JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Military & Family Readiness Center is hosting “PCS’ing with School Age Youth,” a workshop for active-duty and military spouses whose children are transferring to a new school, from 10-11:30 a.m. Aug. 23.
“PCS’ing with School Age Youth” is put on by the JBSA Military Child Education Program-School Liaison Office and will be in Training Room 1 located at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston M&FRC, building 2797, at 3060 Stanley Rd. The workshop is for military parents who are new to the area and are looking to enroll their children in a new school.
Nita Ford-Hightower, JBSA Military Child Education Program-School Liaison Office military child education specialist at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, is leading the workshop. The school liaison office serves the needs of approximately 32,000 military schoolchildren, in grades K-12, enrolled in 23 school districts in the San Antonio area, including three within JBSA.
Services provided by the school liaison office include those for children transitioning into a new school and connecting them to resources to help with their learning.
Ford-Hightower said the workshop teaches parents the process for transferring their children out of their former school at a previous duty station to a new school within the JBSA or San Antonio area.
“We will cover academics, challenges facing the military family, the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Children and we will be giving parents all kinds of resources that they will need in order for them to make the transition smooth,” she said.
The Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Children is an agreement among states to minimize and resolve school transition issues for military children transferring from one state to another, including eligibility, enrollment, placement and graduation.
Topics discussed at the workshop include records parents will need to transfer their child to a new school, including the child’s birth certificate, immunization records, grades and class credits from the previous school so the student won’t have to repeat courses and can meet graduation requirements at their new school.
A checklist of things parents need to transfer their child to a new school will be distributed at the workshop. The checklist can also be downloaded at http://www.jbsa.mil/Resources/Military-Family-Readiness/School-Liaison-Office/, under the new school registration checklist link.
In addition, parents can get information about the Exceptional Family Member Program, or EFMP, which provides services for military schoolchildren with special educational needs, from Beatrice Castellano, EFMP programmer at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.
Ford-Hightower said parents whose children are in the EFMP, especially, need to have their paperwork in order, including an Individual Education Plan, or IEP, to take to the child’s new school because records can usually take two months to get from one school to another. An IEP is a plan each public school child with special needs is required to have.
According to the JBSA Military Child Education Program-School Liaison Office website, the average military family moves six to nine times in a 20-year period.
Since they are constantly on the move, Ford-Hightower said military schoolchildren face many challenges including getting used to a new school, a new environment and trying to make new friends. At the same time, though, military schoolchildren are so use to change they have learned how to adapt to it, she said.
“Academically, military children really do well because they are so groomed and so prepared for the change,” Ford-Hightower said. “One thing I have learned is that parents are equipping their military child well when it comes time to move.”
To register for the “PCS’ing with School Age Youth” workshop at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, contact Ford-Hightower at 210-221-2256 or nita.j.fordhightower.naf@mail.mil.
“PCS’ing with School Age Youth” workshops are held several times a year at all JBSA installations. Parents unable to attend the workshop Aug. 23 at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston can go the next one Oct. 25 at the JBSA-Randolph M&FRC or Nov. 7 at the JBSA-Lackland M&FRC.
For information on upcoming “PCS’ing with School Age Youth” workshops or for services at other JBSA School Liaison Offices, contact Lori Phipps, military child education specialist at JBSA-Lackland at 210-671-8388 or Angela Green, military child education specialist at JBSA-Randolph at 210-652-5321.