Military Education Services

William Jeremy Bell Director of Federal Programs

William Jeremy Bell

Director of Federal Programs

District Military Education Coordinator (DMEC)

700 Clinton Street, Dawson Building #3

P. O. Box 10

870-246-5563

william.bell@arkadelphiaschools.org

Welcome and Overview

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.

Getting to Know Our Military Families

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.

DMEC's Specific Responsibilities

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

DMEC's Implied Responsibilities

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.

District Implementation

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:

  • 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).

Pursuing Purple Star School Status

Currently, Goza Middle School and Arkadelphia High School are pursuing Purple Star School status. Peake will apply during the fall semester of 2024. 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).

APSD Recognizes Our Students of Military Families

In addition to the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement activities throughout the year, Arkadelphia Public Schools acknowledge the special commitment and sacrifices of our military families.

Some of the annual activities include the following:

  • JROTC at public/community events including the Clark County Fair Parade in September

  • celebrating the Military Family Appreciation Month in November

  • Veterans' Day activities for November 11

  • celebrating the Month of the Military Child in April

  • Arkansas' "Purple Up! for Military Kids" Day in April

  • celebrating Military Spouse Day in May

AHS Junior ROTC: Set the Standard, Be the Standard

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 ).

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JROTC in Clark County Fair Parade September 11 2024

Additional Resources

Feedback

Please complete any surveys for any campus and for the district

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