Emma Schwartz/iWatch News
Like four of her 19 classmates, fifth-grader Catie Hunter struggles with an absent parent — her soldier-father has served overseas for half her life — and a school that is falling apart. Three in four Pentagon-run schools on military installations are beyond repair or require renovation.
3 comments on this story
What is reported here could be said about any number of American schools. You might also report that students who attend DODEA schools tend to do remarkably well when they return to stateside civilian supported schools. I know not much about all the schools you identified, but I do know something about the Boeblingen Elementary School. Generally speaking, it is the preferred elementary school in the Stuttgart military community by many parents. Having lived there, I NEVER heard a complaint about accommodations but I often heard how much parents and children sincerely appreciated the care and education provided by the Boeblingen educational community. As for how some taxpayers in Kansas might feel about investing in Fort Riley’s schools, you might poll the community to find out how the community might feel if Fort Riley closed. I think you would find that closing Fort Riley would result in an economic disaster for the civilian taxpayers! I was raised in military schools. The first was a 2-room quonset hut. I count that experience to be one of the finest educational environments I ever experienced. Why? Because the teachers were magnificent!
Magnificent educators will be magnificent under any circumstances, but how much more effective would be their teaching if given the opportunity for all students ( and teachers ) to be in environments that are relatively safe, that protect from the elements and allow for the most basic of comforts such as accessible toilets, drinking fountains with sanitary water, and climate controlled ventilation.
As jmiller38 points out, many schools throughout the country are in poor condition and our children and teachers are being forced to learn and work in substandard and unsafe conditions. For more information about the health effects of mold and other indoor contaminants, go to http://truthaboutmold.info.