Coalition and Community
Written by Mark Fitzgerald
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 7 (September)
This year’s Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) conference featured numerous presentations and discussions about partnerships, military deployment, family separation, special needs, legislation and other topics. Held at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., the three-day event brought together over 1,000 educators, military and academic leaders and industry representatives.
“Today, gathered with military personnel, educators, school counselors and community leaders from across the nation we hold a different line—the line that allows America to fulfill and make real the promises we have made to future generations and pursue the better tomorrow we all prefer,” Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley said at the outset of the event. “Together, we can strengthen our greatest asset—the skills, ingenuity and talents of our youth— and help meet the challenges our military children face throughout their lives. The success and well-being of our youth should be of the highest priority.”
The MCEC is a nonprofit organization that is focused on ensuring quality educational opportunities for military-connected children affected by mobility, family separation and transition. The coalition performs research, develops resources, conducts professional institutes and conferences and publishes resources for all constituencies.
KEYS TO SUCCESS
Dr. Jill Biden, who has been a champion of improving community colleges and advancing educational initiatives that help prepare students for the workplace, was one of the keynote speakers. “As a lifelong English teacher, I admire your commitment to education—because we all know that a solid education is the key to the future success of all our children,” she said. “Each one of you—counselors, teachers, students, parents, education and military leaders—has shown tremendous dedication in helping families, schools and communities become better prepared to support our military children.”
The coalition strives to address the many challenges of helping schools and military installations deliver accurate, timely information to meet transitioning parent and student needs, and in the development and education of children from military families. It is working to share information to develop systems and processes to resolve transition issues for military students.
Some of its recent projects include establishing and maintaining an alliance of school districts for the purposes of communication and networking; determining the support military installations could potentially provide local districts; examining technologies and creating procedures to support information sharing between military impacted school districts; assessing sources of funding to support the alliance; and implementing an action plan to streamline best practices.
Biden, who has been an educator for nearly three decades and currently teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College, went on to talk about the impact military deployments can have on families. “One of the things we hear over and over is what an important role schools play in the lives of military children—and how challenging it can be for families when children change schools due to a parent’s reassignment,” she said. “This often means transferring credits, getting to know new teachers and navigating different school systems. These are complicated issues— and with approximately two million of our military children having experienced a parental deployment since 2001—they are issues that affect many families.”
SPECIAL NEEDS
Last year, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2010 to specify the DoD’s budget and expenditures. Under Section 1781c., landmark legislation for military families with special needs was introduced, including the creation of the Office of Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs (OCSMFSN). “The purpose of the office is to enhance and improve DoD support around the world for military families with special needs (whether medical or educational needs) through the development of appropriate policies, enhancement and dissemination of appropriate information throughout DoD, support for such families in obtaining referrals for services and in obtaining service, and oversight of the activities of the military departments in support of such families,” the legislation reads.
Some of the OCSMFSN’s responsibilities include identifying gaps in services available through DoD for military families with special needs; developing plans to address gaps through appropriate mechanisms, such as enhancing resources and training, and ensuring the provision of special assistance to military families with special needs and military parents of individuals with special needs (including the provision of training and seminars to members of the armed forces); monitoring the programs of the military departments for the assignment of members of the armed forces who are members of military families with special needs, and the programs for the support of such military families, and advising the Secretary of Defense on the adequacy of such programs in conjunction with the preparation of future-years defense programs and other budgeting and planning activities of the DoD; monitoring the availability and accessibility of programs provided by other federal, state, local and nongovernmental agencies to military families with special needs; and executing other matters with respect to the programs and activities of the DoD regarding military families with special needs, as specified by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel.
According to Rebecca Posante, deputy director of the OCSMFSN, who spoke at the conference, one of the biggest challenges for military families who have a child with special needs is providing the level of care required as well as dealing with demands of deployments and relocations. “On the average, a military family moves every two to three years,” she said. “For a family with a special needs member, this means a family must identify and evaluate services at each new location. Families need very specific information. They need to know what they currently receive, from which agency, what qualifies them for the services, and how to access them at the new location. It can be very challenging.”
In her presentation, Posante provided an overview of the law and described the progress of efforts to establish Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMB) support systems throughout the military. The EFMP is a mandatory enrollment program that works with other military and civilian agencies to provide comprehensive and coordinated community support, housing, educational, medical and personnel services to families with special needs. Soldiers on active duty enroll in the program when they have a family member with a physical, emotional, developmental or intellectual disorder requiring specialized services so their needs can be considered in the military personnel assignment process.
Through Military Installations, an online DoD source for installation and state resources available to active duty, guard and reserve service and family members, users can identify points of contact for approximately 55 programs and organizations, both military and civilian, on 250 U.S. military installations worldwide. “For example,” Posante explained, “let’s say you are an Army family relocating to Fort Bragg, and you want the contact information for the Fort Bragg EFMP Coordinator. The directory will generate not only the point of contact for the EFMP Office on Fort Bragg, but will also generate a map with directions. The map also allows you to plot points of interest. Additionally, through Military Installations, families can learn about the programs available to them on the installation, from schools to childcare to finding a job.”
A TOP PRIORITY
As second lady, Biden has made military families one of her top priorities, traveling to numerous military bases to speak with soldiers and their families and endeavoring to raise awareness and show appreciation for the special sacrifices that servicemembers make.
“Last fall, during a visit to Nellis Air Force Base, I met a family—a mother, father and four children,” Biden recalled. “I asked the kids what was the most difficult thing about having a parent deployed, and the two teenage sisters told me, ‘When mom is deployed, we worry every single day about her safety.’ We all know how hard it is to be a teenager. Imagine having to worry about the safety of your mom or dad—on top of all the normal stresses that come along with being an adolescent. School faculty and staff are in a unique position to support children while they cope with having a parent deployed. But sometimes even they cannot solve a child’s problems.”
Biden went on to detail how the Department of Education and the Department of Defense are working together to render quality educational options for military families. The primary areas of focus include efforts to collect data and conduct research about military kids and their schools; support quality education; address the impact of the stresses of military life on school children; and learn from military families about what changes would best serve them.
“As the mother of an Army National Guardsman, I know from experience the unique challenges their families face,” she said. “These children live in communities throughout the country, not just on or near military bases. Educating people in the communities including business leaders, church groups, civic leaders and service organizations is critical to making sure these children and families do not fall through the cracks. These are just a few of the ways the federal government, states and organizations like the Military Child Education Coalition are working to improve the lives of military children and families. But I know there is much work to be done.” ♦