European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday october 22, 1994 the stars and stripes n Page 3 Pri defies 7nc/yde personnel qualify education by Jimi Jones education writer Darmstadt Germany personnel problems Quality education in Small schools and rightsizing the military overseas schools system Are challenges de manding immediate attention the system s director said tuesday. But changes Are under Way said Lillian Gonzalez who signed on with the department of defense dependents schools last month. For example at least one of the personnel functions management labor relations has been placed directly under Gonzalez she told the stars and stripes. Also Mervin Scott the school system s longtime personnel chief is leaving Dodds this fall. Hoping to better serve teachers Gonzalez faces such Long standing teacher complaints As pay problems of All sorts personnel records that Are either incomplete or inaccurate problems associated with simple but essential tasks such As getting an id card overseas when records Are kept in Washington and More. Gonzalez visited classrooms and listened to concerns from administrators teachers parents and military members in Germany this week. A whirlwind two week trip to schools in Germany Northern and Southern Italy and Spain will culminate Friday and next saturday in Tirreta Italy where she will attend the semiannual meeting of the advisor Council on dependents education. Maintaining Quality in schools that Are drawing Down High schools in partic ular is also an Issue Gonzalez said she must. Begin to tackle soon to find out How Are we going to get the variety of pro Grams that High school students need when you Only have 100 to 300  the system has los nearly half its pupils to the . Military draw Down during the past four years. As a school s Stu Dent enrolment de creases so does the num Gonzalez Ber of slots for teachers. At Small schools electives an advanced courses could be lost. She told teachers in Darmstadt that As they endure draw Down related changes in their classrooms leaders must decide How to right size this organization to reflect the new smaller Structure. I Don mean that i would t Analyse just that i would be removing or abolishing positions. I Don t think that s what we re about right now. This is a real critical time for us to look at what children need what teachers and administrators at the local school need and then build a Structure to support that.". T say downsize because downsize would our functions she said Gonzalez acknowledged that she is new to military life. But after  a Small Sample of schools and staff she said she is convinced that her vision of an exemplary school system will materialize. I believe that we can serve As a Lighthouse a Bea con for All those other school systems out there who Are struggling to determine How Best to get there Gonzalez said. Gonzalez expects that her extensive history in Large school systems and student diversity will help significantly in leading diversely populated Dodds. The management of very Large school systems is very common for me not necessarily easy but. Something that i do routinely she said. Having dealt extensively with diverse populations she said she expected to help close the gaps that we re currently seeing n educating a Broad Range of students. A year ago Dodds hired an education equity pro Gram manager after standardized test scores showed huge and growing gaps Between the performance of minority and no minority children. Her expertise in what she Calls Urban poor school districts also should prove beneficial As Dodds continues to face Congress budget a i be worked with school districts that did t have a whole lot of Money. So i know How to look at things in a different perspective How to slice a piece of pie another Way she said. Reverses by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington in a Case that highlights the often murky nature of sexual harassment complaints the court of military appeals has re versed the conviction of an army non commissioned officer for making inde cent comments to a lower Rankin female Soldier. Sgt. 1st class Ricky Hullett had been sentenced to a bad conduct Dis charge and demotion to the lowest enlisted rank by lower military courts be fore the appeals court issued its 3-2ruling late last month. The court reversed the conviction because the atmosphere of Hullett s unit at fort Campbell ky., regularly featured unusually explicit sexual ban Ter Byboth male and female soldiers. Judge . Gierke writing for the majority said the bantering in itself does not necessarily constitute the of sense of communicating indecent Lan Guage which violates article 134 of the uniform code of military Justice. At Issue were comments that the married Hullett who was assigned to the division support come communications Section of the 101st air borne div air assault made to an unmarried female Soldier who often visited Hullett s Section on official business. The female identified Only As specialist a said Hullett had told her More than once that if she gave him a Chance he would make my eyes Roll in the Back of my head and my toes curl  during the trial it was established that Hullett and specialist b had a fairly close Friendship and regularly engaged in lengthy conversations about both professional and personal matters. Specialist b also admitted that she was Well aware of the sexual bantering comments in Hullett s unit was not offended by such behaviour and occasionally took Partin it  lawyer on Hullett s defense team who spoke on condition of anonymity said the fact that specialist b was not particularly upset was the key to win Ning the Case. The lawyer said the woman was a reluctant witness and did not report Hullett s comments until months , when she was approached by military investigators who were looking into complaints about Hullet by another female Soldier in his unit. Gierke said previous cases have established that coarse language among soldiers male or female is not in it self a violation of the Ucma hut Mist be considered in full context. Given the off color nature of the talk by both males and females in Hullett s unit there is no evidence that Hullett s language was calculated to offend Shock or titillate much less is there any evidence that anyone including specialist a was of fended shocked or titillated by it Gierke said. While Hullett s comments v May have been in poor taste we do not be Lieve that under the particular facts of this Case his conduct rises to the level of criminal activity he said. In a dissenting opinion judges Eugene Sullivan and Susan Crawford said Hullett should not be excused solely because his remarks were considered a common joke in his unit. The appeals court should have had More Faith in the judgment of the original jury Sullivan said. The members of this court martial were More than capable of discerning whether Hullett s message was inde cent he said. I cannot disagree with their findings. In today s army no Junior Soldier should have to put up with such  of drug other Raf Mildenhall England is an airman from Raf Mildenhall has been found guilty of making a false official statement using cocaine and distributing marijuana. Airman Keith a. Hicks firefighter with the 100th civil Erig req pleaded guilty to Vall three charges during a general court martial monday a base spokeswoman said a jury of eight officers found Hicks guilty of making a false official statement in february when he told the 100th Security police so that his automatic Teller machine card was missing. He also was found guilty of using cocaine on numerous occasions in London and at his Home and of purchasing marijuana for a person who was working for the air Force office of special investigations the spokeswoman said. Hicks was sentenced to a bad conduct " discharge confinement for six months forfeiture of $550 per month for six months and reduction in rank to airman Basic the lowest enlisted rank. Under the maximum penalty Hicks could have been sentence to a dishonourable discharge 25 years in jail forfeiture of All pay and allowances and re Tuic Jion in rank to airman Basic r / Neq on duty in Ramstein a Germany is a noncommissioned officer from Ramstein a was found dead wednesday while on a temporary duty assignment to Belarus a base spokesman said Friday. Chief master sgt. Russell s. Corrie 48, apparently died of natural causes said maj. Dave Turner a Ramstein base spokesman. Corrie s body was discovered about 8 . Wednesday in his hotel room in Belarus a former soviet Republic. Corrie was on a military to military Exchange Mission and was staying in the Bela russian capital Minsk when he died said staff sgt. Barbara Lavigne a Ramstein base spokeswoman. According to a col league Corrie apparently had been feeling ill  to retire to his hotel room Early Lavigne said. When a colleague checked on him later he found Corrie dead. Corrie who had been in the air Force for 27 years was one of four air traffic con trollers on the Vic Klong Mission Lavigne said. He had been assigned to Ramstein since May 1993. Corrie is survived by his wife a son and a daughter. In lieu of Flowers the family has established a general education fund in Corrie s name at service Federal credit Union. Russia to exit Moldova in 3 years Moscow a Russia has three years to withdraw troops from a restive re Gion of Moldova under an agreement signed Friday with the former soviet re Public. The Accord was signed by president Mir Cha Sniegur of Moldova and president Boris Yeltsin of Russia at a meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent states. About 2,000 russian soldiers Are based in the breakaway Region of trans Dniester where russian speaking separatists fought the moldovan government in 1991 and 1992. .-., Moldova a former soviet Republic dominated by ethnic romanians demanded the pullout of russian troops after peace was restored in the Eastern Region. The agreement signed Friday was reached in August after two years and 10 rounds of intense talks. The three year timetable for the pullout began with the signing of the document