Purple Star School program tailored to military families

by Kim Roberts

By Kim Roberts
Clarion Herald

Military families move on average every two to three years. The Purple Star School program, introduced to Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic schools at the end of the last school year, is one tool schools can utilize to respond to the educational and emotional challenges military children can face during their transition to a new school.

Schools that participate in the Purple Star School program help students from military families move successfully to a new school with the following parameters in place: a trained staff member to aid with a new academic environment, student-led programs to create social connections, military family web page on the school website for parents and relevant professional development opportunities for additional school staff.

Everyone wins

“When we found out about the Purple Star School program, we brought it to each school’s attention because we knew it was a win-win program for everyone,” said Martha Mundine, deputy superintendent of Catholic schools. “We always want to do what benefits families in our schools, and this program is beneficial to military families coming into the Archdiocese of New Orleans.”\

According to state legislation passed in 2021, schools that choose to participate should, at a minimum, “designate a staff member as a military liaison to serve as the primary point of contact for military-connected students and families, who will work to identify special considerations needed by these students and families, and who will help to develop training to inform teachers and other school personnel of those special considerations; each Purple Star School should have a dedicated page on its website featuring resources for military-connected students and their families; and each Purple Star School should maintain a student-led transition program to provide peer support for military-connected students.”

Charlton Meginley, the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, said programs such as this were very important to him and his family during his time in the service.

“We need to make sure our children are taken care of,” Meginley said. “I know that in my family, our Catholic faith is everything to us and it has provided stability in an unstable life during all of the moves that we made as a military family.

“When we settled in Louisiana, I started looking at how we could get military children what they needed when they moved to a new school, and that’s when I found this program.”

As of June 5, 40 states, including Louisiana, have received Purple Star School designations, and six states have proposed or pending legislation.

“A Purple Star School designation lets me know that a school system takes what my children have been going through seriously and wants to help them,” Meginley said. “I’m glad that the archdiocese understands the importance of this program and that they are willing to offer it to the schools to take care of military families during the transition to a new community.”

Schools invited to join

Archdiocesan schools can sign up to participate in the program anytime by filling out an application through the Department of Catholic Education and Faith Formation. Once the parameters are met, a Purple Star School designation will be awarded and training will begin. Training could take up to a year to complete.

“We would like to encourage all schools to consider participating in this program,” Mundine said. “Several schools have shown interest, and we are hopeful more will take advantage of this opportunity.”

Currently, the only Louisiana schools that have the Purple Star School designation are in Bossier and Vernon parishes.

“The Purple Star School program is one way to bridge community acceptance of military families,” Meginley said. “Whenever the military is present and supporting a community everyone feels safer. It is important that military families feel safe, wanted and accepted in return. This program is a good way to do that.”

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