A senior Defense Department official speaks with parents and children during a Department of Defense Education Activity school visit in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, Germany, on April 13, 2026. Bahrain teachers have since been given new assignments, according to their union, another destabilizing turn for evacuees as the Pentagon weighs whether to send them back to the island. (Colin Cruickshank / DODEA)
Dozens of teachers in Defense Department schools who fled Bahrain at the start of the war with Iran recently received new assignments, the latest development for evacuees waiting to return to the island.
The decision doesn’t mean Bahrain schools won’t reopen in August as usual but does suggest that the Pentagon is preparing for the possibility that it won’t be able to return dependents to Bahrain before the end of summer.
Department of Defense Education Activity educators were among the thousands of civilians and dependents who evacuated from Bahrain under Iranian drone and missile fire in March.
The Persian Gulf island is home to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, which hosts U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the 5th Fleet. Typically, the base supports some 8,300 service members, civilians and their families.
The teachers were given full-time positions in other locations around the world, said Catherine Indresano, president of the Overseas Federation of Teachers, the union that represents DODEA teaching staff in Bahrain as well as Spain, Italy and Turkey.
If Bahrain schools reopen in the fall, they will get priority replacement to return, she said.
“We don’t get to make these decisions; we’re here to support them,” Indresano said. “We know they’ve been through a lot, and we hope they can finally find some kind of peace.”
A spokesperson for DODEA, which is also known as the Department of War Education Activity, did not respond to a request for comment.
DODEA Director Paul Craft said last week that no final decision has been made on whether to reopen the schools this fall after previously telling parents that their students should enroll in other schools for the coming academic year.
The island’s Defense Department schools, which are also open to Bahrainis and international students, could reopen as soon as this fall or as late as August 2027, Craft said.
The decision will be made over the next few weeks based on a threat assessment, readiness and operating conditions, he added.
Since the war started, evacuees have been sheltering in safe havens in Europe and the U.S., with many eager to return to the island. But a prolonged ceasefire punctuated by intermittent fighting between U.S. and Iranian forces has left many in limbo.
A brief exchange of fire between Israel and Iran on Sunday threatened to undo the fragile ceasefire and plunge the region back into armed conflict.
In addition to the ongoing danger, NSA Bahrain has also sustained extensive damage from Iranian drones and missiles, including hits to its radar systems and warehouses.
Over the past two weeks, the U.S. military has conducted what it calls defensive attacks, striking Iranian command sites and vessels that it says are threatening Americans or commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
In response, Iran has fired at U.S. bases in the region, including NSA Bahrain. U.S. Central Command said last week that none of the attempted hits were successful and no personnel were harmed.
