Haley Britzky reports for CNN on the reaction among Department of Defense families to the reading restrictions in DOD schools.
Recent Pentagon policies are having direct impacts on students at Defense Department schools around the globe and leaving students and their parents concerned they’re being disadvantaged by attending the schools, multiple students and parents told CNN.
Many of the changes stem from President Donald Trump’s executive order banning programs or initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. But Pentagon policies putting a freeze on civilian employees’ government credit cards, and broader freezes on the civilian workforce, are also impacting DOD families living abroad.
Recent policies from the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefly impacted student-athletes’ ability to travel to games or competitions in Europe; the availability of at least one AP class, which parents and students say is not expected to be offered because portions of the instruction mention gender and sexuality; student clubs; what books are offered in school libraries; and more.
“These kids in the [Department of Defense Education Activity] schools are taking the brunt of this administration’s decisions,” one DOD civilian in Germany, whose child is a high school sophomore, told CNN. The civilian added that while schools back in the US are insulated from some administration policy changes, DoDEA schools have no such ability.
“Here, they send down this edict and it has to be obeyed,” the civilian said. “It’s not a state thing — it’s directly from someone who is in authority over the school. It’s concerning.”
The feelings over those policies resulted in organized walkouts earlier this month at more than a dozen DoDEA schools around the globe.
“We stood for every voice that’s been silenced. For every story that’s been erased. For every student who’s been told they don’t belong,” a post on a public Instagram page for the walkouts said. “We walked out because our schools should be places of learning, not censorship.”