s a long fight.  Presently, the NYCLU and UFPJ are working on getting the Opt-Out form as part of the Student Emergency Notification Card which is distributed at the beginning of each term to parents/guardians. Parents must compete and return the card to the school. But, this is a work in progress. Therefore, we still have to be out in front of high schools, at community meetings like Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s “Paying for College” workshops, and at parent-teacher night to let everyone know about the need to sign and file the Opt-Out.
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