Town Hall sharpens focus on garrison services

By Jim CunninghamMay 5, 2010

Town Hall sharpens focus on garrison services
Casey Elementary School's inaugural Principal Shelly Kennedy gives answers to Soldiers and Family members April 26 during the Community Town Hall meeting held in Casey Garrison's Community Activity Center regarding student to teacher ratios for the c... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CASEY GARRISON, South Korea - Soldiers, Civilians and Family members gathered with garrison directors in Casey Garrison's Community Activity Center April 26 to learn about services and changes being made at the installation due to tour normalization.

Many new changes and opportunities were presented but by far the majority of questions centered on the new Department of Defense Education Activity School being built in Casey Garrison.

Most parents were looking for answers to questions they had posed to the DoDEA school superintendant in previous community town halls.

Capt. Taira Caldwell of the garrison surgeon's office asked if children who are already enrolled in private schools will have to pull up roots and move to the new Casey school, when there are not enough places for all the children in the garrison. She was concerned that her child would have to pull up roots already established in the private school in Uijeongbu to go to a school that may not have enough space.

Dr. Irby Miller, Department of Defense Dependent Schools, Seoul, Korea superintendent, had the answer to her question.

"Right now, all I can tell you is we have a work in progress and I am hoping I will have a definitive answer for you before the end of this week. I have indications certain things are happening right now, so hopefully, by the end of the week I will have an answer for you," Miller said.

A high-school student asked if she could continue going to the Indianhead School and graduate there instead of having to transfer to the high school in Yongsan Garrison.

Miller had the same answer for her: "We are working on it as I speak," he said.

Another parent was concerned about having his children being bused for an hour and forty-five minutes to and from the school in Yongsan.

"The only thing I can share with you is we are currently working that situation with the military as well as with DoDEA," Miller said. "At the present moment, all I can tell you is we are working around the clock trying to resolve this issue."

Questions were asked of the school officials about what the teacher-student ratio would be when the school went into session this fall.

Shelly Kennedy, Casey Elementary School's inaugural principal, had the answer.

"The ratio is set by DoDDS as 18 students for every teacher," she said. She went on to say it was very important for the parents to fill out and register their children for school because it was important to know how many students would be attending.

When one member of the audience asked if there would be a busing system from off-post housing to the new schools on Casey, Donald Brown, transportation officer for DoDDS schools, had the answer.

"There will be some busing from off-post living quarters to the school. However, we will not be able to service every housing development," he said. "We have a list of all the apartment complexes where we have people living, and if you live within one mile of where the bus stop will be, your child will have transportation to and from school.

There will be a bus set up to run out of Camp Stanley, make a stop at Red Cloud Garrison, and continue on to the school on Casey Garrison. There will also be a bus going from Red Cloud Garrison to Yongsan schools for children in grades 9 through 12.

"We have yet to formalize every stop, but we will have it done in the near future." He went on to say they were looking at starting the bus service at 6:30 a.m. and for some it may be 5:30 a.m. The bus routes will be based on the availability of housing in the area, he said.

The question of allowing pets on the Patriot Express, a free shuttle flight from the west coast of the U.S. to Incheon Airport, was asked by a Family member preparing for a permanent change of station. Dennis Williams, chief of transportation for Red Cloud Garrison's Directorate of Logistics, had the answer.

"Right now pets are not allowed on the Patriot Express," he said. "We are working to have pets allowed on the express, but for now they are not allowed. You can go into the transportation office, as usual, and they can book you on a commercial flight."

Some had concerns about streamlining the command sponsorship procedure because they were already here in Korea and waiting for a decision. Lt. Col. Dave Hater, 8th U.S. Army, had the answer.

"The best thing you can do to streamline the process is to have all the paperwork completed at the front end. If you have all the documents correctly filled out, we can actually meet that deadline," he said.