U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel sits with students at Yokosuka Primary School, Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Sept. 4, 2024, the first day of the Department of Defense Education Activity's new universal pre-kindergarten program. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – The U.S. ambassador to Japan appeared at Yokosuka Primary School on Wednesday to mark the first day of the Department of Defense Education Activity’s new universal prekindergarten program.
Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, once known as a hard-charging chief of staff for President Barack Obama, displayed a softer side as he shook hands, bumped fists and even sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It” alongside kids from the base’s first pre-K class, which includes more than 100 students.
The free program, available for children who turned 4 on or before Sept. 1, is now available at 80 DODEA schools with additional programs planned for 10 more schools
“I’m just really proud of the armed services for committing the resources,” Emanuel told Stars and Stripes from one of the new classrooms. “I don’t want to get into all the research, but it’s pretty overwhelming about how important this is for a child’s success in life.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel high-fives students at Yokosuka Primary School, Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Sept. 4, 2024, the first day of the Department of Defense Education Activity's new universal pre-kindergarten program. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
Emanuel said his excitement over the program was both personal and professional. He recalled joining his father, a pediatrician, on his rounds, as a child. As a student at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, Emanuel initially studied to be an early childhood educator before pursuing politics, he told Stars and Stripes.
Later, as mayor of Chicago, he championed the rollout of the city’s first universal prekindergarten and kindergarten programs, he said.
His commitment to education, however, sometimes conflicted with his politics. As mayor, he also oversaw one of the largest public-school closures in U.S. history, 49 elementary schools and one high school, in 2013, according to the Chicago Tribune in May 2019. He said at the time that closing financially struggling schools would result in students attending better performing schools, according to the Tribune.
Lois Rapp, director of DODEA Pacific Region, also attended the program’s launch, something she said DODEA has been working towards for more than a decade. She recalled families requesting the program 12 years ago, when she served as superintendent for the Pacific East district.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel sings "If You're Happy and You Know It" with students at Yokosuka Primary School, Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, on Sept. 4, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
The program has a $75 million budget for fiscal year 2024, which includes about $8.8 million in construction. It’s also led to 250 new teaching jobs, with a goal of an 18-to-1 student-teacher ratio, DODEA Europe spokeswoman Jessica Tackaberry told Stars and Stripes in April.
At Yokosuka, space was created by moving fifth grade students from Sullivans Elementary School to Yokosuka Middle School. That made room for pre-K through first grade at Yokosuka Primary School, which shares the same space as Sullivans, Rapp told Stars and Stripes in one of the new classrooms Wednesday.
“We had to start last year,” she said. “We had to procure all new equipment. And in some locations, we had to be creative about space.”
DODEA may eventually create a separate facility for Yokosuka Primary School, but for now it will remain a “school within a school,” according to principal Mary Fisk.
“We’re just really excited to offer this to our families, and we’re looking forward to a great year,” Fisk told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday. “Yokosuka Primary School is where the magic begins.”
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U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel greets students at Yokosuka Primary School, Yokosuka Naal Base, Japan, on Sept. 4, 2024. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
