Welcome Back DoDEA Students and Families

Nearly 19,000 students are headed back to schools at the Department of the Department of Defense Education Activity in the Americas. DoDEA Americas operates 50 schools in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.

“Happy New (School) Year!” welcomed Judith A. Minor, Americas Director for Student Excellence. “Students are excited about being back in the classroom and reconnecting with friends; parents are making plans for fall activities; and our committed teachers, administrators and staff have been working diligently in anticipation of their students’ arrival.”

“We’ve weathered two tough years with grit and determination. A big shout out to our families, teachers and administrators for all they do to support student learning and success. I wish each of our students a successful new school year,” said Minor.

Back to School Highlights

• Health and Safety: We want to keep everyone healthy and safe, and our schools open for learning. To that end, we ask families to continue practicing everyday prevention strategies and screen your student for symptoms before heading to school. More information about COVID-19 Operational Guidelines and Protocols for Schools is available here.
• Student Meals: For the last two years, school student meals were free. The free meals initiative was thanks to special, pandemic-era funding provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That funding expired in June. Just as before the pandemic, students will pay for school meals this school year. Applications to apply for free or reduced-price meals are available online.
• Call for Substitute Teachers: DoDEA always is looking for quality substitute teachers and educational aides to serve in our schools. It’s a great way to see how DoDEA works firsthand and to get involved in our children’s education. Learn more here: https://www.dodea.edu/americas/substitute-teachers-wanted.cfm
• Dress Code: Our dress code remains unchanged from last school year. DoDEA is in the process of creating a new policy that will standardize and simplify its dress code. More to come!

Our Students

Our graduates are ready to succeed in a dynamic world. DoDEA Americas graduated 99% of its students, and 76% of them are heading to college. They take with them an impressive $12 million in scholarships.

Our students also score above their peers nationally on standardized tests. You may have heard about kids falling behind due to the pandemic. That isn’t true at DoDEA. Our kids either gained or held steady in math and English language arts.

Excellence in Education

Our work for excellence in education is driven by DoDEA’s Blueprint for Continuous Improvement. This Blueprint serves as the foundation for planning within DoDEA, directs our collective energies and resources, and is adjusted as progress is made and the environment shifts. Our DoDEA vision is for excellence in education for every student, every day, everywhere.

To support our pursuit of organizational excellence, we developed the Americas Regional Continuous Improvement Plan, which features three goals and seven focus areas. We are using this plan to be intentional about how we advance continuous improvement in teaching and learn systemically and systematically across our region.

We had two exciting recognitions of our excellence this year:

• Angela Stephens was named DoDEA’s principal of the year in April. Stephens is the principal at Bolden Elementary/Middle School, Laurel Bay, South Carolina.
• Two of our schools were recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education: West Point Middle School and Andre Lucas Elementary School. About one-third of our schools have been named a Blue Ribbon school: https://www.dodea.edu/blueribbon/index.cfm