Department of Defense Dependents Schools

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For other meanings, see Dodds

The Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) are a network of schools, both primary and secondary, that serve dependents of United States military- and other non-US - personnel. The schools themselves are operated by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).

1 History
2 How DoDDS operates
3 Districts
4 Schools
5 Miscellaneous
6 External links

[edit] History

DoDDS started operating schools October 14, 1946 for military workers' children overseas. Originally it cost $10 to enroll a child, and the schools would get money from profits made by Class VI stores (alcohol). There were 38 elementary schools and 5 high schools to start out with. Now there are 98 schools (includes all levels) altogether, with only two high schools out of the original five still operating today, which are Heidelberg High School in Heidelberg, Germany and Kubasaki High School in Japan, although other high schools have been built later on.

[edit] How DoDDS operates

While there are a few schools that operate on military installations in the United States (under the DDESS system), the majority of the institutions operate overseas. There are superintendents for three districts across the globe: the United States DoDDS schools, the Europe DoDDS schools and the Asia DoDDS schools. The Asia DoDDS schools are, for the most part, in the Far East on installations in South Korea and Japan. Turkish DoDDS schools are served by the European branch.

Although the schools are primarily dependents of military personnel, U.S. government employees are allowed to enroll their children in the schools on a space-available basis. As most of these schools are situated overseas, a concerted effort is made to immerse the children in the local color. Language and culture courses are offered as early as elementary school, while advanced language courses and opportunities to intimately view the culture of the student's host nation are offered throughout high school.

DoDDS operates in two fashions: under the old American standard in terms of grade levels; elementary schools run from Kindergarten to sixth grade while high school served seventh through twelfth graders. DoDDS also operates in this fashion; Kindergarten to 3rd-5th grade in elementary school, in the middle school they have 4th-6th to 8th grade. For high school there is 9th to 12th grade level. The second operation started in the 1970s. In addition, many universities from around the United States have set up branches on military installations so both dependents and military service members can continue on with higher education without having to leave their respective posts. After graduation, however, many students not wishing to enroll in the military attend college in the States.

[edit] Districts

For the European branch of DoDDS, there are 5 districts:

Bavarian District, Würzberg, holding 22 schools (closing, schools will be run by the Heidelberg District)
Kaiserslautern District, Kaiserslautern, holding 23 schools
Heidelberg District, Heidelberg, holding 19 schools
Isles District, Lakenheath, holding 17 schools
Mediterranean District, Vicenza, holding 18 schools

For the Pacific branch, there are 4 districts:

Korea District, Seoul
Japan District, Yokota Air Base
Okinawa District, Kadena Air Base
Guam District, Andersen Air Force Base, holding 4 schools

[edit] Schools

Main article: List of schools in United States territories

[edit] Miscellaneous

The Kaiserslautern District has the most DoDDS schools worldwide, until the Bavarian District closes and all schools in the district will be handed over to the Heidelberg District. The Kaiserslautern District serves over 5,000 students. Although schools are being eliminated, a number of schools are still operating normally.

Bases such as Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern, Wiesbaden, and Ramstein Air Base in Germany; Naples and Aviano in Italy; Lakenheath in England; Incirlik in Turkey; and Okinawa, SHAPE, and Rota in other areas are the most commonly known ones.