European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 06, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday septembers 1995 the stars and stripes Page 3 to nine school closures by .  while the consensus May be that the military draw Down in Europe is virtually finished it in t Over for the schools the top Dodds official in Europe says. As Many As nine schools mostly smaller elementary schools in department of defense dependent schools Europe Are potentially on the chopping Block and could be closed at the end of this school year said Larry Philpot the area superintendent for Dodds Europe. / ,. Dodds has lagged behind the military services Byone full year throughout this whole process because we be had to keep services in place while the military was pulling their people out during the school year Phi Potsaid. V v but by next year he said the system will be right sized. Because the list of targeted schools is tentative Dodds spokesman Hal Haggard said names would not be released. However on a recent radio program Philpot identified Derheim elementary school in Ger Many As being on the list. = we Are still considering closing nine schools but i would be premature to list the schools because we have not completed the process Haggard said. It snot a foregone conclusion that any school will  Haggard said that As the school system s population has gotten smaller schools Haven t closed at the same rate. We be lost about 55 per cent of our enrolment in Europe since 1990-91, and Only have closed .43 percent of our schools meaning that we have More Small schools Haggard said. Lii lot said the military serv ices Are reviewing Dodds clo sure proposals with  Deci Sion expected by Jan. 1. Another cutback possibly fac ing Dodds is a $42 million dip in the Agency s $832 million worldwide budget. Philpot a House Senate committee will begin considering the Pentagon budget this week. Philpot said he does t expect a final proposal to com out of the joint committee before oct. 1. The House version seeks to Cut $42 million while the Senate version seeks to add $500,000. It is still a proposal but that $42 million proposed Cut is of great concern to us Philpot said. Philpot said such a Cut would Hurt badly Dodds programs staffing construction and supplies. It would have a significant Impact on Dodds i that goes through Philpot said. A group from the House appropriations committee visited the Heidelberg and Kaiserslautern school districts in Germany in june As Well As european come. Is Ken Georgo Folk dancers from Belarus get into the swing of things at Sembach s elementary school auditorium during last week s show. Troupe raises Funck for chemo by kids by . Allbright staff writer Sembach a Germany Russia Folk dancers and singers kicked up their heels for elementary and Middle school pupils Here last week but for a very serious purpose. The troupe from Belarus was on a two week tour sponsored by a German association to raise Money for children suffer ing the effects of radioactive fallout from the april 1986 chernobyl nuclear Power Plant Accident. And for the pupils the event provided anew perspective. The idea was to expose them to the culture of Belarus said Mary Kuhlo the Sembach school s teacher of the talented and gifted program. It exposes them to something that they normally would not have Access to and it enriches their  performers with the Amateur choir called Jarok and dancing group called Prip Yat wore traditional slavic costumes. The. Singers mostly teachers fro Turov Sang about p.re-20th Century life and performed their often comedic de Bates Between the Village women and men with Lively melodies. Teen age danc ers from a Region in Belarus performed ceremonial dances. I liked the dancers. They looked pretty said first grader Gillian Lamuro. All of the performance numbers were Sung in the traditional slavic dialect. The pupils had to interpret the action from visual cues on stage the shy teen age girls being swooned Over by the boys the Village women and the men lyrically spar ring. It was strange i did t understand it said eighth grader Jon Michael who added however that it was  during three performances music was played on several traditional instruments including the contrabass and the Balalaika which looked like an oversized Trian Gle with a Long neck. One science teacher said performances like these help youngsters appreciate Dif Ferent cultures and traditions. They see some of what makes up traditions from other cultures said Middle school science teacher Elaine Edwards. She said the pupils what see this can thin of what they would like to share about the United states if they went to another country. According to the performers trip coordinator Natalie Che sheiko half of the children from the dancers Belarus Region have problems ranging from thyroid Dis eases to leukaemia As a result of the Radia Tion that extended Over Northern Europe following the Accident at chernobyl located in Ukraine. We Are grateful that we have health children said Volunteer association member Marx Franz. Between 600,000 and 800,000 children Are sick. Eighty per cent of Belarus is radiated with heavy concentrations. Some places Are so contaminated nothing can be built for the next 25,000 ycarv1 Headquarters in Stuttgart Germany according to Philpot the committee said Dodds per Pupil costs during the draw Down have been in creasing too fast. V when we had 110,000 students our per Pupil Cost was about $5,100 to $5,200 per Pupil now we Are up to,$7,800 per Pupil and they Are saying that we re not reducing fast enough that we Are not. Closing enough Small schools Philpot said. He said that by using pure accounting methods it s cheaper to run a school of 1,000 students than to staff three schools with 325 students each. If any cuts Are approved a Large percentage would be absorbed by personnel he said. /. It will be people we can probably Cut s10 Millionth $12 million out of existing programs but if we go be. Pond that then we re going to have to Cut people teach Crsp principals specialists secretaries above school level people he said. It has to come put of people our personnel  / he said personnel costs account for about 65 percent of Dodds total budget. Haggard said lie did not have budget figures for the 1995-96 school  Bottom line is tabulated in Arlington by our Headquarters Haggard said. At this Point we Don thave a final read of what our budget will be for.,. Fis Cal year 96.". V by. R150 , troops set for Albania by the stars and stripes Washington about 150 3rd inf i v spa liars will travel to purrs. Albania to join a similar number of ". Host nation troops for a peacekeeping exercise dubbed peaceful Eagle 95, the . Soldiers from the 3rd inf div s 82nd engr in will participate with members of the albanian army in. The 10-Day exercise sept. 11-21 in the spirit of nato s partnership for peace program officials said the troops will conduct realistic ,. Individual and Small unit training in. A1 variety of peacekeeping tasks including escorting humanitarian convoys establishing and operating checkpoints and observation posts and setting up Convoy route Security. . And albanian soldiers will train Side by Side for most of the operations with interpreters for both contingents on hand to help out. U.$. Army col. M. Stephen Hoac is and albanian army col. Spiro  jointly command the e.xercise.,. Usa eur soldiers to join czech exercise Washington about 135 soldiers from the . Army Europe will join troops from the Texas National guard German soldiers and troops from the czech Republic for a combined peacekeeping exercise sept. 12-20, Pentagon officials said tuesday. Olshina 95, the first three country training exercise in the czech Republic involving ., German and czech troops is being conducted under nato s partnership for peace. The exercise to be held at the Bolevice training area in the czech Republic will touch on a variety of peacekeeping missions officials said. The Usa eur contingent will come primarily from the 1st army div s 3rd in 5th Cav regt at Kirch Gons Germany. An infantry platoon of 34 Texas National guard soldiers will participate. About 135 German soldiers and 310 czech infantry troops also will take part