During This Back-to-School Period, Here are a Few Top Tips for Military Families
I am excited to share the latest Military Families for High Standards blog post, in which one of our MFHS spouses, Patti Hunzeker, shares some tried-and-true tips she’s learned from her family’s own experiences navigating many different school systems and tackling many new school years.
Patti Hunzeker, a K-12 educator, Army spouse of three decades, and proud parent of four, understands the many hoops and hurdles that military-connected students and their parents face at the beginning of a new school year.
This piece is just one of a few that will be featured in MFHS’ Back-to-School series.
Scroll down to read Patti Hunzeker’s piece and learn some great ways to approach the new school year as a military-connected family.
Also, feel free to share about Patti’s post by clicking here.
During This Back-to-School Period, Here are a Few Top Tips for Military Families
By Patti Hunzeker
Changing schools is not always easy. Curricula and standards vary from state to state and grade-level or graduation requirements are not always the same. Some schools mark the year with semesters, while others use quarters. Staying on top of your child’s school career while moving through different and varied systems can be a real challenge for military parents.
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned — sometimes the hard way:
1) Be prepared and do your homework. Before moving into a new school district, check out the school system website and any pages for the schools you know your child will attend. Learn as much as you can about how they do things. Don’t hesitate to call the main school system administrative office to ask your questions.
2) If you have a student who is about to enter senior year, be extra vigilant. When we moved from a stateside school to an overseas school for my youngest daughter’s senior year, she was told by her counselor at her new school that she would first have to take an elective before she would be eligible to take a core class that she needed to graduate.
Fortunately, I had saved a hard copy of the course descriptions of all the courses she had taken in her previous high school. Thankfully, the school accepted one of her prior classes as an equivalent elective, thus fulfilling the requirement and ensuring she was able to stay on track to graduate on time. Some advanced classes in high school will also require your student to have taken pre-requisite classes. You may need to show a new school that your child has these classes or the equivalent. Even though course descriptions are online now, it is important to have a hard copy of course descriptions from seventh grade through high school years.
3) When registering your child in a new school, make sure to sign the Military Student Identifier (MSI) form. This form is required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which recognizes military-connected students as a subgroup. It is very important to fill out the MSI form as the information you give personalizes the academic, social, and emotional supports available to your child. It also allows for schools to plan accordingly for your transitioning student, such as including a plan for enrichment or catch-up classes. Remember to look for the MSI in your back-to-school packet or ask for the form when registering your student.
4) As a general matter, I recommend following up with teachers, counselors and the administration throughout the school year to ensure your child is receiving necessary adjustments in curriculum and content as required by ESSA. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s educators: in my personal experience as a teacher, I always appreciated knowing when a child had a deployed parent and welcomed communication about changes in the home from a parent or guardian.
5) Another helpful aid over your child’s school career is keeping a folder in which to place any and all certificates and accolades that they received from 7th grade through high school. This included certificates for academics, sports, clubs, or volunteer hours, as well as notes of thanks or appreciation from a teacher or mentor and even photos of science and math projects. Doing this takes the frustration out of remembering when writing essays for continuing education or for a job application. It’s also amazing to join an older child as they go through the folder, remembering all their past accomplishments and feeling proud about everything that they achieved.
6) Don’t forget to ask other parents in the school system, military-connected and civilian, if you have questions. Most parents are more than happy to share their lessons-learned from time spent in any given school district.
It can feel overwhelming trying to stay on top of your child’s school career, especially when military service requires moving on a regular basis. But with some advanced planning and plenty of checklists, you can be ready for the short and long-term.
An Army spouse for over three decades, Hunzeker is a career K-12 educator and a member of Military Families for High Standards. She currently serves a mentor to K-6 educators in Fairfax County, Va. She and her husband raised four military-connected kids.
This piece was originally published on September 17, 2019 on Medium. The original post is accessible here.