European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the Star and stripes sunday october 16,1,994new Dodds chief vows Progress by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington when she talks about her educational philosophy or. Lillian Gonzalez sends one message loud and Clear she thinks standing still is almost As big a sin As lagging behind. For Gonzalez who was recently named director of the department of defense education activity a which includes the military a overseas school sys Tom a its crucial that educators do not get complacent. A i want to affirm that we will move ahead a she said in an interview. A just because in a new does no to mean we re going to stand still. We re going to reach new Heights of achievement for our children. We can always do More. We can always do  Gonzalez brings to her new Job 24. Years experience in the new York City Washington and Baltimore Public school systems. From what Little she has seen so far she thinks the department of defense dependents schools system handled the draw Down Well. A from what in be been Able to Tell Dodds has continued to meet the needs of its children while maintaining High standards Quot she said. But that will not prevent her from launching a sweeping self assessment involving both internal and external a stakeholders a As she. Calls them that will take a hard objective look at All aspects of the system. V a i really want to make a critical analysis of the programs we have in place and see How effective they Are and then use that to plan ahead Quot she Saij. A a we re not just going to plan ahead without looking at How c it cel ivc we be been a we re going to reach new Heights of achievement for our children. We can always do More. We can always do  or. Lillian Gonzalez new Dodds director in addition to seeing How the schools have weathered the draw Down Gonzalez plans to take a hard look at How the draw Down has affected the regional and Headquarters Levels. For example Dodds was directed to consolidate Many of its functions including personnel and finance from the overseas districts to the Washington  that has sparked complaints from the Field about problems with pay and other person incl matters As employee files ave been transferred to Washington. Gonzalez Hopes most of those problems can be attributed to the Normal Short term pains that would accompany any such consolidation. Even so. Gonzalez said she wants to bring together Union officials superintendents principals and teachers to map out the issues and see How they can be addressed a a a a we re also looking at the idea of hiring an external evaluator a she said. A was we change things we need to be open to what our customers Are  Early next month Gonzalez will Convene a strategic planning conference that will map out Broad goals for How Dodds will reorganize itself As it moves into the next Century. She is also starting to assess the Dodds curriculum which is one of her areas of expertise. In Baltimore she was responsible for directing and developing the curriculum. A a a we re going to take a serious look at the children a performance and try to correlate that performance with some of our initiatives to Sec what a most effective a she said. A while she has no shortage of plans and ideas on the drawing Board Gonzalez already has made some moves to shake up the system. For example she recently moved the responsibility for management labor relations out from under the Dodds personnel chief and made that office directly accountable to a her. It a a uni officials say there have been problems in the Field As Dodds has downsized and consolidated because the lines of authority for reporting and resolving grievances have become fuzzy. A i had a great Deal of experience with management labor relations in Baltimore she said a i wanted to make sure that i could get a real handle on it within Dodds and get intimately involved with the  with that in mind she has convened a Blue ribbon panel of both internal and external a a stakeholders with expertise in labor relations to see what the big concerns Are and propose ways to resolve them. As she evaluates Dodds Gonzalez promises to use a warts and a approach that will Jettison things that. Arentt , Italy due for visits by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington or. Lillian Gonzalez the new director of the department of defense dependents schools has been on the Job for Only four weeks and has made Only one trip outside Washington a a a Brief visit to the Dodds Panama Region. But she has just begun an intensive two week trip to Europe that she Hopes will give her a better picture of what a going on in the Field. This week she will be in Germany visiting schools at Wiesbaden Stuttgart Heidelberg Kaiserslautern and Ramstein a. Next week she will be in Northern Italy accompanying one of four teams from the advisory Council on dependents education that will be visiting schools in the Mediterranean Region. She will also attend the general meeting of the Acde in Vicenza and Livorno on oct. 28 and 29. Gonzalez said her goal on the trip is to get a clearer picture of the grass roots concerns of educators parents and pupils. A a in a not going Over there to make speeches a she said. A a in a going Over there to  favors More Power for educators by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau. Washington a giving educators As much of a voice As possible in How to run their schools is a Core belief of or Lillian Gonzalez the new director of the department of defense dependents schools. In her previous Job As the Deputy superintendent of the Baltimore City pub lie school system Gonzalez sought to improve education by transferring significant decision making authority from District offices to individual schools. A the school based decision making Model is something i support because l think it improves action at the local schools a she said in an interview. A the people in the schools know Best what their children need a Gonzalez who has been in her new Job for a Little Over a month strongly emphasized that such a concept May not be right for the far Flung Dodds system which has unique logistical features. A a e have to ensure that wherever your children attend school  get the same Quality of education. We have to ensure that there Are common goals training and  \ a or. Lillian Gonzalez indeed recent downsizing efforts that have seen the number of regions decline and the consolidation of personnel finance and other functions in Washington have tended to push decision making authority up toward Headquarters rather than Down to the schools. Even so Gonzalez said that As she a Milu macs herself with the Dodds sys Tern she will see whether the schools can be Given More autonomy. A i firmly support school based Man a lenient a she said. A in fact it was the subject of my doctorate. After working for three years to move the Baltimore. City school system toward shared decision making i believe in the merits of such an organizational  in the coming months Gonzalez Plahs to spend As much time As she can in the Field listening and absorbing information and gathering feedback on what might be feasible for Dodds. She cautioned that the concept does not mean that the schools get a say in making All decisions. A in Baltimore there were a number of things we maintained centrally a she said a we have to ensure that wherever your children attend school they a get the same Quality of education. We have to ensure that there Are common goals training and  but beyond that Gonzalez said there were Many issues that the Baltimore City schools decided on their own such As additional staffing beyond established baselines and maintenance funding. \ the Model she used in Baltimore called for parents to have a major role in whatever decisions the local schools make. A a it a very important to have input from the parents and in the Case of Dodds i would imagine the military As Well a she said. In launching the concept in Baltimore Gpnzalez said she saw her role As setting standards a telling the schools what the outcome had to be a and then letting them figure out How to get there. A a it a extremely premature to say whether this can be done in Dodds a she said a but i am a proponent of moving the decision making to where the action  Gene Washington a1j a dyslexia a Reading disorder that May affect one child in five has been found to be linked to genes within a Small area of a chromosome by researchers who studied the genetic pattern of three generations of poor readers. Finding a genetic basis for dyslexia experts say offers the Promise of a diagnostic lest that would identify at preschool age those children who need special training in ending. A researchers at four institutions combined data from two groups of Reading disabled people including sets of fraternal twins to Trace the Reading problem to a Gene located in one Section of chromosome 6. The study published saturday in the journal science is the first to confirm that a Complex trait like a Reading disorder can be genetically linked. A we have now narrowed it to a very Small part of the human genome a said John Defries senior author of the paper and a senior scientist at the Institute for behavioural genetics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. A it now should be much easier to find the actual  _ Reid Lyon director of research on learning disabilities at the National Institute of child health and. Causes dyslexia human development said the discovery by Defries Andi nos colleagues a is significant because it could Lead to identifying children Early who have this Reading  j a Lyon said recent studies have shown that about 20 percent of All children have some degree of dyslexia a condition that commonly includes the inability to distinguish separate parts of a word an important skill in learning to read. These. Kids can to chop words into the different sounds or parts and it makes it a terrible task for them to learn to read a he said