LOS ANGELES - As students head back to school next week, parents and the ACLU of Southern California are reaching out to dozens of local school districts with plans to create a clear method to keep students' personal information private.

In a letter sent today to 88 school districts in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties, ACLU/SC staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan and Sophie Fanelli, a research fellow, said "We are writing to provide you with information about your obligations under a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act, and to offer recommendations to help you protect the privacy rights of your high school students." The letter provides suggestions and a sample form for parents and students.

"School districts should have systems in place to ensure that students' privacy is not compromised," Natarajan said. "Telling students and parents about their privacy rights and their options is an important first step to protecting those rights."

Under the No Child Left Behind, which was made law in 2002, any school district that receives federal funds must turnover personal directory information including students' home address and phone numbers for military recruitment purposes. The law also provides protections for families who do not wish to be contacted by the military, institutions of higher education or both. The law requires schools to give students and parents an opportunity to "opt-out," or decline to have students' information released to the military or institutions of higher education. But many school districts do not have a clear process in place by which to do this.

Sam Coleman, the father of a June graduate from Fountain Valley High School and an eighth grader, learned just how difficult it can be to opt out of the military database. In late 2002 he asked the school district how he could preserve his son's privacy, and in 2003 and 2004 he submitted additional opt-out requests. But during his son's senior year, the District included Ken Coleman's personal information in records given to the military.

"I don't want this to happen to other families," Coleman said. "My son and I had talked and together we decided to ask the school district not to turn over his personal information to the army. When that didn't happen it was very difficult to fix it, and for all I know his information could be floating around in any number of data bases. If there's a policy in place this won't happen to other parents and their children."

Coleman said that despite making efforts to keep his son's information protected, a simple mistake led to several calls and near daily military mailings. He said other parents report unwanted home visits, strong arm tactics and dozens of calls from recruiters.

A sample opt-out form can be found at www.aclusocal.org/News/.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today in Washington, D.C. against top U.S. officials demanding the release of a legal permanent resident of the United States who is in custody in a U.S. military jail in Iraq after being declared innocent by a military court eight weeks ago.

"Even after Numan was declared innocent by a military court, he still sits in prison," said Mark D. Rosenbaum, ACLU of Southern California legal director. "The government is turning justice on its head by keeping an innocent man in jail. Left uncorrected, our system becomes one where an individual is guilty even after proven innocent."

Numan Adnan Al Kaby, a long-term legal resident of the United States who escaped the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, returned to Iraq after Hussein's capture to reunite with his family and found a job aiding an American contractor. Al Kaby, who is an applicant for U.S. citizenship and a Shiite originally from Iraq, was arrested by the U.S. military in April and declared innocent by a military court July 4, but still remains in custody without contact with his family or access to a lawyer. Al Kaby was originally arrested after calling in sick the same day his construction site received mortar fire, but the military court determined he was not involved in the incident.

"I don't know where my cousin is or why he's being held. He is innocent, but he's still in jail and can't speak with our family," said Haider Al Saedy, Al Kaby's first cousin with whom he lived in Michigan. "You don't understand the relief we felt when Saddam was captured. My cousin supported the U.S. effort to get rid of Saddam and when he was gone he went back to see his family. He would never hurt anyone."

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court by Al Saedy, and Cyrus Kar, an American who became friends with Al Kaby while the two were detained in neighboring cells for more than a month at the Camp Cropper detention facility in Iraq. Kar, a U.S. Navy veteran in Iraq working on a documentary film, was released after the ACLU of Southern California filed a lawsuit that made national headlines. The two were allowed to spend time together because, according to detention guards, both had been cleared of all suspicion.

"This reckless arrest policy ultimately aids the insurgencies in Iraq," said Kar, who alerted the ACLU to Al Kaby's detention upon returning to his home in Los Angeles. "I understand our soldiers need to take all precautions in a war zone, but once a person is found innocent, we need to do what is right."

After separate hearings on July 4, both men received identical letters from the military declaring them "innocent civilians." Kar read Al Kaby's letter to him. Six days after the court declared them innocent, Kar was released but Al Kaby still remains in U.S. custody.

After growing up in Iraq, Al Kaby was forced to escape the country after refusing to continue to serve in Saddam Hussein's army in 1991. He fled to a refugee camp in Saudi Arabia where he spent more than three years before receiving political asylum in the United States. In the U.S. Al Kaby worked first in Salt Lake City at an airport shop before reuniting with his cousin, Al Saedy, who had spent seven years in the same Saudi Arabian refugee camp. The two moved to Michigan where they opened restaurants.

"The steps we are taking today are a last resort," ACLU of Michigan Executive Director Kary Moss said. "It is shocking to know that a lawful permanent resident of the United States can be held indefinitely in solitary confinement although a military tribunal has ruled that person innocent of any wrongdoing."

The lawsuit seeks Al Kaby's immediate release.

Attorneys in the case are international law specialist and former Chair of Amnesty International USA Paul Hoffman, Duke law professor Erwin Chemerinsky; Rosenbaum, Ranjana Natarajan and Ahilan Arulanantham of the ACLU of Southern California; Legal Director Steven Shapiro and Ben Wizner of the national ACLU; Lucas Guttentag and Lee Gelernt of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project; and Art Spitzer of the ACLU of the National Capital Area; and Moss and Legal Director Mike Steinberg of the ACLU of Michigan.

LOS ANGELES - In a letter to the Orange County Registrar of Voters, the ACLU of Southern California is calling on the county to guarantee early voting will be available for residents wishing to vote in a special election scheduled on the first day of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.

The letter sent late Friday by ACLU/SC attorney Hector Villagra to Registrar Steve Rodermund states that the ACLU is aware of 'fruitful discussions about how to minimize the burden imposed on Jewish voters by a special election scheduled in the 48th Congressional District on the first day of Rosh Hashanah,' but the letter goes on to say 'we wish to avoid litigation, and therefore seek written assurances from the County that early voting will be made available.'

The letter also seeks specific information about the educational outreach the County will provide in order to inform residents of early voting for the election scheduled Tuesday, Oct. 4.

'We understand the tight timeline to which the County must adhere in order to fill the Congressional seat, but we need to make sure for the sake of all community members that a viable option will be readily available for those who wish to vote,' said Villagra, who is also the director of the ACLU Orange County branch office.

The Congressional seat was made available after Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Orange County) was appointed by President George Bush to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

'We remain concerned about the burden this places on Jewish voters and that a portion of Orange County will be denied the right to vote at the polls on election day and we hope this will serve as a reminder that election dates must be selected with care so that everyone can vote,' said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU/SC.