The Foreign Service Journal, June 2013

84 JUNE 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT security. With many more posts around the world considered dangerous, this is an increasingly relevant issue. Even if a post has been secure in the past, it is not immune from current events. As any family that has been evacuated knows, living under a security threat can have a very negative effect on students, and restricting their actions due to secu- rity concerns may have a stunting effect on their normal trajectory of develop- ment. Perhaps there are compelling reasons to accept an assignment at a danger post; or perhaps the post becomes dangerous during your tour. But given the effect on children, boarding school may be a better option to consider in such circumstances. Types of Schools American international schools are very often the preference for Foreign Service families. The Department of State Office of Overseas Schools deter- mines the “adequacy” of elementary and secondary schools at posts that are not Department of Defense schools, on the basis of whether they offer an education equivalent to that found in an American public school. According to DSSR 271.b, an “ade- quate school” is one that does not require “mandatory denominational religious instruction” and provides “an educa- tional curriculum and services reason- ably comparable to those normally pro- vided without charge in public schools in the United States.” Regional Education Officers from the Office of Overseas Schools visit regularly and offer logistical and financial support to these schools. Families choose them for their quality, curriculum offerings, extracurricular activities and college counseling, and because they are most like the public schools their children might find in the United States. However, not all families feel that the “American” school is the best fit for their Not all families feel that the “American” school is the best fit for their child.