School Liaisons help smooth kids' transition

Photo By David Vergun | Chanel Sharp, school-liaison officer on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va., hands an information packet to a visitor at the Pentagon, where she and others held a Pentagon awareness event, June 11.  

ARLINGTON, VA, UNITED STATES

06.11.2015

Story by David Vergun       

Defense Media Activity - Army   

WASHINGTON - Summer's almost here, and for a lot of Army families, that means permanent change of station orders to a new and often unfamiliar location.

One of the biggest issues of moving for many families is getting their kids enrolled in a new school, said Chanel Sharp, school liaison on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, or JBMHH, Virginia. She and others from JBMHH were on hand at the Pentagon, June 11, to provide information to parents with school-aged children.

There are a host of issues for parents and their children to navigate during this transition, including losing friends from their old school, and adapting to a new school curriculum, Sharp said.

These identity-type issues are very normal, she said. Parents can even expect a certain level of anxiety, depression and other emotions.

For others, the issue could be finding resources for children with special needs. This is where an exceptional family-member counselor from the Soldier's new installation can help, she said.

For other students, particularly high-school students, the trauma of moving is so great, that parents could consider visiting counselors at their new post to help them deal with the grief, she said.

In a way, summer is probably the best time for making the transition to a new school, Sharp said, because the turmoil associated with transitioning to a new school during the school year is not there, and there's more time to become familiar with the new community.

As a school liaison, "my job is to ensure the transition to a new school on the academic side is as smooth as possible," she said.

For many parents, the first thing they often look for is the school with the highest standardized test scores, and one that's closest to their installation, she said.

While those are good determining factors, there are others parents should definitely consider, she advised.

First and foremost, they should consider their children's interests, for example, she said. If they're interested in sports or music or art, they should look for the school that has a curriculum or after-school program with emphasis in their areas of interest. This is where a school liaison officer can help.

Other factors in choosing a community include determining if the school has a gifted-and-talented program, and types of honor courses that are available, she said. Besides that, different schools have different funding and even differing relationships with the surrounding communities.

Another decision is whether or not to enroll their children in public schools or charters, or even home school. Since there are no right or wrong answers to these choices, it's all about choosing what's best for each individual and what their goals are, she said.

In the case of home schooling, the school-liaison can point them to helpful websites or hook the family up with other families who home school so they can share helpful information, she said.

Some installations are located near bordering states so the choice of school and which community in which state is another factor, she said. For example, in Washington, D.C., parents have the choice of moving to Maryland, Virginia or the District, each with its own unique school choices. Again, the school liaison can help parents navigate.

Most people do in fact do the research on their own regarding where to move and which schools their children will attend long before they move, she said. The school-liaison can still be helpful to these Families.

For instance, school liaisons can help ensure a student's grades and other transcript information is successfully transferred from the old to the new school. Even if the old school was overseas, the school liaison will contact them if necessary.

Or, if the student isn't doing well in school, the school liaison can help determine if there's a communications barrier between students, parents and school faculty and can step in and help, without "infringing on the relationship between the parent and teacher." Building a good relationship between parent-student-teacher is so important.

Another useful service, of the liaison officers, is letting the school know when a parent has deployed so that they can be aware of issues that could come up with the children as a result, she said.

Sharp herself is familiar with schools, faculty, students and the classroom environment since she was once a teacher herself. She taught American literature at Bladensburg High School in Maryland.

One of the most important things parents and student should be aware of is the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, or MIC3, she said. This compact, a fairly new development, has been approved by all of the states to accept transferring credits so kids don't lose them when transferring. U.S. territories are now considering the compact as well, according to the MIC3 website.

• Date Taken: 06.11.2015
• Date Posted: 06.12.2015 14:47
• Story ID: 166454
• Location: ARLINGTON, VA, US