DoDEA Director Investigated

by Tanya Queiro, 2009 Military Spouse of the Year

Weeks ago I wrote an article¹ questioning the potential layoff of 350 teachers by Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Director, Dr. Shirley Miles². Subsequently, Stars and Stripes³ reported the Federal Education Association⁴, which represents nearly 8,000 teachers working in Department of Defense (DoD) classrooms around the world, demanded a full investigation into numerous allegations submitted to the Inspector General (IG) against Dr. Miles and other DoDEA staff members. Allegations range from: irregularities in solicitation of contracts; nepotism, and; fraud, waste, and abuse of funds.

The straw that apparently broke the camel's back and led Belinda Croteau, Miles' former administrative assistant, to file the IG complaint was the fact that Miles forced the hiring of her own daughter-in-law over those applicants with veterans' preference. This is just one of the many reasons for the IG complaint, however⁵.

It amazes me at the level of corruption, abuse of authority, and shoddy leadership that some of our top leaders exhibit! Several readers, spouses, and DoDEA teachers have written in and expressed their disgust, urging our military communities to vigorously engage and combat this infiltration of toxic and corrupt leadership.

I encourage you to actively vocalize your support of a thorough and complete IG investigation! Let your senators and representatives know you are appalled by these accusations. Do not let the work of a few corrupt executive staff besmirch all of the hard work other DoDEA teachers and staff.

God Bless our veterans and their families. God bless America!

1. http://www.milspouse.com/who-will-teach-your-kids-msoy.aspx
2. http://www.dodea.edu/home/leadership.cfm?cId=miles
3. http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65266
4. http://feaonline.org/media/sos/FEA_Letter_to_DOD_IG_10-7-09.pdf
5. http://feaonline.org/media/sos/FEA_Letter_to_DOD_IG_10-7-09.pdf