| Comment Number: | OL-10503084 |
| Received: | 3/4/2005 3:18:32 AM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| Attachment: | NSPS comments.doc Download Adobe Reader |
Comments:
I would like to address the issue of the effect NSPS will have on students enrolled in DoDDS schools. DoDDS has a well-deserved reputation for providing the best in quality education for a special group of Americans: the children of those serving in our Armed Forces. While service members are generously making sacrifices to protect our country, they do so with the expectation that the rest of us will do our part to look out for the families while they serve; this includes their rightful expectation that their children will have the best educational opportunity possible. NSPS will have a seriously detrimental effect on the quality of DoDDS educational services. DoDDS teachers also make sacrifices to live and work overseas, far away from family and the conveniences of home, in order to contribute to the welfare of our nation by supporting our troops. While this demanding career is imminently satisfying of itself, we too have expectations that during our time of service our representatives back home are protecting our interests. NSPS short-circuits the collective bargaining and due process rights that help make it possible for many of us to provide this service to our country. Previously, DoDDS schools have thrived under the protection from arbitrary decisions of an outside management system. Teachers were able to focus on providing high-quality educational experiences for students, safe in the knowledge that while other aspects of our job may provide numerous difficulties, at least we were assured of a fair deal in regards to employment rights and negotiations. While we did not expect to have everything ‘our way,’ we felt comfortable that our voices would be heard. DoDDS was able to attract and retain the finest teachers from all over the United States in part due to this excellent system that protected employees’ rights. Under NSPS, that protection is removed, and DoDDS personnel will be subject to decision makers that do not truly understand the needs of our schools, parents, students, and teachers. Without the security of knowing that our voices will be respected when decisions are made, without the confidence that we have genuine representation at the bargaining table, and without the certainty that our due process rights will be protected by those who have our best interest at heart, many DoDDS teachers will find it significantly harder to accept the sacrifices that we make in order to contribute to the well-being of our nation. The satisfaction of contributing to the education of the children of service members will be overshadowed by the uncertainty of a system that makes no guarantee of fair treatment, and no genuine provisions for addressing grievances. Under NSPS, DoDDS will find it much harder to hire and retain the superb faculty that makes our schools what they are – the best education system America has to offer. It seems unconscionable to me that DoD seems bound to undermine this benefit that our citizens serving in the Armed Forces so richly deserve for their families. I urge that all involved with this decision reconsider the detrimental effect NSPS will have on DoDDS teachers, US Service Members, and our country as a whole.