Parent
Neither a true American nor an international school experience. BAS, soon to undergo a name change to Brussels Unit School (BUS), is truly an anomaly within the DoDEA. Academically it is sound.
Tuition is remarkably more economical at BAS than other Brussels private schools. If it were not for the reduced tuition price attracting NATO Partner nations (i.e., Central Asian or the Balkans) for this “international” school experience, the school could simply not remain solvent – there is simply not enough US DoD children to justify the enormous resources required to justify underwriting a K-12 institution. There are no British, French, Italian, Spanish or German students; those students attend their respective (national) private schools or in the case of Francophones, they can attend any French-speaking public school. There are no US MFA (DoS) or other US embassy dependents at BAS, only DoD.
Unlike most DoDEA schools that have families cycling through every three years, there are some homesteading US families here for unusually long periods and some expat families here K-12. Those families dominate the school landscape in every aspect and have an intimidation effect on faculty, most visibly on coaches where pushy-parents create a flavour of favouritism (e.g., non-US sophomores being named VARSITY team captains, certain non-US students being elected multiple times to student body offices over and over, etc.). American Educators know these roles are important for college applications, but history reveals BAS elects to cater to their long term families.
The school does its best to assemble sports teams and activities resembling those of American or other DoDEA schools; however, those concepts are alien to large portions of the students and families, not embraced and therefore do not contribute to an American experience. Neither is the school reflective of a true international school as its core curriculum and paradigm must follow rigid DoDEA guidelines (e.g., entire student body required to stand and give Pledge of (US) Allegiance every morning and the US National Anthem is played before every sporting event). This creates a bizarre and Orwellian-like atmosphere amongst students, athletes and spectators.
No sense of community. Starting with the Principal, there is no fostering of a nourishing school community atmosphere. Could be a reflection of poor school leadership.
The school does not treat Upperclassmen as emerging young adults; rather, they are treated the same as the school’s younger populations. E.g., there are virtually no freedoms to move about the campus while on break or during the lunch period…not even outside on nice days. Manner of address to upperclassmen is degrading. This tenor is set by the tone-deaf Principal who seems aloof to the unique joys of this tender adolescent period.
