Liaison officers help link DODDS
schools, parents, base commands
By Jan Wesner Childs,
Seoul bureau
YONGSAN GARRISON — Bases in South Korea are hiring civilian liaison officers to
act as go-betweens with the Department of Defense Dependents Schools and base commands.
The idea is to improve communication among the schools, base commanders and parents,
said Leo Bonner, chief of Morale, Welfare and Recreation family services for the 8th U.S.
Army in South Korea.
"What the program is designed to do is help parents and school-age children with
any school-related issue," Bonner said.
Bonner said the liaisons would work to make DODDS teachers and staff feel more a part
of the base community.
Several bases around the Pacific already have liaison officers, said Mary Hibbs,
spokeswoman for DODDS Pacific headquarters on Okinawa. Duties include attending school
meetings, researching specific issues or problems and assisting communication between
schools and the base command or higher headquarters.
They also represent the base command at school functions and help support faculty and
staff. For example, Hibbs said, one liaison recently organized a Welcome Back social at
one school and served on the selection committee for teacher of the year.
Bonner said the school liaison officers in South Korea will have similar duties.
There will be four liaison officers on the peninsula. One has already been hired for
Area II, which includes schools at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul. Another officer will be
based in Seoul and will assist families at camps north of Seoul in Area I, where there are
no DODDS schools but a number of families who either homeschool or send their children to
private schools. Areas III and Areas IV, south of Seoul, will also have school liaison
officers.
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