| Comment Number: | OL-10509982 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 10:45:46 PM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
For twenty-three years I have taught the children of our heroes in the U.S. military as I work for the Department of Defense Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS, a division of Department of Defense Education Activity). I am writing to you because of my grave concern about the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) scheduled for implementation for teachers in the Department of Defense Education Activity Schools over the next year. I feel the current system might benefit from some positive changes, but the proposed system would, in fact, be detrimental to employees who have less than ideal relationships with their supervisors. Teachers may in fact be hard workers and do everything expected, but sometimes, personal issues could weigh too heavily when determining performance ratings/evaluations. Teachers must have the freedom to bring individual creativity into the classroom to effectively meet the needs of each unique child without fear of retribution from administrators. The government system in place now has protected employees' rights from favoritism and the new system rescinds those rights. In an ideal working environment, the proposed system could be beneficial to dedicated teachers, but not everyone teaches in an ideal environment. I know from personal experience how the morale and performance of an entire faculty can be severely affected by working for a vindictive principal who lacks good judgment and wants for a conscience and sense of fairness. Such abuse of power did impede my ability, as well as the vast majority of the faculty, to provide the best education possible for our students. It was only because of the enforcement of the contract between DoDEA and the teachers that allowed the faculty to have at least some protection from malevolent treatment. The new system as proposed leaves itself open for many more such abuses because administrators would have such sweeping power leaving teachers with no recourse to keep any such abuse of power in check. If we want to be able to continue to provide military children with the best program in the country as borne out by the standardized test results of those students (DoDEA tied with Connecticut for first place), the teachers must be treated with the respect they deserve and granted the necessary protection provided by a fair contract. Finally, it should be stated that school teachers are not part of the national security system that did require extensive reform; therefore, the reasons for abolishing our rights as DoDEA employees does not apply. We are not privy to clandestine operations and military intelligence gathering, and we have no access to secure information that needs to be shared with any person, organization, or entity. I feel very strongly that these issues need to be addressed before implementing the proposed personnel system. After all, isn’t our military fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for the freedom of those people, some of the very freedoms that the NSPS would crush for our own American citizens? Thank you very much for your consideration. Sincerely, John R. Steinmetz