Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, the director of the Department of Defense Education Activity, talks with language arts students at Kaiserslautern High School in Kaiserslautern, Germany, Feb. 5, 2025. She is visiting three other DODEA schools in Germany this week. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Cultural observances at Defense Department K-12 schools are out, and clubs, extracurricular activities and library books are all under review in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump, school officials said Thursday.

Change is expected at the Department of Defense Education Activity, which operates 161 schools for the children of service members and other military personnel around the world. But morale remains strong, and educators are working harder than ever, DODEA’s director said during a visit to Germany on Wednesday.

“This is just what we do. Administrations change, and we continue,” said Beth Schiavino-Narvaez. “And we’ll always stay focused on our core mission of teaching and learning and student achievement and providing the best education possible to our students.”

Schiavino-Narvaez talked with students and teachers at Kaiserslautern High School on Wednesday as part of a visit this week to four schools in Europe.

Schiavino-Narvaez, who’s led DODEA schools since June, sat in on a guitar class and listened to students discuss William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” for a project in language arts.

“It’s just such a vibrant school,” she said. “I’m so pleased to be able to offer so many different types of opportunities to students.”

Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, the director of the Department of Defense Education Activity, sits in on a guitar class at Kaiserslautern High School in Germany on Feb. 5, 2025. Schiavino-Narvaez said teachers and staffers are staying focused on providing the best possible education amid policy changes that affect DODEA and other Defense Department agencies. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

It’s too early to know what will change under the new administration, Schiavino-Narvaez said. The school system has focused on implementing “college- and career-ready” standards during the past decade, she said, while bolstering teacher training and leadership development.

It’s a formula that has pushed DODEA to tops in the nation in math and reading assessments for two consecutive testing cycles in 2022 and 2024, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

But schools have already been told they can’t host celebrations or events for Black History Month and other cultural observances, DODEA spokesman Will Griffin said Thursday.

The changes stem from executive orders titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.”

The Pentagon on Jan. 31 banned all official monthly celeb rations related to race and identity in the Defense Department effective immediately, under guidance titled “Identity Months Dead at DOD.”

DODEA didn’t issue a specific list of restricted occasions, but they typically follow the observance calendar issued by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute. That list is no longer on the agency’s website.

No agencywide direction has been given about clubs or extracurricular activities while DODEA reviews its policies, but guidance is expected, Griffin said Thursday.

Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, the director of the Department of Defense Education Activity, visits Kaiserslautern High School in Germany on Feb. 5, 2025. Schiavino-Narvaez also is visiting Kaiserslautern Middle School, Ramstein Elementary School and Aukamm Elementary School in Wiesbaden this week. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

On Tuesday, the U.S. Military Academy disbanded 12 campus clubs primarily based on ethnic and gender affiliation as part of what it says is compliance with the effort to end government programs pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The shuttered groups included a club founded in 1976 for female cadets and professional organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers.

One DODEA parent told Stars and Stripes in an email Thursday that her child was given a list of clubs that will no longer be allowed to organize at her school. The school also had removed “safe space” signs and told her daughter she could no longer play sports or use the bathroom of her choice.

Some of those changes appear to align with a Trump executive order Wednesday intended to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

Meanwhile, school information specialists, who fill the roles of librarians, have been directed to review books for indications of what an executive order called “gender ideology” or “discriminatory equity ideology.”

Books that could fit those categories will be placed off limits to students pending a more thorough evaluation, Griffin said Thursday. The review could extend to textbooks and other reading materials.

The agency is reviewing all DODEA-adopted instructional resources to ensure compliance with the applicable executive orders and Pentagon guidance, Griffin said.

Trump’s executive order defines “discriminatory equity ideology” as “ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of immoral generalizations.”

New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has voiced support for education grounded in patriotic principles and Christian theology. The 67,000-some children in DODEA schools fall under the direction of the Pentagon.

But Pentagon-driven changes in DODEA curricula and standards are “not typically the process,” said Schiavino-Narvaez, who has more than 30 years of experience in education, including eight years with DODEA prior to becoming the director.

The agency follows a federal procurement system to buy high-quality instructional materials that align with its standards, she said.

DODEA would welcome the opportunity to meet with Hegseth, Schiavino-Narvaez said.

“Every chance we get to show off our schools, to showcase our schools to our military leaders at the Pentagon, we welcome that opportunity,” she said.