Under a new state program, the Kodiak Island Borough School District is eying a special designation that honors schools supporting military families, according to Superintendent Larry LeDoux.
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development launched the Purple Star School designation “to recognize military-friendly schools that show a major commitment to students and families connected to our nation’s military,” according to a statement issued earlier this year. Â
Alaska is the 25th state to implement such a program.
“The Military Interstate Compact for military children ensures that military families are afforded the same opportunities for educational success as other children,” LeDoux said at a Monday school board work session.
The military compact, LeDoux said, also aims to reduce the educational and emotional stress military children encounter when they transfer schools across states when an active-duty parent is required to transfer to a new duty station.Â
However, the Purple Star Award is about more than just the military compact, according to LeDoux.
“It’s about a number of accommodations we can make that will ease the transition of children from one school to another,” LeDoux said.
According to the DOD’s education division, military children are likely to move six to nine times in their school career, or three times more likely to move than their peers.
“It’s difficult to walk into a school on the first day if you don’t know anybody,” LeDoux said. “Military families do this all the time, and this program is designed to support that.”
LeDoux said the military school compact allows states to develop programs designed to address the overall needs of military children, such as child welfare. Alaska was the ninth state to join the compact, accomplished through legislation authored by LeDoux when he was the education commissioner under then-Gov. Sarah Palin.
The military compact also addresses things such as enrollment, school placement, eligibility and graduation requirements.Â
“Different states have different eligibility requirements, and the compact is designed to address this,” LeDoux said. The compact can allow students who might have transferred in their last year of high school to graduate using their old state’s requirements, for instance.
The compact applies only to public schools, and covers children of active duty servicemembers from all branches and the National Guard or Reserve active duty, and for veterans who have been medically discharged or retired for a year.Â
LeDoux said the provisions are important because the district “needs to do more to educate our military families” on the compact.
“We are going to do that as part of our desire to be a Purple Star school,” LeDoux said.Â
Part of that outreach will include a seminar series with military families to explain the compact.
“I’ve found a majority of the military families I’ve spoken with have never heard of the compact,” LeDoux said. “We’re going to work with the Coast Guard command to inform families and make sure all of our schools are educated on the rights under the compact.”
LeDoux said the district “prides itself on that,” but that improvements could be made.
“We thought we were doing good, but when we saw the criteria for the Purple Star award we saw some pretty good ideas there,” LeDoux said.
To qualify, a school or district must maintain a dedicated webpage for military resources, have an active youth welcoming committee and a military family point of contact. It must also have an additional activity demonstrating support of military children and families, such as passing a resolution of support or hosting a military recognition event.
Peterson Elementary Principal Michelle StClair will be coordinating the district’s overall efforts toward the Purple Star School designation.Â
StClair told the school board Monday that she was in contact with the state-level committee overseeing the program.Â
“We’ve already made some changes to the district website as well as the Peterson website to include more resources for our Coast Guard families,” StClair said. “We are working on professional development courses — there are certain ones we have to take and we are reaching out to other schools to have a representative for them.”
In addition, StClair said the goal is to establish welcome committees at each school “to have something in place to welcome new students as they enter the schools.”
The deadline to apply is Jan. 31, with applicants being named in April in conjunction with Military Child Month.
“We have every reason to believe we will meet the criteria,” LeDoux said.Â
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.