by Tanya Queiro, 2009 Military Spouse of the Year
Who will teach your kids next year?
In the midst of our national economic crisis and high operational tempo, military families could receive another blow in the near future.
The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) previously announced plans to “restructure,” possibly cutting 350 middle school teachers. DODEA director Shirley Miles, Ph. D., proposed increasing the middle school pupil-to-teacher ratio from 22.4:1 to 25:1 for consistency. Reportedly, a task force will begin looking into staffing and the pupil-to-teacher ratio at several middle schools in the fall. Subsequent recommendations are not anticipated until after the 2009/2010 school year.
What educational and safety impact will this have on our military children? Smaller class sizes are thought to enhance chances for student learning, while large classes have lower teacher-pupil interaction and serve as a disadvantage to struggling stu¬dents, as the teaching methods focus on the average student.
Safety is always paramount, when students can learn and teachers can teach in a warm and welcoming environment free of threats, intimidation, violence and fear. Bottom line, if DODEA cut 350 teachers, our children’s education and safety may be compromised.
As our spouses are engaged in war zones or other peacekeeping and humanitarian missions throughout the world, we must fight to protect the quality of education for our children and rally around our DODEA teachers. Take an active stance to protect our DODEA staff and communicate with your local schools, installation commanders and DODEA director Shirley Miles.
God bless our veterans and military families. God bless America!
What do you think? Email me at tanya@milspouse.com.
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User comments:
| Babette Maxwell, Co-Founder | 9/23/2009 11:25:36 AM |
As the President of the Federal Education Association, I strongly applaud your efforts to draw attention to the changes being imposed by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). You are absolutely correct that Dr. Shirley Miles proposed to cut 350 middle school teaching positions. Currently, she says that she has not made a decision and awaits the recommendation from a “task force” to established this fall. I can assure you that in a meeting that I had with her on August 10, 2009, in Moerfelden, Germany, Dr. Miles said that she will definitely cut middle school positions. She also told the principals at a meeting on that same day that after she finishes with middle school staffing, she will look at high school staffing. The impact on students, especially during a time of war could have many negative effects on families. You should also be aware that DoDEA schools started off this fall with about 3 dozen fewer classroom positions. Dr. Miles cut teaching positions worldwide that served at-risk students. In Europe, she cut the Reading Recovery program that served first grade student with significant delays in reading. In the Pacific, she cut the Pacific Literacy Program which had a proven record at serving student with reading problems. In the stateside (DDESS) schools, Dr. Miles cut the math facilitator program, which targeted student with math difficulties. In addition to these cuts in programs, Dr. Miles, for the first time ever, took away the opportunity for teachers of the pre-school handicapped students to visit with families in their home during the first week of school (in DoDDS). Be aware that every student, below first grade, is allowed to have a visit by their classroom teacher in their home, except for students with a disability. We are talking about 3- and 4-year old students with developmental delays. Home visits are extremely critical for this population. These are children with delays in dressing, toileting, eating, self help, communication and motor skills. While non-disabled students still have home visits during the first week of school, the same cannot be said for those with documented developmental delays. This certainly does not build home-school partnerships nor allow for a comprehensive educational program to be fully established. This decision was wrong. Again, Tanya, please continue to shed light on what is happening to the children of our military personnel around the world. Your advocacy is greatly appreciated by all. Sincerely, Michael Priser, President of the Federal Education Association
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