Ep 137 | Classrooms & military: mutual support?

SPEAKER_02 0:00

They're used to moving every two to three years. So with these programs, if you come in and you pair someone up with someone who's not in the military, it can work, but they don't really have that firm understanding of what it's like and the rigors of being a military family. So when possible, we pair them up, the the kids up together. So they're like, oh, your dad's in a navy or your mom's in a navy and so on and so forth, or whatever branch of service. So they have that connection off the get-go. So it really helps their adjustment.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. For those of us who are civilians, we might view our schools and the military as separate entities who happen to cross-sect. But the truth is, Escambi County has a unique partnership with our military families. My next guests are the Naval Air Station Pensacola Command Master Chief and the District Military Liaison. Today they're going to pull back the curtain to share what military families add to our community and how we uplift them. Supporting student success and community collaboration, Jim Wallace and Monica Willis. Thanks for being here, guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Awesome. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

So it's possible that the average person might think, okay, so military families, they move here and then they enroll in the school in whatever zone they're in, and then that's it. They're just like anybody else. But that's not exactly how it works, is it?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Yeah, no. Well, it can most definitely work that way. But a lot of districts, including Scambia County around the country, have programs like they call them school choice or whatever vernacular they want to use, where within a district, if there's a preferred school that you would like your children to go to, you can request through the district to be able to attend those schools. And there's right and left lateral limits and rules that go along with it. And it's great because you can have families who live on the installation, but there's a particular school they want their kiddo to go to, they can request that school. And more often than not, they're able to attend that school.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Is there limits to the schools that the families can send their kid to, like if the school is at capacity, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 2:30

So typically our enrollment services work with them on a case-by-case basis. But like Mr. Wallace said, we absolutely work with them and more times than not, they get to choose the school that they're going to attend. For instance, any kid on Naval Air Station Pensacola or Corey, if they choose to go to Bailey Middle, although they are typically on our overcapacity list, we do allow military to go to that school. And that is pretty well true throughout our district. Unless there are overcapacity, sometimes we'll work with that family to find a better fit or the best fit for their student.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

So you really work with the family to assess their needs and play matchmaker a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Oh, I love that. So what is the first system or gesture of support when a military family moves here? Like what's what's thing one for helping that family get adjusted?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Okay. So for us for the school, even as they enroll, there are questionnaires and they will indicate yes, they're military, no, they're not. At that time, it will kind of prompt us. And we have military family life counselors, which we call M FLACs in military.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Of course, we have to have an acronym for that. Otherwise, why are we here? Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

We have a lot of acronyms.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Just a few. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So then the M FLAC can actually work with them. But our schools work really well, our data specialist and our enrollment services, and they actually will work with the other schools that the students transitioning in from. When they go to leave, we work as a transition out, but they immediately get on a list. We have, gosh, so many programs anchored for life, student to student, those type of things that as a student transitions in, they're kind of paired and buddied with someone else because we know that kids, one of the huge things is walking into a lunchroom full of people you don't know. Sure. Yeah. So we do lunch bunches, different things to kind of introduce them. And that's for all kids. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

And this relationship doesn't start like, hey, we just moved here, it's your first day of school. The military families will know, hopefully, well in advance. Sometimes it's shorter timeline, but the families do a really good job of reaching out to us and we connect them with the school before they even get here so they can start this relationship and they can prep the kids in the school and you know, hey Jimmy, you're gonna have a buddy coming in in a few weeks, and this is what we're gonna have you do. And those types of things. So it's not sprung on the family when they get here, and it's not sprung on the schools when they first get here. They actually have a little bit of time to prepare.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

And what are those programs that Monica mentioned, the anchor for like I have not heard of those, and maybe our listeners aren't familiar with those?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

So they're based on the percentage of military connected kids in that school, and then the school, the military actually, we have some different MFLAX and school liaison officers, different people that will work to help us get those programs in that school. And it's specifically for our military-connected kids, but it's just like a buddy system. It's like you or I would think of a student council or a mentor, a peer mentor, that type thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

But you mentioned three programs. How are those each different from each other? Can you give me like a one-sentence descriptor of each of them?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

So Anchored for Life is basically an elementary student to student is middle and high school. As long as I have been in the district, we've done some version of it. But as we were saying, the acronyms change, the program names change.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah, and and with that too, and I know the M FLACs work really hard, is if they know a military family's coming in, say coming from Japan, they'll look for another military family that's been in the school for a while that maybe came from Japan and be able to connect them because who knows better what it's like to come to the new school, especially if you're living abroad, than someone that's already done it. So that's one big connection with the military kids is they're used to moving every two to three years. So with these programs, if you come in and you pair someone up with someone who's not in the military, it can work, but they don't really have that firm understanding of what it's like and the rigors of being a military family. So when possible, we pair them up the the kids up together. So they're like, oh, your dad's in a navy or your mom's in a navy and so on and so forth, or whatever branch of service. So they have that connection off the get-go. So it really helps their adjustment.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

I can certainly see that because in Pensacola, you know, we're such a unique town because so many of the kids grew up together. And so that backstory similarity. Oh, did you go to this elementary school? Yeah, I remember Miss So and So. She had that funny laugh. And then you have that common thing. So for military kids, oh, you were at, you know, Off it Air Base. I was at Off It Air Base. And do you remember the bowling alley? Yeah, we loved the bowling alley.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yeah, absolutely. And I know my kids who are now grown, when they were going through the public school systems, that was always a hard part for them to break into those friend groups who had lived on the same street their entire lives, have known each other since they were in the third grade and now they're in middle school. So trying to break into those. And I mean, just to be frank, kids can sometimes not always be the nicest at that age. So if you have a large military population, it's it's nice for that. And and I will say, and I just want to prose this with like there's no paid advertisement or anything for this next part, but I've been in the Navy 32 years. I've lived all around the world and all around the country, and I've never been to a more supportive military-friendly town than Pensacola. That's 100%. It is just amazing how the military families and the military personnel are looked upon and treated. And frankly, almost put on a pedestal here in Pensacola. And it's it's truly, truly amazing.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

And that's great to hear coming from another standpoint because we feel like we do that and we try to do that, especially in the schools. So that's really wonderful to hear.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

It is. I'm trying not to tear up. That that makes me so happy to hear because even though I wasn't raised here, I have roots here, and I get very passionate about people enjoying their experience in Pensacola, especially military families, because I grew up in in a different military town. And those relationships were so important to my development, to my worldview, even because I got to meet kids that had been places. And so I got to ask them, oh, you got to go to Okinawa? What was that like?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Sure. But it, you know, and and and when it comes to that, and me in particular, is I'm somewhat of a one-off because I don't have an aviation background. Uh I have nothing to do with naval aviation before I came to Pensacola. So you get a lot of folks that come back here because they started their career here, whether as an enlisted maintainer or a pilot or some sort of aviation. Uh, so they want to come back in an uh instructor role or everyone falls in love with Pensacola. And I never really understood it. I just like every everybody wants to come to Florida, right? Right. And then and then the only reason, honestly, why I came here is because I was coming from overseas and my older brother, who is a naval aviator, was stationed here. And I was like, Yeah, okay, man, sounds cool. Let's do it. And then after getting here, I can say I get it. And I wish there's other places in the country that had the relationships that we have with the Scammy County Public Schools because it's so great for the kiddos and it's so great for the families. And you want to talk about like warfighter readiness and all that stuff. Nothing sets a service member at ease more than knowing that their family's taken care of when they're gone. Right. So we need to be focused for what's going on downrange and not worried about, hey, my kid getting a quality education. And from my perspective, that that doesn't happen in Pensacola. So I mean, can't be a personally I'm very appreciative for that. And I'm frankly kind of jealous that didn't get any of it for my kiddos.

unknown 10:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

So you said benefit to the families. So let's talk about what do civilian families benefit from having military families being so integrated into the community and the schools.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Well, I think a lot of the things that we see in the schools and in the classrooms, the kids bring such a different breadth of knowledge that they come from all these great backgrounds and they've had all these wonderful experiences. And you know, if you've got that teacher tapping into it, when I was in the classroom, we would always talk about different places and the kids would bring stuff in. Parents would come in and speak, they would volunteer, and it made a huge difference to the learning. It made it the kids, like you said, and similar to your background that hadn't traveled. It was kind of their way of seeing the world from a different perspective. And it was amazing. It was wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

It was always neat to see my kiddos come home and talk about their day and then be like, yeah, we were learning about Italy and the Coliseum came up, and I was like, I've I've been there. And the kids were like, What? No, seriously, I've been there. Like it's cool. And then it really just opens up the friend group and it builds relationships that are lifelong just because of a connection you normally wouldn't have.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

And a lot of times our Pensacola families will kind of take the same path, like we were saying, through aviation. So they've been to a lot of the same bases. And that connection, once they start talking, that's where that connection's really made.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

Yeah, I mean, and I can't really speak on like other school districts or or anything like that, but you know, you talk about blended families, and a lot of military families meet their um significant other overseas who may be from that country, and then they come back. And I know when I first got here, one of our first meetings, uh, Monica, they were doing uh like an around the world thing corner, around the world corner. Yep, yeah, and it was Japan. And I was like, oh, I just came from Japan. And it's like, oh yeah, we got this um student who also just came from Japan and his mother's Japanese. It's actually I think she came in in her kimono or official like dress and then was actually speak a little bit in the native tongue and and actually teach a few things to the kiddos. And you're just not gonna get that in I don't know, Oklahoma. I mean, I don't just make it up a state, but I didn't get it as a kid growing up in the Phoenix, Arizona public school system. So I think that's just one key benefit. I think it's overlooked sometimes. And it's that cultured piece, which I don't know the statistics behind it, but there's data out there that says kids that are exposed to the arts at a young age are more successful academically in the future. And to me, that's a version of art that we bring.

SPEAKER_00 12:37

Right. And right now, based right on that data, we're focused a lot on the fine and performing arts for that reason because the kids are learning. And on that same tour that we were talking about, we did have a a Japanese family that helped with Global Corner after school. But we also I remember you and I walking in and seeing drums that we had purchased. Oh, yeah. The African drums. Yes. And you hooked us up with one of your Chaplin Dylan. Yes. Yep, yeah. So we were able to, you know, contact him, get him in, get him talking to, and it was it's those things that we do all the time. And that was just probably gosh, a 10-minute tour through a school during a military council meeting.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

And what were the drums for?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

There were like native African drums that they do in some of their native ceremonies in in parts of Africa. And Chaplin Dillon was like he had these things and he's like a professional, like went to Africa and trained and learned it was amazing. As he was doing through his chaplaincy stuff. And he comes back and the first time I heard him play these drums, I'm like, yo. What is that? You know? Wow. So you know, we talk through united in education for the success of every child, just simple things like that, where we build our networks together for the benefit of our children, military and non-military, because we're blended together in a classroom. I mean, it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

So, what happens at the base for the students and the kids? Because we've been talking about like the classroom and all of the magic that happens in interpersonally and the accidental gifts of, oh, he happens to have African drums and he's excellent at them. I love those happy surprises. What kind of programs are at the base in more of the systematic sense that help support military families and help also educate civilian kiddos?

SPEAKER_00 14:22

So a lot of things that we do, we we do tons with the base. I feel like I work with the base honestly as much as I work with our staff.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

So, like today we have a parent night at Washington High School because the Flight Academy wrote a grant through the Children's Trust, and we're taking all the middle school and high schoolers out there. So tonight, Washington High School will have their parents come in. The National Flight Academy staff from the base will be there, they'll educate them, they'll invite them, and we'll sign them up to go out there and they'll spend a week learning STEM and hands-on and health science stuff. So we do a ton of that. We are always out there. In October, we, for the first time, we had a huge initiative, and Lieutenant Commander Pageant came out and spoke again at the military council and got us all involved. Yep. And there were great STEM things, but we took about 800 to 1,000 kids out there, middle and high school, and they went through STEM activities. They watched a performance, the blues flow, the Thunderbirds. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

So what that was, we do the homecoming air show for the Blue Angels every year. So it's their final show of the season. This past year we did it with uh the Blue Angels, which was the first time in a very long time. And it was super amazing. And we worked with NASA, so it's really the air show is a two-day event. It's that Friday, Saturday, and that's open to the public or whatever. But on the Thursday before, we do a STEM day, and it's kind of the final air show practice day. So we worked and we brought the kiddos out, and we had NASA out, and they had some NASA aircraft and a space bell and stuff like that. Oh my gosh, seriously? Yeah, it was exclusive access to all these STEM activities and basically an air show without the general public. And it was just for the Escambia County schools. Well, actually, I think we included some Santa Rosa and even across Alabama, some of the Baldwin county schools participated. But we had a bunch of kiddos come out, and it was just amazing. So amazing that we're actually gonna incorporate it again this year.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Oh, okay. I was about to ask.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yes, right, right. Yeah, we are that that is so special. I mean, do you feel like the kids knew how because sometimes it's lost on kids, like how special something is. Did they know, like, listen, kids, you've got blue angels, you've got thunderbirds, you've got NASA, and this is like a private event for them.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I think we have one extreme or the other. I think we have kids that are so used to living there and seeing the blues, but we had so many kids and so many parents reach out and say, Oh my gosh, my kid could not quit talking about this. And the kids were, I mean, you have that kid standing there that for the first time really understands that, hey, being a naval pilot or any type of pilot, it's within reach. And this is the way I can do it. It it was life-changing, I would say, for a lot of our students and their families.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah, because you connect what's seen to what's possible. And then you're also talking about STEM. So you're like, oh, school. I should do good in school. Right. That's helpful tool. Which actually is a question that I wanted to ask one of you. I'm not sure who's more qualified to answer, but in some places they teach different things at different times. So, like maybe math in New Jersey multiplication would happen in one grade, while in Pensacola, Florida, we might teach it at another grade. So, what does that curriculum continuity look like for military families? How does that work?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

So that one's tough because there are nuances between school districts. I would I would love to say that you know there's one set curriculum and stuff like that. But I I'm not sure exactly what the Iscamie County School's policies are, but what I can say is they work really, really hard to find the square hole for that round peg coming from another district so kids don't have to repeat courses or things of that nature.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Because that's the bottom line.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Because it can be a challenge, right? It can be a challenge. And I remember going through that with my own kiddos as we move school districts, and it's like I remember my son in his junior year in high school saying, Well, I took that in my freshman year at this other school, now I gotta do it again here because it's a requirement for graduation or whatever. So I can say that Iscamity County does uh their absolute very best to make sure that we're not having to repeat courses, or if kids are behind because the school district isn't as advanced as what they were here or whatever, they finding that right fit without making the kid feel like they're academically insufficient or advanced.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Yeah, because that's the last thing you want to feel as a new kid to an area is oh great, I have to do effort, extra effort to socially, and I have to do all this extra effort and I have to go to a a class, a special classroom when no one else is or whatever it is that kid might be sensitive to. That is not ideal.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

And I think that was a great description. That's absolutely, I mean, we all try to stay stand, we have standards throughout the country, throughout the state, but we all know that different pacing guides, different paces, so we do. I mean, that that was exactly we try to work right with them and figure out where we can fit them in without making them repeat a class or go sit in a class with a ninth grader when they're in 11th grade. Right. That's huge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Iskamy County does that really, really well. And I think that's just because the affinity they have for the military and the large military population that we have here. Yeah, that's one of the things. I think that's go overlooked. And and I don't think we've never discussed that. We haven't actually. So I mean, so that's really good. That is great. Just another example of how the Iscamia County public schools just really look after their military and understand that there's impacts to the family and to the kiddos because of their parents' job. So I mean, that's I don't have enough great things to say about the relationships that we have.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

We don't exist in vacuums. You know, we're spaghetti, not waffles, as I like to say. Right. This has been such an excellent conversation. Before we wrap up, is there anything else that you want to add? Any other thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Based on what we just said, we do have every April we do month of the military child, and we do it throughout the district. So you will start seeing on the news different things special going on. And it is just that because the kids do. I mean, the parents may be serving in the military, but that that kid is too, and they have a lot of impact. So we really try to do a whole lot during that month to make it special, to really celebrate them. So that's what we have coming up.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

What do you do in April that is unique?

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Oh gosh. We'll send out tons of resources through um the military, through us, but they'll do anything. You can walk in the schools and some of the halls will look like Maudigral, but it's all red, white, and blue. Students will write letters, they'll bring pictures of their parents in uniform, they will go to lunches. Their parents are always welcome to come in. They'll do a lunch with them, a breakfast with them, they'll have guest speakers in. I mean, you name it. It's a great time to walk through our schools and remember why you live in Pensacola. It's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

I love that. Are there any opportunities for like volunteering or mentoring? I I'm just curious if there is a way that other families can plug in and be a part of the support.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Oh, yeah. I mean, there's always volunteer opportunities. We're always looking for service members on the base to go and help volunteer at the schools and mentorslash tutor the young kids in certain aspects. And again, that's just another touch point of mentoring and coaching and giving back to the community, you know, and we do times.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

And just to say, like, hey, that is realistic and it is achievable, and I want to do what you do, right? And that's how we build the next generation and you know, maintain that most powerful military in the world, I'll say it.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Oh yeah, absolutely. And you know, it's funny because until we sat here and talked, we talk all the time, Bruce, their PR. We are always touching base, probably three times a week. I'm working with the Navy base on something and we're getting it going. And you never stop to really think about it until someone like you actually ask us the question of what we do, and it just kind of comes natural between all of us.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah. Well, that's I think what's so powerful about these conversations, especially ones like this that are recorded and can be consumed at any time, is you don't realize you're living in a vacuum because you're the one in the vacuum. It's like asking the fish, hey, how's the water? Like, right, my hey, the fish doesn't know because it's in the water. And so by understanding the aspects of our county that make it special and unique and supportive and collaborative, like it really you put your shoulders back and you feel a sense of pride and you feel a sense of ambassadorship when you meet someone who is visiting or who just moved there. And I think that is what creates the culture of a city or a town.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

And I think that also when our kids drive through the base, whether it be on a school bus, in a car, when they're going to all these cool events that we're able to provide that I just assumed other counties and other districts get to, but they don't. Our relationship is so unique. When they drive through and they see the military base, I think, like you said, it is. It's such an honor to be on that base that I think it does have an impact on those families.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Absolutely. Well, the two of you are having an incredible impact. And thank you so much for having this conversation with me today.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

Yeah, no, thank you. You're welcome. Thanks for having us. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Scambia County Public Schools.