DoDEA Director visits Incirlik

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Nick Plante
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  Incirlik recently hosted the director of the Department of Defense Education Activity during a visit that offered an opportunity for base residents and school employees to participate in an open-forum question and answer session.

Dr. Shirley Miles, DoDEA director, visited Incirlik and the members of the 39th Air Base Wing May 6-8 and was the guest speaker at the wing commander's bi-monthly town hall meeting May 7.

Doctor Miles' visit to Incirlik was part of an extended tour of military communities that allowed her to get a feel for the community and to interact with parents, teachers, students and the school administration.

"These town hall meetings are important for me and my staff to hear your comments, and I'd like to hear your solutions if you have them too," said Doctor Miles.

The significance of Doctor Miles' visit was emphasized by the wing commander.

"It's an honor to host Doctor Miles at Incirlik and a great opportunity for the community to hear her vision for the future and the way ahead for our school," said Col. Phil McDaniel, 39th Air Base Wing commander. "To make a school better, it takes effort from everyone; the administration, teachers, parents and students."

Doctor Miles is responsible for the 192 schools that serve the children of military service members and Department of Defense civilian employees throughout the world. The schools are located in 12 foreign countries to include Turkey, seven U.S. states, Guam and Puerto Rico. The Incirlik Unit School, which educates an estimated combined 500 elementary, middle and high school students, is one of the schools under Doctor Miles' responsibility. DoDEA also employs approximately 8,700 educators, who educate more than 84,000 students.

The audience asked roughly 14 questions in topics that included: school manning forecasts, student class size, sports, extracurricular activities, class curriculum, physical fitness education, the school calendar, the school improvement plan and future plans for the school.

Many of the questions were answered on the spot, but for those that weren't; Doctor Miles' staff was on hand taking notes in order to respond at a later time.

"It's important for the director to get out to the different schools to see what's going on in our communities and to hear from parents, teachers, students and administrators about how we can make DoDEA better," said Doctor Miles.

Doctor Miles said she enjoyed her visit at Incirlik and would take what she learned back to Washington D.C. to help make it better.