Ms. Sylvia “Missy” Gingrich Selected as Chief of Staff, Pacific East District

Dr. Judith J. Allen, DoDEA Pacific East Superintendent, is pleased to announce the selection of Ms. Sylvia “Missy” Gingrich as the Chief of Staff, DoDEA Pacific East District Office located at Yokota Air Base, Japan. Ms. Gingrich will assume her duties on April 13, 2020.

Missy Gingrich is an educator who began her career teaching in Louisville, Tennessee working with special needs students in an institutional setting providing instruction in all areas of secondary English, language arts, and fine arts. This teaching experience provided her with her personal educational philosophy ~ All students can learn.

Ms. Gingrich left her first teaching position to become a full-time parent as she supported her husband’s military career, relocated frequently, and raised two children. As a military spouse, Ms. Gingrich had the opportunity to be a local hire educator in DoDEA schools on three different occasions. She has taught all English Language Arts (ELA) courses from 7-12th grades, Drama I and II, Elementary Literacy Support, English-as-a-Second Language (ESL), ES Reading Support, and READ 180.

In 2004, Ms. Gingrich received her first DoDEA assignment to Edgren High School in Misawa, Japan where she taught 7-12th grade ELA, ESL and READ 180. She next transitioned to the Pacific Area Office to serve as an Instructional Systems Specialist (ISS) for ESOL and World Languages providing professional development and the implementation of the DoDEA WL Standards, the ESL Program Guide, and the adoption of curricula materials to support both WL and ESOL students in grades K-12. Her next DoDEA role was in Arlington, Virginia as the DoDEA Coordinator for Secondary English and Language Arts where she was able to support the finalization and rollout of the DoDEA ELA Standards for grades 6-12, development of the ELA courses for the DoDEA Virtual School, and the facilitation and written findings from the DoDEA Literacy Task Group.

In 2009, she was selected to serve at McCool Elementary and Middle School in DDESS-Guam as the Assistant Principal of the largest Pre-K through 8th grade school in DoDEA. Following Guam, she accepted the school principal leadership role at Arnn Elementary School in DoDEA-Japan. Ms. Gingrich next served as the Far East Academics Coordinator where she monitored and supported rigorous co-curricular programs and international travel for approximately 1,000 students each school year.

Ms. Gingrich joined the DoDEA Center for Instructional Leadership in 2017 as a Professional Practice and Improvement Specialist to support administrators and above-school level specialists with professional development, the implementation of the Learning Walkthrough and Focused Collaboration, as well as instructional best practices in the Europe West District. She continued the work of the DoDEA CIL in the Pacific East District at Yokota, Japan to develop high-impact educational leaders to ensure academic achievement for all DoDEA students.

Ms. Gingrich is honored to have the opportunity to serve as the Chief of Staff for the Pacific East District and is dedicated to the successful partnerships with families and communities.

About DoDEA

DoDEA plans, directs, coordinates, and manages pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education programs for school-aged children of Department of Defense personnel who would otherwise not have access to high-quality public education. DoDEA schools are located in Europe, the Pacific, Western Asia, the Middle East, Cuba, the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico. DoDEA also provides support and resources to Local Educational Activities throughout the United States that serve children of military families.