RELATED STORIES:

Applying for college? Be ready for some hurdlesMost Japan schools hit kindergarten ratioNew Japan superintendent keys in on deployment issuesSchool overcrowding eases in South KoreaMilitary police presence to be heavy for first school dayEurope Back to School 2009She’s changed her address to the other side of the planet, but the mission of educating servicemembers’ children on military bases overseas remains the same for Diana Ohman.

Ohman became director of the Pacific’s elementary and secondary schools in July after heading the schools in Europe for 10 years.

She and Nancy Bresell, the former head of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools for the Pacific region, switched jobs this summer.

Ohman will oversee DODDS-Pacific as well as Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools−Guam. The organizations are under the Department of Defense Educational Activity umbrella.

Ohman said one of the biggest differences between her new job in the Pacific and her previous job at DODDS-Europe involves the jobs of military parents. Larger units in Europe were more likely to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan for a year at a time.

"I’m finding that is not so here," she said.

In the Pacific, smaller units or individual servicemembers are more likely to deploy.

"That is an interesting nuance," she said. That means teachers in the Pacific must be extra vigilant to spot students who may need extra help or attention while Mom or Dad is away, she said.

The changes in military tours in South Korea are also a new dynamic, Ohman said.

Until recently, the majority of military tours in South Korea lasted one to two years and did not provide money to bring entire families overseas.

Under a "tour normalization plan," U.S. Forces Korea plans to include family support for about half of its 28,500 billets in the next few years.

The growth of students in South Korea is expected to be slow and spread out this year, Ohman said. A couple of weeks ago, the district had fewer than 3,900 students enrolled. Staff are prepared to handle 4,200 students, she said.

A new school and added class space to several others in South Korea has helped.

"The start of the year will not be troublesome for us" in South Korea, she said. "We are prepared."

Ohman said the upcoming budget cycle, which begins Oct. 1, likely will include money for upgrading technology throughout the Pacific region. Specifically, some schools will be able to upgrade computer servers and Internet bandwidths, especially in South Korea and Guam, she said.

For Ohman, a Wyoming native, coming to the DODDS-Pacific headquarters on Okinawa means an introduction to the ocean. She said she will miss Europe’s church bells and Germany’s autobahn, but now she has tropical waters.

"The water is warm and it’s right here," she said, beginning a to-do list of water activities that includes sailing and scuba diving.

"I’m looking forward to all those things."

DODDS Pacific enrollment

(Guam, Japan, Korea and Okinawa):

Fall 2009: 22,065*

Fall 2008: 23,372

Fall 2007: 23,088

*As of Aug. 21. Expected to increase to 23,767 as more families PCS after the start of the new school year.

Courtesy of DODEA