YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Department of Defense Dependent Schools-Pacific said Tuesday that, contrary to a letter issued March 25, educators living on Yokota may continue to do so.
Responding to questions about a letter from DODDS-Pacific director Nancy Bresell that said all U.S. civilian employees and some military personnel at Yokota will be relocated into off-base housing by 2011, spokesman Chip Steitz said DODDS will stand by any housing decisions made by Yokota’s Family Housing Office.
"Therefore, our teachers and employees living on base will be allowed to remain on base and new teachers arriving will be permitted to reside on base," he said.
"Should a teacher request to live off the installation, we would handle the request on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the appropriate installation housing office."
During a town hall meeting Monday, 374th Mission Support Group commander Col. Rafael Quezada said no plan exists to move civilians off base and the DODDS letter was based on misinterpreted information on a PowerPoint slide shown during a March briefing.
The slide, which referenced a stateside survey that had been conducted earlier, listed the relocation of civilians off base as a potential scenario.
Quezada said Monday that the scenario was explained to the attendees in the earlier briefing as not viable at Yokota.
Bresell’s letter also said DODDS was terminating a memorandum of understanding with educators that required those who were married to live in base housing. She wrote that the memorandum "no longer fits in with" Yokota’s master housing plan.
Although base officials said the master plan has not changed, Steitz said Bresell’s letter "will not be rescinded."
