Vern Evans
Athletic events are allowed to resume this weekend at Department of Defense schools, reversing some postponements announced earlier this week in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting government-funded travel.
Department of Defense Education Activity sporting events sometimes involve teams traveling long distances between far-flung schools in their regions. The agency operates 161 schools in 11 foreign countries, seven U.S. states, Guam and Puerto Rico.
“DODEA has received further guidance to continue athletics and some additional mission-related extra-curricular activities, and is working through the review process now to identify such areas,” DODEA spokesman Will Griffin said Thursday.
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“As some events scheduled over the next few days were paused, DODEA staff at headquarters and the three regions are coordinating to work through logistics and scheduling as quickly as possible,” he said.
On Wednesday, DODEA officials in Europe notified school staff and families in a letter that athletic events would be postponed in the region, stating there would be an attempt to reschedule once funding and travel was available.
Trump’s Feb. 26 executive order called for a review of all government-funded travel and ordered agencies to reduce and consolidate spending on government-issued travel cards.
The Defense Department ordered civilian employees to cancel all nonexempt official travel, allowing travel only in direct support of military operations or a permanent change of station move. The DOD memo also capped government travel charge card spending limits at $1 for civilians whose duties don’t require exempted travel.
Griffin said DODEA has not received guidance on operations during a potential government shutdown, leaving the fate of this weekend’s sporting events uncertain if lawmakers fail to reach a deal by Friday night.
In past shutdown guidance, DODEA educational activities were exempt, but sports and extracurricular activities were not, unless fully funded by nonappropriated funds.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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