Welcome to the Military Education Services section of the website. On this page, you will find resources to help students and their families to connect with these services.

The District's Military Education Coordinator (DMEC) is established in the Arkansas Code. Title 6, Chapter 28, Subchapter 1, Section 116 (Ark. Code Ann. § 6-28-116) creates the position of DMEC.

The statute requires that all schools with 20 or more children of military families or school districts with 3,000 students overall must appoint a staff member to serve in this role.

April is the Month of the Military Child!

Military Spouse Day or Military Spouse Appreciation Day is celebrated on the Friday before Mother's Day in the United States. For more information, go here.

While Arkansas school districts are required to report our numbers of military families to ADE, there is no mandate for military families to identify themselves. Therefore, we use any information shared in a professional manner with respect to your family's privacy.

If you are a military family and are willing to help us to know more about you, then we hope to use that information to serve our students and their families more effectively.

With that in mind, we invite you to complete our APSD Military Families' Google Form available here.

The Arkansas Council for Military Children also invites military families to participate in its Military Family Needs Survey available here. While this is not from our district, we will have access to aggregate data for our state and region. According to our Military Family Engagement Advisor at ADE, this survey should only take about ten minutes.

The Arkansas Code only establishes a few responsibilities for DMECs:

1. serve as the primary point of contact for children of military families and their parents or guardians in your district

2. have specialized knowledge regarding the educational needs of children of military families and the obstacles that children of military families face in obtaining an education

3. be included in the establishment and adoption of your district and building level engagement plans

Although the Arkansas Code only establishes a few responsibilities for DMECs, there are several implied responsibilities:

1. Ombudsman for military families ... DMECs don’t have to solve every problem for every family personally, but DMECs can get families in contact with the right person to help them.

2. Staff policy advisor ... Arkansas law requires school districts to implement policies and procedures to support children of military families during their transitions; the district board may look to the DMEC for advice.

3. Advocate for children of military families ... because of the DMEC's specialized knowledge about children of military families, the DMEC may make the case for them to others in the school district.

4. Professional development resource ... coordinating or leading training sessions for faculty and staff about the needs of military-connected students can go a long way toward creating a school environment supportive of those kids.

5. Transitional facilitator ... a military family that is moving into or out of the school district may need the DMEC's assistance in transitioning their child to the new environment.

6. Activities planner ... there are all sorts of activities that schools can do to

   recognize and celebrate military kids. DMECs can help organize those

   activities, and the Arkansas Council for Military Children keeps a running list of ideas.

7. Public awareness superstar – DMECs can really celebrate the military by helping the district's communications staff with posts for social media.

As families register a student, they are asked to complete assorted paperwork. Among the items in that registration process will be a way to register your families' military connection.

For additional questions, contact the Federal Programs Coordinator or contact the office by phone during school hours:

• Perritt Primary School at 870-246-2260

• Peake Elementary School at 870-246-2361

• Goza Middle School at 870-246-4291

• Arkadelphia High School at 870-246-7373

Personnel, students, their families, and other interested parties are invited to ask questions, to provide feedback, and to contribute to the process as part of our consultation with stakeholders. Therefore, we invite you to use our APSD Federal Programs Engagement Survey (feel free to provide feedback for this and any of the pertinent sections).

Currently, Goza Middle School and Arkadelphia High School are pursuing Purple Star School status. You can read more about that process on the Arkansas Department of Education's website (here).

This includes a required designee at each campus to serve as a School Military Liaison (SML) and a dedicated webpage about military education services for the campus.

For more information, visit the pertinent pages for GMS (here) and for AHS (here).

AHS offers many opportunities for our students. One such opportunity is the Junior ROTC option. Students and their families are encouraged to check out the Badger Battalion.

For more information, visit the Badger Battalion section of the AHS website (here - temporarily down for updating).

The compiled links to resources below are neither operated nor endorsed by APSD.

Program Guidance and Requirements

• Arkansas Military Child School Transitions Act of 2021

• Arkansas Laws Pertaining to Military Families

• ADE: DESE Resources for Working with Military Families

Potentially-Relevant Programs and Organizations

• ADE:DESE Information for Veterans

• ADE: DESE Licensure by Reciprocity

• Arkansas Council For Military Children

• Arkansas Crisis Center

• Arkansas Purple Star School Award

• Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP)

• Bloom

• HSU Military Science and ROTC

• HSU Veterans Upward Bound

• Military Child Education Coalition

• Military One Source

• National Military Family Association

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline

• OBU Military Science and ROTC

• Our Military Kids

• Supporting the Troops Through Volunteer Service

• Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)

• TRICARE

• Tutor.com (no-cost, online tutoring and homework help 24/7 for qualifying military and their families)

• USO

Other resources will be deposited in our Google Shared Folder (here).

Please complete any surveys for any campus and for the district

• APSD Federal Programs Engagement Survey (feel free to provide feedback for any of the pertinent sections)

Please consider volunteering by campus

• Each campus trains its volunteers for the specific roles and/or tasks

Please let us know how we can collaborate with you more effectively