Secretary of Education tours Wright-Patt's Starbase

  • Published
  • By Mike Wallace
  • Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  As part of a three-day bus tour, United States Secretary of Education, the Honorable Margaret Spellings, visited the Youth Center and Starbase Wright-Patterson near the Prairie, at Wright Field Sept. 20.

During the visit here, she was escorted by Lt. Gen. Jack Hudson, commander of Aeronautical Systems Center; Col. Colleen M. Ryan, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing; Jennifer Spurgin, Chief of family Member Programs in the 88th Mission Support Group and Kathy Schweinfurth, coordinator of Educational Outreach.

Spellings had breakfast at the Youth Center while talking with several spouses of deployed military members. She said she was there to learn "how best to respond to military families. I want to pick your brains."

"Because of the No Child Left Behind act, we have more information on children. We want to make sure that it's smoother when you make transitions to schools around the country," she added

Some of the concerns raised at the breakfast included those of scheduling classes and the lack of standardization from district to district. Readiness NCO at the Airman and Family Readiness Center, Tech. Sgt. Angela Gibson, said that local teachers know what the kids are going through and that her opinion was that family problems arose during reintegration after a deployment. Another concern raised was that although the base probably had enough helping agencies and resources, there seldom was enough time to take advantage of them.

"Thank you for your contribution to the nation. When you said, 'I do' to your spouse, you took on more than some others do," said Spelling.

At the Starbase area, the secretary was given the nickname, "Starbuck," and she visited two classrooms. In the first, she took part in a communication exercise, based to some degree on the movie, "Apollo 13," that involved verbal instructions on building devices. In the second, she took part in a flight simulation.

After visiting the classrooms, Secretary Spellings went outside where she helped launch compressed air rockets made by the students out of soft drink bottles, and received Starbase Wright-Patterson wings.

Following the reading of the children's book, "Ferdinand," to pre-school children, the secretary spoke to the media about the No Child Left Behind act, how it works, and how it emphasizes mathematics and science.

"We're getting great results from it. We're pleased, but not satisfied. I'm doing a lot of listening, and there are things we've learned over the last five years. (For example) there is a variety of policy issues including improving the quality of teachers."

She added that the federal government offers "a ton of support. We're trying to be responsive."