Students gather in the Sullivan Elementary School's courtyard on the first day of classes at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — John Kendrick, son of Marine Lt. Col. Matthew and Amanda Kendrick, headed to his first day of third grade Monday at Kadena Elementary School with mixed feelings.

Reluctant to return, John said he was mostly looking forward to “lunch and recess.” His favorite subjects are math and science, because “math is easy,” he told Stars and Stripes alongside his parents and siblings outside Kubasaki High School.

The Kendricks were among thousands of families beginning the year at Department of Defense Education Activity facilities overseas. The year opens under DODEA’s new Blueprint for Continuous Improvement, published in July and announced Aug. 4, which outlines goals for student, school, talent and organizational excellence through 2030.

The plan calls for expanding a multitiered support system, a framework for educators to evaluate student interventions and services. It will help “identify and provide the right level of support for each student, whether they need enrichment, targeted help or intensive intervention,” DODEA-Pacific spokeswoman Miranda Ferguson said by email Aug. 13.

The blueprint represents a collective approach to education, DODEA Pacific South superintendent Melissa Hayes told Stars and Stripes at Kubasaki High on Monday.

“Whether it’s an academic achievement that needs to shore up or whether it’s a behavior issue [or] absentee issue, our student support teams are there to step in,” she said.

Kubasaki High School principal Silvanus Thrower leads the annual ringing-of-the-bell ceremony at Camp Foster, Okinawa, Aug. 18, 2025. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)

Students enter Kubasaki High School for the first day of classes at Camp Foster, Okinawa, Aug. 18, 2025. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)

Kubasaki students began their day with a bell-ringing ceremony in the gym, accompanied by taiko drumming. Marine Corps Installations Pacific commander Maj. Gen. Brian Wolford and Sgt. Maj. Jorge Ortiz rang the bell to start the new year.

In May, DODEA announced it would eliminate potentially hundreds of positions, including some school technologists and assessors for special education and speech and language pathologists. At the same time, the agency said it would add supervisors to nearly every school to “streamline operations and free principals to focus on instructional leadership.”

In response, a group of current and former educators and parents authored a sharply worded open letter warning that the staffing changes will harm education quality for thousands of military-connected children.

To support special education students on Okinawa, DODEA has hired two additional education psychologists, bringing the total to nine across 13 schools, Hayes said. Students on Okinawa will also see longer days this year, with 20 minutes added to match schedules across the DODEA system, Ferguson said last month.

At Camp Humphreys in South Korea, members of the Eighth Army Band played rock music as 1,055 fifth- through eighth-graders arrived for their first day at Humphreys Middle School. It is one of four K-12 campuses at the largest U.S. base overseas.

Eighth-grader Derrick Reynolds, who has lived on the peninsula for nine years, said a family trip to New Hampshire was the highlight of summer.

“I’m kind of excited because this summer was kind of boring,” he said at the school’s main office during an event pre-arranged by DODEA-Pacific. “I stayed at home for most of the time.”

Students head to class as the bell keeps ringing at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

A SOFA dependent family poses on the first day of classes at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

At Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, students gathered in the Sullivans Elementary School courtyard for a “ring in ceremony” modeled after the Navy tradition of bells announcing the arrival of officers and dignitaries. Cmdr. Patrick Gutierrez, the base’s chief staff officer, did the honors.

“You guys are excited to be here,” he told the crowd. “I’m excited for the first day of class — let’s ring these kids in.”

Fourth-grader Isabel Aguon said her summer included a trip to Texas to visit family, but she was most excited about her budding political career.

“I was on the student council, and I was a representative, but now I get to run for office,” she said ahead of the ring-in. Aguon plans to run for president or vice president, though she is still deciding on her campaign platform.

Her principal, Dwayne Jefferson, said the school is embracing the new blueprint’s initiatives.

“We really are impressed with the moves that we’ve made,” he said after the ceremony. “We have positive behavior intervention supports put in place, and we have daily check-ins for that resiliency of students.”

Students arrive for the first day of classes at Humphreys Middle School on Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Aug. 18, 2025. (Eric Mendiola/Stars and Stripes)

Back at Kubasaki High, the Kendricks said goodbye to their freshman daughter, Emma, as she started her first class.

“I have friends who have daughters who have graduated from here — sons and whatnot,” her mother said. “So, it’s just kind of fun to have her walk in those footsteps behind other friends.”

Meanwhile, the family’s youngest, Morgan, a kindergartner at Kadena Elementary, whispered to her mother that she was looking forward to “making friends.”

Stars and Stripes reporters David Choi and Alex Wilson contributed to this report.