COLUMBIA, S.C. - Activists from the Carolina Peace Resource Center have begun a campaign to remind high school principals that students and parents may ask personal information not be given military recruiters.

Michael Berg, a spokesman for the group, said about 20 letters were sent during the past week to principals in Richland and Lexington counties.

Berg said the issue arises from the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which includes a provision allowing military recruiters to request high school students' names, address, and phone numbers.

"However, this law also expressly states that schools must notify parents and students that they have the right not to be included when the information is released, and schools must honor such a request," the center wrote in its letter.

Berg provided a copy of the letter to the Associated Press. In an interview, he said follow-up telephone calls will be made to the principals in the coming weeks to see if they are complying with his group's request.

"Several area schools have not been notifying parents and students of their legal rights," Berg said. "We just want to make sure that schools enforce federal law and protect families from unwanted intrusion."

Leslie Ann Sully, a spokeswoman for the local Army recruiting battalion, said Army recruiters are welcomed into all the 265 public high schools in their region, which includes all of South Carolina, parts of Georgia and North Carolina.

"We have not had any problems," she said. One school in the region declines to provide its list, but that does not present a problem for recruiters, Sully said. She declined to name it, saying she did not want to single any school out.

"We just want to have access to the schools so people know what their options are," she said. "As long as our recruiters can go in and talk to students, and let them ask for more information, that's what we want."

Recently, the battalion has attracted between 150 and 120 recruits each month for the active duty Army and the Army Reserve, Sully said.