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Home Education Magazine
September-October 2001 - Articles and Columns
Military Homeschoolers Overseas - Valerie Moon
Over the years, actions taken by military officials overseas concerning homeschoolers have been uneven, sporadic, decentralized, and yet perennial. In some overseas communities military homeschooling organizations seem to have effectively kept any control at a minimum through visibility in the community, while in other cases community commanders have felt it their business to control homeschooling through restrictive policy letters. Recently, though, a homeschooling questionnaire, circulated among military communities in Europe and the intent, was to write policy to be used throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). The questionnaire asked about truancy, educational preparedness of students 'transitioning' from homeschooling to public schooling, core subjects, teacher qualification for homeschooling parents, school access for homeschoolers and testing.
In 1989, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with European troop strength hovering around the 260,000 mark, the DoD dependent school in the military community of Augsburg, Germany had chronic trouble with its accreditation. Parents were upset and some withdrew their children from the school and either enrolled them in a small American Christian school or began homeschooling. When the scale of the exodus from the Augsburg school became noticeable, the community commander issued a policy letter that outlawed homeschooling. The policy was found to be flawed and was rescinded.
It is now almost twelve years later, troop strength is down by about three-quarters to roughly 60,000 or lower, and the military is again looking to control homeschooling.
From 1989 to the present there has been a lack of understanding by persons in the military hierarchy concerning homeschooling. This has resulted in the policy letters, which either require that children be enrolled in school or state that if the children are not enrolled that the family will be either referred to the civilian misconduct board or returned to the United States.
In 1995 the Army Times ran an article quoting Lillian Gonzalez, the director of DoDEA, as wanting mandatory school attendance for military schoolchildren overseas. "How can we say that we can send children overseas and not mandate them to attend schools is beyond me." Local military community papers echoed the sentiment.
Independent study is mentioned as an educational choice in the implementation manual governing overseas military dependent schools worldwide (DoD 1342.6-M), but it is probably there to give the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) leeway in where schools are built and maintained, not to allow homeschooling. If independent study is a legitimate form of education the DoD cannot be pressured to provide schools in remote locations for smaller numbers of students.
Although the push to regulate overseas homeschooling is not new, it faces serious stumbling blocks, not the least being that the United States has no jurisdiction over civilian Americans outside its borders - any more than any other country has jurisdiction over its citizens within the borders of the United States.
Sporadic restriction continued through the late 90s as some community commanders continued to see homeschooling as a suspect activity and to issue policy letters that invariably referenced the USAREUR Regulation (UR) 27-9, Civilian Misconduct. UR 27-9 addresses school misconduct but not school non-attendance. It was as if choosing to exercise the parental responsibility of actively educating one's children is an illegal activity instead of a choice allowed by regulation. The policies, though, never managed to get around the complication that American military dependents outside the fifty states are not covered by any state school regulation.
In October of 1999 DoD interest was focused on homeschooling when Congress, in considering H.R. 1401, the DoD Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, included instruction for DoDDS to support homeschooled children overseas. Less than a month later, on 4 November, 1999, a National Center for Home Education (NCHE) Special Report on the Home School Legal Defense Association's (HSLDA) web site stated that "HSLDA is currently working on a solution for those who want to receive supplemental education services through the DoDDS schools." The report continued, "On September 22, 1999, Chris Klicka, . . . met with staff of the House Armed Services Committee and the director of the DoDEA to offer a recommended equal access policy." This activity by HSLDA, which sparked the directive accompanying HR 1401, was an apparent reaction to complaints to HSLDA from some of its military members; that for some overseas military homeschoolers to have their children participate in school extra-curricular activities, they needed to enroll their children for a minimum of one-half day. The homeschoolers wanted the extra-curricular activities without the necessity of enrolling.
DoDDS's mission is to serve its enrolled students who are the majority of overseas military children; 90% according to a 1998 European Command (EUCOM) survey in Europe. Those dependents are left as second-class students compared to the non-enrolled homeschoolers who, if the Congressional directive is enacted, will be treated as favored clients who garner no funds for the provision of services.
Continued random homeschooling restrictions on overseas Army installations showed that DoD still was of two minds about homeschooling. Policy letters reflected the restrictive mindset of some community commanders while a 27 March 2000 DoDEA Policy Memorandum on Home Schooling stated, "It is the policy of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) to neither encourage nor discourage sponsors from home schooling their minor dependents. DoDEA recognizes that home schooling is a sponsor's right and can be a legitimate alternative form of education for their dependents." DoDEA offered to support homeschoolers, ". . . consistent with existing regulations and policy."
In July of 2000 the HSLDA/NCHE heralded the "equal access" to DoDD schools on its web site, which stated: "In May 1999, HSLDA persuaded the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Forces Committee to direct the Secretary of Defense to develop a clear, written policy on the department's support of homeschoolers. The committee inserted the directive in its report to the full House on the Fiscal Year 2000 Department of Defense Authorization Act."
According to the HSLDA/NCHE site the directed action "should specify that home schooled students may be supported with library services, music, sports, single classes, and other programs without having to actually enroll in DoDDS." This action put DoDDS in a predicament at the high school level as, in addition to having eligibility requirements for all students, many schools have a grade point average requirement for some extra-curricular activities.
If homeschoolers are allowed to participate in activities for which a certain GPA is required - without enrolling in DoDDS - this reduces the enrolled students, DoDDS's primary responsibility, to 'second-class citizens' in their own school. DoDDS attempted to comply with the H.R. 1401 directive but had a Hobson's Choice of either angering the enrolled students and their parents (90%) by allowing non-enrolled students to participate without qualification or angering the homeschooled students and their parents (4%) who wanted 'participation-without-strings.'
The European Schools Council (ESC) is an overseas joint- service council acting as a 'state school board.' Representatives are sent to the ESC from all the military services as well as NATO and DoDDS. At its 11 September 2000 meeting the Council stated it had concerns about homeschooling; specifically, what right a child has to a quality education, and what happens to a child who returns to the United States unprepared for the next grade level. That no child in any state is guaranteed a 'quality education,' and that over the years many military families have voiced the same complaint about some schooled children's unpreparedness for entry into a school with differing standards, wasn't mentioned in the minutes.
On 9 November 2000 the Dependents Education Council met and memoranda from that meeting show that the Council was concerned about "balancing congressional direction to provide school choice and parental prerogatives with the installation commander's obligation to prevent educational neglect."
It seems that Congressional action, spurred by the HSLDA, required the DoD to investigate homeschooling. The perennial question of, "What do we do about homeschoolers?" that had languished for a decade was given new impetus, federal impetus.
On 21 November 2000 the HSLDA Capitol E-lert Service notified their subscribers that, "On October 23 2000, Lieutenant General Larry Jordan issued a one-year memorandum regarding home schooling in USAREUR." Children of personnel assigned to United States Air Force Europe, United State Naval Forces Europe and Marine Forces Europe were not affected by this registration requirement which was announced in a 28 November 2000 USAREUR news release.
According to an email from Dr. Michael Perez, Education Director of USAREUR in Heidelberg, Germany, on 12 February 2001 the first meeting of the Home School Work Group (HSWG) was held at DoDEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The HSWG focused on States' laws, and the issues identified to be included in the HSWG focus groups were: attendance/hours of instruction per subject, record keeping, curriculum requirements/core subjects, teacher qualifications, requirement to notify of intent to home school, accountability, access to sports and other school-sponsored activities and facilities, and testing.
Although control of military homeschooling is being approached from a States' rights viewpoint, DoD is not a state and has legal jurisdiction only over active duty military members. Within the United States military, homeschoolers are expected to abide by the laws of the state they are living in, not their home state for tax purposes. Overseas the rules are nebulous and the ease of homeschooling depends upon the negotiated conditions of the SOFA with host nations and the laws of each host nation.
The HSWG felt that the crux of the homeschooling issue is the balance of two sets of rights: The rights of parents to homeschool their school age children and the rights of children to a quality education. As all DoD regulations must be Constitutionally based, and since education is not addressed by the Constitution, DoD doesn't seem to be able to mandate schooling regulations overseas. DoD schools are authorized by Title 20 of the U.S. Code but this allows only the establishment of a government funded educational activity, not the jurisdiction over U.S. civilian citizens outside American borders.
On 1 March 2001 Congressman John Hostettler introduced The Military Home School Children Equal Access Act of 2001 - H.R. 830 to "amend the Defense Dependents' Act of 1978 to allow home school students who are eligible for enrollment in a school of the overseas defense dependents' education system to use auxiliary services of such schools."
At the HSLDA/NCHE web site an Issue Analysis dated March 2001 explained the introduction of H.R. 830: "Following this congressional directive, then Department of Defense Education Activity Director Ray Tolleson issued a policy memorandum to clarify that homeschoolers did indeed have the right to participate in auxiliary services. However, the memorandum included one phrase that ran contrary to the intent of Congress. It stipulated that 'consistent with existing regulations and policy,' the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) should provide dependents who are home schooled with auxiliary services. In effect, this phrase had the effect of maintaining the status quo instead of implementing the new policy."
A few months after the announcement of the school registration requirement in USAREUR word of Home School Focus Groups spread. One month later on 26 April 2001 HSLDA issued an E-lert about 'limited' 'supplemental programs' for overseas homeschoolers. "To be eligible for extracurricular activities at a Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DoDDS) overseas school, DoDDS requires homeschoolers to enroll their children in at least four classes at the DoDDS school. Most families are unwilling to take this step, and are thus barred from participating in sports and other extracurricular activities. Because supplemental programs for military home school families overseas often (sic) very limited, HSLDA decided to become involved in solving this problem."
The homeschoolers' dependence on DoDDS for 'supplemental programs' is somewhat misplaced as often there are many activities for overseas dependent children available from the local youth services. Homeschooling in Europe is a rich experience for those willing to venture out and take advantage of local resources, resources that cannot be provided by a school.
In April 2001 the first American military homeschool discussion forums were held in Germany by representatives of the major commands, not by DoDDS. All who attended the meetings were given questionnaires to fill out and return. The discussion forums were actively 'facilitated' but not overly coordinated as differing sets of questions have been noted by homeschoolers. The questions were written in a way that assumed home education is a problem and showed little, if any, true understanding of homeschooling.
Another curious point that surfaced among the online reports by homeschoolers of the focus group meetings was the reason for the meetings. At one early meeting the tragedy of a child chained to a bed and starved to death was the reason. This was echoed by a focus group attendee in another community whose version was that a little boy died after being neglected and abused by his parents. Both children were said to have been homeschooled.
In an email to yet another focus group attendee, Dr. Michael Perez, the Director of Education of USAREUR located in Heidelberg, stated that LTG Jordan, the USAREUR Deputy Commanding General of USAREUR and Seventh Army wanted homeschooling examined after the general "became aware of a situation in Heidelberg involving a young man who had been home schooled throughout his high school years. This young man was a military family member who was unable to achieve high enough scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)."
At a focus group meeting, Dr. Perez, according to notes taken by a homeschooling parent, stated that the reason for the focus groups meetings was, "The ASG Commanders noted there was no policy nor any regulation other than a very broad and vague one which referred to educational neglect," in addition to General Jordan becoming aware of two stories about children that allegedly were homeschooled but who appear to have been neglected. One was a high school student whose parents only gave him books and told him to read them without offering any teaching. The story continued with the boy going to the local DoDDS high school and asking to attend then being given an enrollment form which his parents refused to sign. The story of the ASVAB 'flunkee' was then told.
So what is the true reason for the USAREUR initiative for the homeschooling focus group meetings? The DoDEA investigation of homeschooling seems to be because of Congressional pressure to allow homeschoolers 'equal access' to school programs while the USAREUR initiative seems to be anecdotally based. But how significant are the anecdotes?
The case of the child who was starved to death is dreadful, but is it relevant to investigating homeschooling? In the early 1990s a friend and I, as representatives of the Heidelberg homeschool support group, approached counselors with the Army Community Service (ACS) office to speak with the staff about homeschooling. In the course of the discussion we were told about a little girl who was starved to death; the counselor who spoke to us was unclear on the details of the tragedy.
I mean no callousness but a fatal neglect case from around 1988 has no bearing on homeschooling in 2001, especially as there have been no such incidents in the intervening years, and since it is questionable as to whether this family was even claiming to be homeschooling. The linking to homeschooling of a neglect case that ended in death over 13 years ago is specious.
Another of the 'reasons' for the USAREUR homeschool focus group meetings is the boy who failed the ASVAB. According to Army recruiting statistics 16% of all persons tested for entry into the military fail to qualify. Additionally, a pre-test is given and the people who do exceptionally poorly on the pre-test are discouraged from taking the ASVAB; of the remainder, 11% fail to pass. If up to 16% of all persons taking the military entrance exams fail, why is the failure of one un-named and allegedly homeschooled boy an adequate reason to mount a DoD-wide Work Group?
Then there is the student whose parents gave him books to read but otherwise offered no support as well as refused to allow him to enroll in school. It seems unlikely that in a closed, regimented, military society this situation would be allowed to continue. The Army has Family Advocacy Case Management Teams who are involved in neglect and abuse situations within families so neglect should be handled through the appropriate channels, not through the establishment of yet another office or agency or through additional regulation when adequate regulation already exists.
As in most homeschooling situations, military homeschoolers should remain alert. If you or your group hears of unnecessary military homeschooling regulation, share the information with others through appropriate forums. Overseas letters to the editor of the Stars and Stripes can promote discussion but be short and accurate as the newspaper does edit for clarity and length. The European Schools Council has an email address so that concerns may be addressed directly: schools@eucom.mil. DoDEA's address is included in the Recommended Reading sidebar to this article. If legislation is introduced in Congress to amend Title 20, letters and emails to your Congressional representatives expressing your opinion would be appropriate.
Afterword
On 11 July 2001 as this magazine was going to press, the following letter was received by NHEN representatives from Joseph D. Tafoya, Director DoDEA:
"Thank you for the information that you enclosed about home schooling from the National Home Education Network. It is a helpful addition to our information about home schools.
"In response to your inquiry dated June 15, 2001; at this time there are no plans for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) to hold a Home School Task Force meeting. On June 7, 2001, the Dependents' Education Council (DEC) members tabled proposed plans to look into the possible revision of our home school policy.
"It is unfortunate that remarks were made prematurely in Heidelberg about a possible task force. Your continued concern, however, about the educational welfare of our military children is to be commended. If I can be of any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me."
Valerie Moon homeschooled her three younger children exclusively in Europe from 1990 until 1998 when they received their high school diplomas. She now lives near Kansas City with her husband.
(c) 2001 Valerie Moon
September-October 2001 - Articles and Columns
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