For many schools, "keeping up with the Joneses" means, literally, keeping up with families on the move. Schools across the country are facing the challenge of developing meaningful partnerships with highly mobile parents who are deployed for military duty. NNPS is providing technical assistance to districts and schools that serve students from military families to help them improve connections with highly mobile families.1 What are some examples?
Parents who are away from home for military duty may not be able to attend a workshop at the school building or volunteer during the school day. Schools with well-planned partnership programs are using innovative activities for mobile parents to communicate with teachers, counselors, and with other parents; have input to school decisions; and monitor their children’s academic progress. With new technologies, parents stationed in a different state or country can obtain information, ask questions, and discuss concerns. Schools are using e-mail, websites, and message boards to help parents stay informed and in touch with teachers and school staff.
Promising Partnership Practices 2006 includes examples of innovative practices from schools and districts that serve students from military families. For example, Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach, VA, organized Partnerships with the USS San Jacinto – a pen pal and buddy program with the Navy ship to help students improve writing, geography skills, and behavior. The sailors volunteered their time at the school, assisted teachers, tutored students in reading, wrote to students from Iraq, and become mentors. The mentors were linked with students’ parents and served as role models for students with behavior problems.1
The first step to building partnerships with military families is to know that they are in the school population. Deployed parents may be reservists or in the National Guard, called to active duty. Schools may be unaware that military-linked family transitions are occurring. With attention to these matters, schools can create a welcoming environment for the parent who remains at home or for grandparents or other family members who are caring for children while a parent is deployed. For example, Point O’ View Elementary School in Virginia Beach conducted their Beginning of School Year Cookout. New and returning families met teachers and each other, enjoyed a picnic, visited classrooms, and built a sense of community. Good partnership practices help caregivers and students feel less isolated and, ultimately, contribute to student success.
Cecelia S. Martin
cmartin@csos.jhu.edu
1For more information on technical assistance for districts and schools with families in this military, visit the NNPS website, www.partnershipschools.com, and click on the Military Child Initiative. For complete descriptions of the activities in this article, see Promising Partnership Practices 2006 on the website in Success Stories In the Spotlight.