By MATTHEW M. BURKE | STARS AND STRIPES Published: April 28, 2021 CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – Principal James Strait has led Defense Department schools through a hurricane and a global pandemic, and his nine years of academic leadership have not gone unnoticed. Strait, 51, a soldier-turned-educator in charge of Kubasaki High School at Camp Foster, a Marine Corps base on Okinawa, was named the 2021 Principal of the year by the Department of Defense Education Activity, according to a DODEA statement on April 20. Strait was lauded for bringing the community together to support Kubasaki’s students and excellence in education. Next, he’ll compete with middle and high school principals from the civilian world for the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ Principal of the Year award, DODEA-Pacific spokeswoman Miranda Ferguson told Stars and Stripes on Monday. The winner will be announced in October.
Educator who reinvigorated aging Okinawa campus is DODEA s Principal of the Year stripes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stripes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By MATTHEW M. BURKE | STARS AND STRIPES Published: February 22, 2021 CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa If the namesake of the new Bob Hope Elementary School, opening soon at Kadena Air Base, were alive today, he might say that Bing Crosby will want his name on a high school. The school is still under construction and no ribbon-cutting is set, but Department of Defense Education Activity’s Pacific South school district recently announced it’s opening Bob Hope Elementary come the 2021-22 school year. It is the latest 21st century school on Okinawa, DODEA said Wednesday. Hope, an actor and droll comedian, played off his co-star, the equally blithe crooner Bing Crosby, in seven “road” pictures, starting with “The Road to Singapore” in 1947. Hope also undertook 57 USO tours, entertaining troops in conflict zones from World War II to the Persian Gulf War, according to the USO. He died in 2003.