European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 a the stars and stripes education monday february 15,1993 school officials seek Early retirements by j1m1 Jones education writer Blankenberge Belgium officials of military schools overseas have asked the defense department again to approve voluntary Early retirements to reduce Astaff that faces Job cuts after this school year. The voluntary Early retirement plan was requested for educators in the Atlantic and Germany regions which Are expected to have the most surplus educators this year be cause of the . Military draw Down. The plan is awaiting approval from the of fice of personnel management. Defense department personnel officials approved the same plan last year for military school employees in Ger Many As part of a package for civilians employed by . Army Europe. The primary reason for asking for it is that it helps to create vacancies for those who Are affected by if reduction in Force and arc not eligible for any kind of retire ment said Deborah a. Labye chief of staffing for the at lactic Region. Those affected by reduction in Force can take this Opportunity to retire earlier than people normally  educators with 25 years service in the department of defense dependents schools could retire at any age and those who Are at least 50 years old could retire with 20years of service but would incur a penalty for each year they Are under 55, Babyc said. Babyc said that 58 of 222 educators eligible for the pro Gram in the Region have expressed interest. Atlantic Region projected Pupil enrolment in the Atlantic Region next year is 10,160, requiring a total staff of 1,150, Labye said. The Region anticipates having to place about 260 per manent employees Many of whom Are at seven schools closing this year in England. We Hope to be Able to place the pc people Babyc said. We be done a lot of groundwork Over the last Yea Rand a half for those closings. We re very  the seven schools to close this year Are Croughton elementary Middle and High schools upper Scyford elementary Little Tissington elementary and Wood Bridge s elementary and High school. Although the five school Complex at the Croughton upper Heyward area will be closed the Region will open a school for kindergarten through Grade 12 that is expected to operate at least through next year said Jim sin Gleton personnel director for the Region. It is expected to further reduce after next year depending on final Mili tary plans Singleton said at the Region s administrator conference in Blankenberge. No major announcement has been made on anticipated future closings he said. The Only one we re definitely anticipating is Oslo Norway by the end of school year 1993-94," Singleton said. But even for Oslo everything is up in the air he said noting that a Small school May remain there. Through it All Singleton said morale remains High atthe closing schools. I be really been impressed he said. We were afraid that. As the pressure grew and things fall apart the complaint rate would go up but the opposite Nas happened. There Are almost no complaints or problems out of those locations. The increase has come out of the  Germany Region the Germany Region won t lose nearly As Many local hire teachers if the retirement plan is approved the re Gion s spokesman said thursday. Hal Haggard said staffing next year will be based on projected Pupil enrolment of 48,000. That Means the re Gion will be overstaffed at the end of the school year by about 900 educators he said. Current staffing is based on 61,000 pupils we retained our full staffing for the entire school year to keep our Promise that there would be no unnecessary shifting of students from one teacher to another Haggard said. Parents and teachers complained last year when 85 temporary teachers lost their jobs in january causing much shuffling of teachers and youngsters mid Way into the school year. At the end of the school year the Region reduced it educator corps by about 900, but avoided letting go state Side hired teachers. It meant the reassignment of about700 teachers. Virtually All were reassigned to Germany Haggard said. He said the Region will handle school closures and de Clining enrolments by the same management directed reassignment As last year with no plans for dismissing stateside hires. What we re telling our people is they Don t have to worry about losing their jobs but they have to be flexible Haggard said. Assignments May not be where you want and could he to another  High schools in Germany slated to close this year Are Hahn High school osterholz High school which has served Northern Germany and we Brocken High school. Also scheduled to close Are Bremerhaven elementary Kreuzberg elementary in  and Schwabish Hall elementary. The elementary school at Hahn also was scheduled to close but Haggard said school in that Vicinity May be maintained. Mediterranean Region the Mediterranean Region experienced no problems placing staff last year and expects none this year since no school closings have been announced said regional spokesman Dave Labuhn. Indications Are that Torr Jon elementary school i Spain and Brindisi elementary High school at san Vito Del Normanna Italy will close at the end of school year1993-94. New sat Likely to arrive without an aptitude step right up air fore sgt Dov to Blomi teary 1 esd Tillo is in Center ring As he enl i performance is aimed at developing Terra its third graders with his trash Young people s coordination concent a cirkus at Sembach a Germany i is Ion imagination and communication Miallo makes his acrobats animals and skills. The event was sponsored by sem even his circus tent out of recycled items. Bach s Parent teacher Orga Malion. By the Washington Post of students get your no. 2 pencils ready. The Scholastic aptitude test has a a stupid name. B a Fine name. C a name caught up in the web of political correctness. All of the above May be True As the College Board in new York considers whether to excise the word aptitude from the most famous test in America. Every year about 1.5 million High school students spend the most dreaded three hours of High school wrestling with the sat. It is supposed to predict How Well they will fare in College and keeps Man from Landing the schools of their Choice. But now after decades of benign acceptance the word aptitude has fallen into Disfavour aptitude implies raw intelligence or Lack thereof. And some test officials now worry that May be to sensitive a claim to make especially for a test already besieged by criticism that it i biased against minorities. College Board spokesman Robert  said names under consideration Range from the Subtle Scholastic achieve ment test to the Mouthful student assessments for transition. There also Isth slightly puzzling student attainment test. All of those have been discussed Inone form or another or at one Lime or an other with varying degrees of serious Ness said Seaver. There Are Many a1 words and there Are Many s words that have been  if the name is changed it is Likely to happen in the next few months accompanying a Long awaited redesign of the test. At the Manhattan Headquarters of the College Board which represents More than 3,000 colleges and education groups the name search has been kept quiet so outsiders Haven t had a Chance to participate. But a reporter s Call to the . Student association allowed recent col lege graduates to seize the Opportunity. The majority opinion among student seemed to be to kill the test rather than its name. But Deepak Pateriya a 23-year-Oldgraduate of Miami University of Ohio said in keeping with the College Board desire to save the sat acronym students there were pushing for the sexist an trivial test. And if sexist and trivial does t Fly he suggested the student leaders alternative offering students Are tricked. Aft Rall this three hour exam which rates Stu dents on a 1,600-Point scale has dashed thousands of students Hopes for the Ivy league Over the years. At a minimum we think the Nam should be changed agreed Robert Schaeffer Public education director of the National Center for fair & open testing inc., a watchdog group involve Din some discussions of the name change. The test makers have knowingly Misla bleed their  but the last thing critics of the test want is to allow a cosmetic name change to mask alleged Bias problems with the test. Women for instance consistently have scored lower than men on certain parts of the sat but then they go on to get bet Ter College grades he said. Likewise Many minority groups have said that the test questions favor White students. The controversy has contributed to a growing movement among colleges to Stop requiring the sat for admittance. The new sat is repackaging Sai Schaeffer who said about 75 percent of the new test is no different than the  s putting Tail fins on the  a newly designed sat by whatever name is to debut in Early 1994. It will allow students to use a calculator and re quire for the first time that students come up with their own answers rather than choose among several Given options