Students attending schools operated by the Pentagon in or near the military bases are among those who feel the effects of government closure, which began just after midnight on Wednesday and will leave some federal employees without partially closed national parks and partially closed national parks.
The education activity of the Department of Defense, or Dodea, which operates 161 schools in or near military bases worldwide, has stopped all extracurricular activities, including sports, for more than 67,000 students.
Dylan McDonald, a 17-year-old senior and co-chapitan of his football team at the Base of the Fort Campbell Army of Kentucky, fears having played the last game of his career in high school after the government’s closure stopped all extracurricular. He and his mother care that the lack of the next games, including the tournament of the district next week, could damage their chances of being recruited to play at the University.
“I put innumerable hours and blood, sweat and tears in this, and not being able to finish correctly based on something that is uncontrollable for me and my teammates and our families, but still directly affects us, it is really devastating,” Dylan said on the impact of the closure.
To further complicate things, miss the tournament could also cost him a place in the local districts team this year, a list of the best players who have been part of the last two seasons.
Dylan and his mother Jennifer McDonald are among the eight parents and students of the Dodea schools that told NBC News how the closure of the government is affecting them, describing the cancellations of practices and sports games, as well as the tutoring after school and student theatrical productions.
Katie Fox, whose husband is a retired sailor, said she was supposed to be back to her 15 -year -old son at Stuttgart high school in Germany in Germany was this weekend. They already paid the tickets, their outfit and provided donations to help support the event. Then, due to the closure, it was postponed at the end of this month, assuming a Financial Bill is approved by then.
She said she is frustrated, because Congress could approve a specific assignments bill to allow extracurricular activities to continue.
“That is my greatest frustration,” he said. “I know there is a solution, but it is as if they don’t listen to us.”
Fox added that students athletes in Dodea schools abroad are specially affected when sports games are canceled, because, unlike the US, they can only compete against other Dodea schools, which means that there are generally less games in general.
Maribel Jarzabek, whose husband is in the Air Force and based in Belgium, said his daughter Cassie, a third year student at the Saper Operada de Dodea high school, Dodea, It only has six meetings through the country one year before the championship meeting, compared to teams through US schools, which have about eight to 10 meetings before the championship.
This means that Cassie, who is favored to win the European European Championship this year in the country, said her mother, has less chance of impressing university recruiters than students with longer seasons and more possibilities to compete.
Cassie said she is afraid that the championship, which is scheduled by the end of this month, could also be affected, which could be devastating for her because they are the most important for recruiters.
“As a military child, we already have to deal with the pressures to move every two years and start completely fresh, without having friends,” said Cassie. “So this is just another thing added to the adversity that we already have to overcome. It really hurts.”
Crystal Noga, whose son Aiden Ward is a last year student and co-chapitan of the Fort Campbell High School soccer team with Dylan McDonald, said that in the past, she sent videos of her children by practicing sports to her father when he has been deployed abroad, and now the parents of some children could also be deprived of that.
She said that if the team is forced to lose their first district game against their rivals next week, she will not have any other chance to see Aiden play football in high school.
“Not only are they taken away, but they take it away from me as a father,” said Noga. “Once he leaves high school, that’s all. They are thrown into the real world. So you are also taking my last chance to see my son be a child.”
Meanwhile, team captains such as Dylan, Aiden and Cassie They have to organize practices for their teams on their own, and they have to emphasize that they are not mandatory, their parents said. At the same time, most of their parents live in the payment check they received this week until the government approves an expense bill.
As the Democrats and Republicans in Congress blame each other for the closure, the parents who talked to NBC News shared a similar feeling: they do not care what party is to blame: they want this to be fixed for their children.
“If you cannot reach an agreement, put the burden on the lives of other people, be it your payment check, if it is sports, be it something, it is absolutely unfair,” said Noga.
