Military enlistment activities may be added to list of excusable school absences

Military enlistment activities could join the ranks of the several other activities considered legitimate reasons for missing school.

Sponsored by Rep. Cal Bahr (R-East Bethel), HF2750, as amended, would allow students to be excused from school for up to three days to participate in activities required to join a branch of the United States armed forces.

The bill was laid over Thursday by the House Education Innovation Policy Committee for possible omnibus bill inclusion. The companion, SF3239, awaits action by the Senate E-12 Policy Committee. Sen. Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo Township) is the sponsor.

Rep. Cal Bahr

Sgt. 1st Class David Lowell, a U.S. Army recruiter in Roseville, said they often struggle to recruit highly skilled young adults, not only because high school education often directs students onto postsecondary institutions, but also because of stringent school absence policies.

“In Minnesota we have a very unique combination of things that produce some very intelligent young men and women and, for us, having access to schools and being able to reach out to these students and allow them the opportunities to process for enlistment is somewhat challenging,” Lowell said.

“I think having that flexibility and recognition of the time that it requires to join, in this bill, is hugely important and I think that it’s a big improvement to the current system we’re using.”

Enlistment process

Students can begin processing for the Army 30 days prior to their 17th birthday and can enlist after they turn 17, with parental consent. However, the consent form isn’t recognized as an authorization for recruiters to take students out of school to begin the process.  

Lowell said he sees situations where a position within a selective program opens on a first-come, first-serve basis. This requires a student to begin the process immediately, but recruiters are currently required to get explicit parental consent to remove the student from class that day.

“That hurdle of having to additionally contact parents when they’re at work, dealing with frustrations with faculty, and various policies that they have that don’t recognize that parental authorization form, can oftentimes cause delay of the process,” he said.

The bill would also allow recruiters to present the preauthorized parental consent forms as a means to remove students from school to begin the enlistment process. The approximately three-day process includes vocational, aptitude and physical tests, a background check, fingerprinting, a variety of paperwork as well as swearing in.

Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL-New Brighton) was concerned about recruitment activities interfering with standardized testing, or important school projects or homework.

“I’m wondering if there should be something in this bill that states that if it’s during the [Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment] testing or an unexpected testing session or anything like that, that a student wouldn’t be removed at that time,” she said.

Rep. Barb Haley (R-Red Wing) offered support for the bill, saying that students regularly miss school for extracurricular activities and college visits, and that military enlistment shouldn’t be excluded from that list.

“We want all kids to have a path after high school, and as you mentioned, we need kids to have training and the military provides very good training,” she said. “In relation to kids missing school, I’m just kind of shocked that there’s such an issue with this.”