[HEM-Networking] Military homeschooling
[email protected]
To the NHEN Board,
DoDEA (Department of Defense Educational Authority) is the governing
authority for all DoD military schools. DoDDS (DoD Dependent Schools) is
the governing authority for DoD schools overseas, and they fall under the
authority of DoDEA (see http://www.eucom.mil/programs/deped/index.htm).
USAREUR (US Army Europe) is a separate command, and the lines of authority
are separate. Think of DoDEA as the Board of Education for the military,
whereas USAREUR is doing the *job* of the *army* in Europe. They both
report up the chain (up to the Secretary of Defense), and they meet with each
other formally, but neither one has authority over the other.
This is my understanding of what's happening. If anyone has a different
understanding, I would appreciate hearing about it so that we can resolve the
differences and arrive at a correct understanding. Also, if any of my
terminology is incorrect, I would appreciate the correction. I am basing my
understanding on discussions I have had personally with people within DoDEA,
web research and contacts in Germany. I am the homeschooling spouse of an
Air Force officer.
DoDEA is under pressure to develop policies allowing homeschoolers to receive
services from DoD schools. HSLDA has been exerting this pressure via
congressional directives and, since the language in subsequent DoDEA policy
letters was not satisfactory, and because they wanted a standardized policy,
they found sponsors to introduce HR830. This forced DoDEA to begin
considering the establishment of a home school task force, and the
discussions of establishing such have taken place at meetings of the Defense
Education Council (DEC). The Dependents Education Council includes
DoDEA/DoDDS as well as command/regional/operational commanders ("flag
officers"), who, again, are in a separate chain of command from DoDEA.
At least one regional commander, including USAREUR (General Jordan),
reportedly has had isolated bad incidents occur at one or more of their
bases, in which people claimed they were homeschooling, *or* they have base
commanders who are worrying along the lines of "well, what if?." Base
commanders are not typically any more savvy about or accepting of
homeschooling than your everyday Joe. Thus, when the subject of providing
DoD school services to homeschoolers was raised, their concerns were seen as
potentially addressable, and the issue was raised "how do we know they're
really educating their kids?"
There exists a draft DEC report, which has yet to be approved by the DEC,
which reportedly contains recommendations for the establishment and conduct
of a home school task force to study homeschooling issues. DoDEA personnel
have stressed to me that nothing has been approved yet, and that thus there
is no direction from the DEC for any sort of task force meetings to be taking
place. In fact, in a recent meeting, DoDEA asked the DEC members to hold off
on any such meetings. However, DoDEA cannot direct the DEC members to act or
not act, as the DEC members are not under the authority of the DoDEA.
It appears that the questionnaires and school liaison meetings in Germany are
being driven by USAREUR, as an initiative of their own, related to but not
directed by the possible DEC action. The USAREUR commander who apparently is
driving this, is the Deputy Commanding General, HQ USAREUR, General Jordan
(see http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/htmlinks/cmdgrp.htm). Also, a Dr. Perez
who is listed in a set of minutes from the European Schools Council as the
Education Director for USAREUR
(http://www.eucom.mil/programs/deped/esc0900.pdf) especially has been active
at school liaison officer meetings with homeschoolers in Germany.
As far as I can tell, the appropriate intended audience for a letter from
NHEN is, then, at this time, Dr. Perez, and probably General Jordan, even
though the letter would go to the school liaison officers. The school
liaison officers, who are holding the focus group meetings, do not have
authority to work policy; they are (no offense) worker bees. Perhaps
addressing it to the school liaison officers and sending courtesy copies to
Dr. Perez and General Jordan (or to General Jordan's Chief of Staff) would be
appropriate.
Furthermore, The European Schools Council - European military commands
(including USAREUR) and DoDDS - evidently have established their own working
group, independent of DoDEA. "ESC recommended establishing a working group
with DoDDS to develop a home schooling policy for the Theater. This policy
will be sent to OSD for possible implementation throughout DoD" (September
2000, http://www.eucom.mil/programs/deped/esc0900.pdf). This should be
followed up, and it may be appropriate to send a courtesy copy to Mr. David
Labuhn, Chief of Staff, DoDDS-E (DoDDS Europe).
I believe DoDEA has no desire to get involved with regulating homeschoolers.
To my understanding, they don't see themselves having the authority to do so.
The regulations give them authority only within the military schools. At
least one high-ranking DoDEA person has a close family member who has
homeschooled. They are more concerned with their efforts to reform DoD
schools, measuring progress with the NAEP, standardizing curriculum across
the board in order to address transition issues, etc. It is not an
environment in which homeschoolers should be making themselves an issue or a
target. They are being pressured by congressional directives to standardize
policy for services to homeschoolers. I think it would be *wise* to start
actively working against HR830 so that the pressure is taken *off* DoDEA. I
think they'd be glad not to have to go through this.
It is troubling to me that members of HEART of Germany (an HSLDA-affiliated
group) apparently knew about the USAREUR efforts for weeks, and did not make
the information publicly known to the general homeschooling community. I
wish I knew who has been controlling the flow of this information.
Nevertheless, now that it's come out into the open, I'm glad that NHEN is
stepping forward to help make the entirety of the homeschooling community
visible to the military. Thank you.
I have some background documentation and additional information which I've
collected, which I will send in a separate email, after I've made the
collection manageable.
Sheila Nugent
hsmick@...
Read articles from the current
issue of Home Education Magazine:
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com
To unsubscribe send a blank emailing to:
[email protected]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
DoDEA (Department of Defense Educational Authority) is the governing
authority for all DoD military schools. DoDDS (DoD Dependent Schools) is
the governing authority for DoD schools overseas, and they fall under the
authority of DoDEA (see http://www.eucom.mil/programs/deped/index.htm).
USAREUR (US Army Europe) is a separate command, and the lines of authority
are separate. Think of DoDEA as the Board of Education for the military,
whereas USAREUR is doing the *job* of the *army* in Europe. They both
report up the chain (up to the Secretary of Defense), and they meet with each
other formally, but neither one has authority over the other.
This is my understanding of what's happening. If anyone has a different
understanding, I would appreciate hearing about it so that we can resolve the
differences and arrive at a correct understanding. Also, if any of my
terminology is incorrect, I would appreciate the correction. I am basing my
understanding on discussions I have had personally with people within DoDEA,
web research and contacts in Germany. I am the homeschooling spouse of an
Air Force officer.
DoDEA is under pressure to develop policies allowing homeschoolers to receive
services from DoD schools. HSLDA has been exerting this pressure via
congressional directives and, since the language in subsequent DoDEA policy
letters was not satisfactory, and because they wanted a standardized policy,
they found sponsors to introduce HR830. This forced DoDEA to begin
considering the establishment of a home school task force, and the
discussions of establishing such have taken place at meetings of the Defense
Education Council (DEC). The Dependents Education Council includes
DoDEA/DoDDS as well as command/regional/operational commanders ("flag
officers"), who, again, are in a separate chain of command from DoDEA.
At least one regional commander, including USAREUR (General Jordan),
reportedly has had isolated bad incidents occur at one or more of their
bases, in which people claimed they were homeschooling, *or* they have base
commanders who are worrying along the lines of "well, what if?." Base
commanders are not typically any more savvy about or accepting of
homeschooling than your everyday Joe. Thus, when the subject of providing
DoD school services to homeschoolers was raised, their concerns were seen as
potentially addressable, and the issue was raised "how do we know they're
really educating their kids?"
There exists a draft DEC report, which has yet to be approved by the DEC,
which reportedly contains recommendations for the establishment and conduct
of a home school task force to study homeschooling issues. DoDEA personnel
have stressed to me that nothing has been approved yet, and that thus there
is no direction from the DEC for any sort of task force meetings to be taking
place. In fact, in a recent meeting, DoDEA asked the DEC members to hold off
on any such meetings. However, DoDEA cannot direct the DEC members to act or
not act, as the DEC members are not under the authority of the DoDEA.
It appears that the questionnaires and school liaison meetings in Germany are
being driven by USAREUR, as an initiative of their own, related to but not
directed by the possible DEC action. The USAREUR commander who apparently is
driving this, is the Deputy Commanding General, HQ USAREUR, General Jordan
(see http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/htmlinks/cmdgrp.htm). Also, a Dr. Perez
who is listed in a set of minutes from the European Schools Council as the
Education Director for USAREUR
(http://www.eucom.mil/programs/deped/esc0900.pdf) especially has been active
at school liaison officer meetings with homeschoolers in Germany.
As far as I can tell, the appropriate intended audience for a letter from
NHEN is, then, at this time, Dr. Perez, and probably General Jordan, even
though the letter would go to the school liaison officers. The school
liaison officers, who are holding the focus group meetings, do not have
authority to work policy; they are (no offense) worker bees. Perhaps
addressing it to the school liaison officers and sending courtesy copies to
Dr. Perez and General Jordan (or to General Jordan's Chief of Staff) would be
appropriate.
Furthermore, The European Schools Council - European military commands
(including USAREUR) and DoDDS - evidently have established their own working
group, independent of DoDEA. "ESC recommended establishing a working group
with DoDDS to develop a home schooling policy for the Theater. This policy
will be sent to OSD for possible implementation throughout DoD" (September
2000, http://www.eucom.mil/programs/deped/esc0900.pdf). This should be
followed up, and it may be appropriate to send a courtesy copy to Mr. David
Labuhn, Chief of Staff, DoDDS-E (DoDDS Europe).
I believe DoDEA has no desire to get involved with regulating homeschoolers.
To my understanding, they don't see themselves having the authority to do so.
The regulations give them authority only within the military schools. At
least one high-ranking DoDEA person has a close family member who has
homeschooled. They are more concerned with their efforts to reform DoD
schools, measuring progress with the NAEP, standardizing curriculum across
the board in order to address transition issues, etc. It is not an
environment in which homeschoolers should be making themselves an issue or a
target. They are being pressured by congressional directives to standardize
policy for services to homeschoolers. I think it would be *wise* to start
actively working against HR830 so that the pressure is taken *off* DoDEA. I
think they'd be glad not to have to go through this.
It is troubling to me that members of HEART of Germany (an HSLDA-affiliated
group) apparently knew about the USAREUR efforts for weeks, and did not make
the information publicly known to the general homeschooling community. I
wish I knew who has been controlling the flow of this information.
Nevertheless, now that it's come out into the open, I'm glad that NHEN is
stepping forward to help make the entirety of the homeschooling community
visible to the military. Thank you.
I have some background documentation and additional information which I've
collected, which I will send in a separate email, after I've made the
collection manageable.
Sheila Nugent
hsmick@...
Read articles from the current
issue of Home Education Magazine:
http://www.home-ed-magazine.com
To unsubscribe send a blank emailing to:
[email protected]
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/