IT'S TIME once again
This is a great way to teach our young citizens about the realities and benefits of government service.
The instructor training is pretty intense, and the selection process normally starts at the individual agency level. So if you are interested in applying to serve as a volunteer, check with your agency first to see if it is conducting an initial screening.
Each instructor must meet certain qualifications, and must be able to commit to one full week of activity.
There are about 15 week-long programs, and each program has two volunteer instructors assigned to it,
To find out more about the program in general, you can go to presidentialclassroom .org, or, as I said earlier, you can check with your personnel office for specific application details.
Another subject that has been of great interest to federal employees over the past several months is the call to reduce the size of government. This was actually a longstanding goal of the previous administration, but when private-sector jobs started drying up so quickly, some people wondered why federal employment continued to grow or at least stay steady.
The answer is clear: People need services from federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor--the list goes on and on.
HIRING FREEZE HURTS
When members of the public think about the federal work force, they often forget all the important work that agencies do to serve those who need help.
For instance, the Social Security Administration has faced a restriction on hiring at a time when it has had a substantially greater workload.
Productivity is reduced at field offices, and work ends up not getting done and phone calls not getting answered because there just aren't enough people to handle the volume of work.
But it is the very people who can least afford to be affected who have to deal with the problems resulting from reduced staffing of federal agencies.
It is not a matter of big government working against the people. Government employees work for the people, and in these difficult times the people who require social services need all the help they can get.
EXTRA $250 FOR RETIREES
Finally, there is good news for federal retirees involving the stimulus tax credit.
Now that the bill has been passed and signed into law, federal retirees will get either a one-time $250 Social Security payment or $250 tax credit, depending on which retirement system they are under.
Michael Kole of Spotsylvania County is a career federal employee. Write c/o Federal Feedback, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401; e-mail news
Email: room@freelancestar.com.