Teachers and staff at DoDEA schools are not receiving pay, including those working at Dexter, McBride, Stowers, and White Elementary schools, and Faith Middle School at Fort Benning.
They’re dedicating their time and energy to hundreds of students, while silently stressing how to cover their bills, feed their families, and keep going. These educators, for children from Pre K to 8th grade, are not receiving paychecks during this government shutdown, and morale is low.
After several calls to the Georgia and Alabama Community Superintendent’s office for area schools serving military communities, we were referred to the Public Affairs Office (PAO) for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). Their school system provides public education for children of U.S. military and civilian Department of Defense personnel, now the Department of War.
When asked about the number of staff and student enrollment, the answer was complicated.
“It’s not easy,” said PAO Director Michael O’Day. “The reason we don’t publish enrollment and staff numbers is that it can reflect troop concentration for military bases. It’s a safety issue.”
We do know from a credible source that Faith Middle School has about 400 students and 65 staff and White Elementary has about 500-600 students with about 85 staff. That is two schools out of five. Our sources don’t wish to be identified because of the risk of being DoDEA employees.
Meanwhile, Trevor Morris enlightened the community about the need to support staff from Fort Benning Schools on social media. As the former owner of Trevioli Italian Kitchen, he formed a bond with some of those schools when he delivered meals for them at Christmas.
“If I still had the restaurant, I would work this initiative full force, but my family and I are surviving with a food truck, and I am now working a regular job with a metal roofing company to make ends meet,” said Morris.
Morris is hoping for support from the restaurant community and others who wish to support teachers and staff who are missing a paycheck.
