Recognizing Valuable Contributions of Military Impacted Schools, Teachers, Administration, and Staff...

RECOGNIZING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF MILITARY IMPACTED SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATION, AND STAFF FOR THEIR ONGOING CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION OF MILITARY CHILDREN -- (House of Representatives - May 04, 2004)

Mr. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 598) recognizing the valuable contributions of military impacted schools, teachers, administration, and staff for their ongoing contributions to the education of military children.

The Clerk read as follows:

H. Res. 598

Whereas there are approximately 750,000 school-aged children of members of the active duty Armed Forces in the United States;

Whereas there are approximately 650,000 of these military children served in public schools across the United States;

Whereas there are approximately 100,500 military children served in Department of Defense Education Activity schools in the United States and overseas;

Whereas schools serving military installations stress the importance of being aware of what is happening in the world and the impact of world events on the lives of military families;

Whereas schools serving military installations can provide students a sense of safety and reassurance;

Whereas schools serving military installations understand the importance of providing a normal environment and regular routine for children of parents in the military before learning can ever take place;

Whereas such schools can offer increased counseling for military children due to the deployment of family members;

Whereas such schools can offer additional counseling for staff, many of whom are spouses, parents, brothers, and sisters of deployed members of the Armed Forces;

Whereas schools serving military installations often have additional security measures in place and are continually looking at further security measures for their schools;

Whereas schools serving military installations serve students whose parents can be deployed for long periods of time and often with short notice;

Whereas teachers and counselors working in schools serving military installations are trained to work with military children and their classmates when there is a service-related incident or death;

Whereas school districts surrounding military installations can assist other school districts impacted by National Guard and Reserve deployments with support for students; and

Whereas the Impact Aid program provides support for military impacted schools in their efforts to serve students: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives-

(1) recognizes the contributions of the teachers, administration, and staff of Military Impacted Schools and the Department of Defense Education Activity schools world-wide; and

(2) commends the teachers in military impacted communities who work on the front lines at home to educate students during times of peace and times of conflict.

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in recognizing the contributions of military impacted schools. My district includes Camp Pendleton, the home of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, which has deployed to Iraq and has recently conducted major operations in cities throughout the Sunni Triangle, including Fallujah. The 1 MEF has participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and is now serving in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

The schools that care for and educate the children of Camp Pendleton Marines provide vital educational and counseling services that have helped ease the stresses associated with this latest deployment. They provide military children with a normal daily routine-a critical need in this age when news from the front lines is brought home almost immediately.

They also have provided these children with an excellent education. Mary Faye Pendleton and San Onofre Elementary Schools, both of which are located on-base are the highest-performing schools in the entire Fallbrook Elementary School district. In addition, Oceanside Unified's three on-base schools were all recognized as California Distinguished Schools this past year.

I am proud of the teachers, administrators, staff, and volunteers of all the military impacted schools in my district. Oceanside Unified, Vista Unified, Fallbrook Elementary, Fallbrook High School, Bonsall Unified, Julian Unified, Valley Center Unified, and Warner Unified School District have all provided a great service to our men and women in uniform.

I am particularly proud of the way these schools have continued to provide quality education to these military children despite major shortfalls in federal funding for Impact Aid, which funds military impacted schools. Every year we have a budget battle over Impact Aid.

We need to remind ourselves that military impacted schools are a critical element in the support of our military families. If we are going to recognize the importance of these schools to our military men and women serving overseas, we must support them with the resources they need to do their jobs well. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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