COVERING PUGET SOUND NAVAL NEWS FOR BREMERTON | BANGOR | KEYPORT
Kitsap
VOLUME 1, NO. 36 | 2 DECEMBER 2011
www.kitsapnavynews.com
Navy to layoff 3,000
Holiday at sea
By JJ Swanson jswanson@soundpublishing.com
Nationwide downsizing of enlisted ranks will begin next week and Navy Region Northwest will be affected by the cuts, according to authorities. The downsizing comes as a result of department findings that 31 enlisted rates were critically overmanned equaling a 103 percent manning, according to Lt. Laura
SEE LAYOFF | PAGE 08
THIS EDITION Capt. Ronald Reis and Adm. Craig Faller serves Sailors in the galley during the Thanksgiving meal aboard the Nimitzclass aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) Nov. 24, 2011. John C. Stennis is deployed in support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and New Dawn. U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST 3RD CLASS KENNETH ABBATE.
The new kids in class Local school liaison gets ready for Reagan’s kids By JJ Swanson Jswanson@Soundpublishing,com
Children of active duty military could change schools as many as nine times in their young lives. With a new crop of “military brats” set to arrive with the the USS Ronald Reagan in January, the Navy Region Northwest school liaison has her job cut out for her. When a Navy family arrives at their new duty station, their first two questions are almost always “where are my household goods?” and “where are the good schools?”
explained Tom Danaher, Navy public affairs officer and former school liaison officer. The search for the right school and easing the transition of the move are never-ending pursuits for active duty parents, according to Dr. Heather Carrell, Navy Northwest school liaison officer. In the career of one service member, a child may enroll in nine different schools around the world, she said. Very often new kids join classrooms during the middle of a school year when registration has closed and the curriculum is already in progress. The Navy Northwest command has no base schools exclusively for Navy students. “It can really wreck the train,” said Danaher of the stress imposed on families new to navigating military family life. Though there are no Navy specific schools in the Northwest, kids have Carrell – an advocate for the more than 1,000 military
children navigating through five school districts in Kitsap County. “I support families everywhere, from the north end of Gig Harbor all the way out to Forks. I also provide information on homeschooling, special needs students, and scholarships for college,” said Carrell. Carrell, who holds a doctorate in special education, has experience working with autistic children, and has served on the school board for the North Kitsap School District was a major find for the Navy, according to Danaher. “We looked for a long time because we wanted someone who knew the ropes here, not an outsider. Someone who knew CK, SK, NK, private schools, public, and homeschooling,” said Danaher.
SEE KIDS | PAGE 10
USS Nimitz readies to depart PSNS .....................pg. 3 $50 on Army ..........pg. 4 Suquamish Tribe honors veterans .................pg. 5 Retelling of a told tale, reader remembers the Toro pg. 13