posted
(caveat: this isn't about the U.S. Military Academy, this is about the elementary and middle school in operation for the children of the soldiers stationed at West Point)
Tonight we had a Town Hall meeting at the school in order to discuss the possibility that the West Point Elementary School (WPES) and the West Point Middle School (WPMS) might be absorbed into the local school district. Right now, they are part of the Department of Defense school system, operated by the U.S. Military and structured by their rules. The DoD schools are very important overseas for the families of soldiers stationed in foreign countries. They provide a flexible curriculum and specialized programs for the children who are moved often, who have parents deployed in dangerous areas for long periods of time, and generally need an understanding administration when it comes to matriculation in particular. But do these needs come into play stateside?
The question I have here, really, is *why* West Point is the last place in the Continental United States (CONUS) to have a DoD school? I think I have the answer, and it bothers me. West Point is what I call "officer-heavy". There are lots of officers here, instructing at the Academy for the most part, and the enlisted personnel (like my husband) are not represented statistically as they are in the rest of the Army. DoD schools are generally higher in standards, in teacher's salaries, in testing scores, etc. The officers have a lot of pull, and I suspect that is why the West Point school system continues to be DoD to this day. Should it continue to be? It certainly is an advantage for my son.
I wrote an email in support of keeping the schools DoD, a purely selfish move. By keeping the schools separate from the surrounding community, we guarantee the deployment-friendly administration and that the kids don't have to be bussed off-post. Here is the email I sent:
I am relatively unimportant.
I went to the Town Hall meeting tonight ready to support my community. The DoDea school system is important to the WPES and WPMS administration and faculty, so it is important to me. Even though this will be our last year at West Point, I felt the need to support the teachers and administration of a school that has been very good to our son.
When I came home to talk to my husband about it, he said that it didn’t matter, that the Town Hall meeting was unimportant, because Washington was going to change over the school to be run by the local school district anyway. The only reason it had been a DoD school for so long (he said) was due to officer influence. According to him, West Point is the last place in the United States where there is a DoD school. I don’t know if he is right, but it shouldn’t matter. My needs should be important, and the needs of my community should be important. I am afraid that our needs will go unaddressed if the West Point schools are included in the local school district.
That shouldn’t matter to me anyway, since any change to the school districting will be affected after my family PCS’s. This shouldn’t matter, because my voice will go unheard in any case. This shouldn’t matter because I am unimportant in the eyes of my government.
I am relatively unimportant, the spouse of an enlisted soldier stationed at West Point. He’s an engineer whose unit plowed snow on weekends, holidays, and after hours during last winter’s long, snowy season. Christmas sucked, to put it bluntly. Daddy came home from a long night plowing snow in order to open presents with our son, drink some coffee, and then return to the plow. We live in substandard base housing in the middle of one of the highest cost-of-living areas in CONUS (Orange County, NY). It took us three months to get housing here (three months of living in a motel room with a four year old boy and a dog), so I’m hesitant to complain, at least we have a kitchen now.
The iniquities I perceive between officer privileges and enlisted privileges are soothed somewhat by the fact that we share the same facilities and that I know that the officers won’t settle for substandard education and care for their children. Their diligence makes our lives better. So it is my part, too, to support the parents of all the children, permanent party or not.
I am relatively unimportant; I am a small voice in the cacophony that deluges the bureaucracy of the school districting decision makers. I am not bitter much, but I will be, if Washington refuses to hear my small voice, my plea for equality in education on West Point.
Honorably Yours, Jen Edwards
Posts: 1545 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I hope they heed your letter and keep it open. That said, it makes me really angry that they don't have schools, or school space, set aside and geared towards all children of military personell in every state. As someone who moved around a lot(for non-military reasons), I understand the importance of having staff and students who are open and supportive of students who are only going to be in a school for a short period of time. I cant' see how having to jump in and out of 'traditional schools' would be in the best interests of children.
You are fighting the good fight, Jen. I wish you the best of luck.
posted
Tain't elitism, tis genuine "leave no child behind" of superior education. So it's natural that Republicans want to eliminate the program.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I know for a fact that West Point is not the last CONUS location to have a DoD school; it's not even close. Most CONUS Army posts have schools, although they are usually limited to the lower grades.
The idea of absorbing DoD schools into local systems is being floated nationwide. A transfer study is currently underway by the Donahue Institute for the Department of Defense Education Activity at UMass. They're looking at transfering 58 schools at 14 CONUS posts to the local school systems. The results of the study will not be released until next summer, but I suspect that a strong current of protest from parents will hinder any attempt to merge the schools with those off-post.
Posts: 224 | Registered: Aug 2002
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