Photo By Scott Sturkol | Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez and Command Sgt. Maj. James...... read more read more
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Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Sheyla Baez Ramirez and Command Sgt. Maj. James Riddle, garrison command sergeant major, engaged with the school board of the Tomah (Wis.) School District on Nov. 17 in the Robert Kupper Learning Center in Tomah.
Both leaders discussed installation news as well as other information in the "service to the Tomah community" segment of the board meeting. The participation was part of regular Army community engagement efforts by Fort McCoy.
Members of the board include Michael Gnewikow, Spencer Stephens, Ricky Murray, Susan Bloom, Teresa Devine, Cathryn Rice, and James Newlun.
During the nearly 3-hour meeting, Baez and Riddle were given time to discuss education items regarding Fort McCoy plus other important issues.
Riddle introduced who he was and was appreciative of what the school district does for Fort McCoy families.
“Thank you for all you’ve done to help … our employees and families. We appreciate it,” Riddle said.
Baez added more praise for the school district, and more.
“The first thing that I'd like to do today is I’d really like to thank the district and the teachers,” Baez said. “You are a super important part of educating and supporting our military children. And like everybody might be aware of, our military children sometimes go through so many moves and so many things. And coming to a district, coming to a community, and having all that support behind them is very, very important. The Tomah community does that very, very well.”
She also discussed the importance of federal impact aid statements for school districts.
“If you have a child where their parents either work at Fort McCoy as military members, civilian or contractors, you know you can turn into the school district a (federal student impact aid) statement,” Baez said. “What this impact a statement does for the district is federal funding gets assigned to each one of those districts to help you to buy computer equipment, to help you to do anything that you need to do to improve the school. At Fort McCoy, we encourage … all of our employees to turn in their documents.”
Baez’s and Riddle’s involvement with the school board is part of an Army garrison’s regular effort to have community engagement and to meet with local leaders as part of Army community relations.
Community outreach is an important part of the Army mission. According to the Army, as stated at https://www.army.mil/outreach, “the Army is about more than ensuring our national security at home and abroad, it’s about giving back and getting to know the communities that support us.”
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”
| Date Taken: | 11.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.18.2025 17:15 |
| Story ID: | 551641 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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