001that Dr. Le. All right, welcome everyone to the state advisory council meeting for April 20th, 2026. This is our quarter 3 meeting. Um, in front of you is today's agenda. I will walk through that relatively quickly and then we'll um get started with our call to order, which is our first agenda item before you. We'll have approval of our previous meeting minutes open for public comments. We have an agenda item on council member updates. this quarter. Then we'll move on to item five, our 2026 council priorities, where we'll review the priorities of the council, um review some um action steps and results for quarter 3. Then we will take a moment to acknowledge the month of the military child. Um we are excited to introduce a new agenda item this quarter, the school lays on
002officer update. So, we will hear from member Hendris and then we will open up for council member and staff reports. Um, we have a scheduled update from council member Dr. Lei. Um, this is also an opportunity for in any council members to share updates um from their their regions or installations in the state. We'll go over some upcoming events between now and our next council meeting and then we will adjourn. So, with that, I will move us on to our call to order, which I do not There we go. [sighs and gasps] Um, I have I am expecting a um there we go. A proxy for one of our members. I see her now on my screen. So, um Jessica, you are not on the slide, but when I call for for member Howard, you
003can um acknowledge your your uh attendance as her proxy. Starting from the top, Dr. John Craft. Jessica Garza. >> I'm here. >> Brenda Howard. >> Jessica Dean. On behalf of Brenda Howard here. >> Welcome. [clears throat] Captain Bo Huffedler. >> I'm on. Good morning. >> Good morning. Good afternoon. Colonel Colonel J. >> I am here. And I also have uh Miss Janette Gomez, our school leaison officer online with me. Um I do have a hard stop at about five minutes to the top of the hour. So >> if we do run a little bit long, I'll have to leave at at about 1:55. >> All right, we will roll through these items as quickly as possible. Uh Dr. Ann Le here, present. >> Myself, Jessica Snder, present. Simone Wland Hendris, >> present. Madison Yandell, Technical
004Sergeant Nolan Zapeda, and then we have our vacancies, which we'll address um in one of our items today. We have not two but three Jessica's on board today. So, I would ask if you are addressing a Jessica during this meeting, you may want to include the last name. Um, welcome to you all. We'll move on to approval of previous meeting minutes. We will not review the minutes in this item. Um they're sent out to council members in advance um for you to review. Um this is an opportunity if you have additions or edits um to uh uh address those. Otherwise um I would wait for I just need a a a motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. That's for you council members. It's simply I move to approve the minutes um from
005and you could say from the February 2026 meeting. >> I move to approve the minutes from the February 2026 meeting. >> I have a second >> and I second that motion. >> Any objections hearing? None. The minutes are approved. Um, other than this administrative task, just as a reminder, those minutes are a good um, reference if you've missed a meeting, just to catch up on discussions from the previous meeting, including if you had to jump off a little early. Um, these meetings are also recorded and posted um, online, and those links are shared with council members between meetings. And you're welcome to distribute them as well to anyone you've uh, think might be interested. We did not receive any requests for public comment. This is an open meeting. Um so uh an open meeting noticed
006is posted. Uh a minimum of 10 calendar days prior to our meeting. Um no request for public comment or testimony was submitted. So we will continue moving to our council membership updates. Um you may have noticed on our call to order that we have four vacancies. Um wanted to let you know um that we have um made some progress actually in our council priorities. We'll talk uh a little bit about this um as well, but um we um have sent out letters of interest um to a couple of um suggestions, recommended recommendations we received from council. Um so while we have not placed um a council member in these four vacancies, I hope to have at least two um in place by our July meeting. Um, I think we're in good uh shape in terms
007of next steps with identifying and communicating with individuals from these positions for these positions, but if that changes, I may reach out to to council members again offline before the July meeting um for additional uh support communication. That being said, always open um to uh recommendations. So, you're welcome to submit those to me directly as well. But those positions, just to run through, um we have two um legislative uh appointed positions. Um Brenda Howard serves um as the chair of the House of Representatives design. Um and our uh chair from the Senate committee um that designate is vacant and so we will work with that office to fill that position. Um of note, uh we also have a superintendent representative from a military school district. That means um uh we have three um school districts
008that are actually um placed or part of an installation. And so that we envision just being a rotating position. [gasps] Um and so Dr. Bernie Roer completed his term and an extension of his term. Um he is willing to rejoin us uh if we are um not able to uh place um one of the other two superintendent if they're not able to join the council. Um but we are have reached out to them both um and hope to have an update for you in July. Our district administrative representative um also termed out and so we um have a couple of letters of interest out for um administrators and that's just a really broad ad can be a broad administrative role. Um, previously our our member was from Colleen ISD. So, we were are reaching out
009to a couple of other districts so that we can provide other opportunities that could also align with one of the council priorities to um reach out and engage to uh districts that we may not always think of when we think of military connected families. Um, we know our students can be placed across the state but certainly have some concentration of areas. Um but it's sometimes those students who are in the less traditional school districts um not directly or adjacent directly located within or adjacent to um an installation are sometimes the students that inter uh encounter the most barriers and obstacles um because the administrators might not be as aware of the contact the compact and its provisions. Um so hope to have an update um there and also have um reached out to uh candidates
010suggested by council um for the parent representative. So with that we'll move on. Oh I did before we move on. This was a recommendation from council one of our council members Colonel J. Um a one pager would be helpful in recruitment of um of council members and filling our vacancies. And so we have drafted a draft um one pager um that kind of lays out first what the compact is just really briefly uh the council itself um the connection between the national office um which when we talk about Mick 3 we're talking about the military um uh interstate children's compact commission 3 that's the national oversight organization that supports the interstate a compact on educational opportunity for military children which we refer to as the military compact. So it makes that distinction lays out role
011um and purpose of the council as well as expectations for meetings. And so you'll notice there's a little bit of a draft stat uh stay up here. Um we will upload that into the the space for the council um give folks an opportunity to review provide any feedback between now and the next meeting. and then I'd like to have council members just to sign off and approve on that document um at our July meeting. So, thank you for that suggestion um Colonel J. While it is in draft form, we've gone ahead and taken advantage of it and used it to um to send out to um a couple of the um individuals um who we had reached out to uh about recruitment for council membership. So, um thank you for that suggestion. We will finalize
012that with the council next meeting. somewhat related. Um I had new council members introduce themselves to the council when they join. Um but um because we have such a rolling membership, don't want our existing members to have to reintroduce themselves each time. And so we uh talked about having a a bios um that we post internally in our shared space. There is a template um that will also be uploaded. I don't think it's in our in our uh workspace just yet, but um we will upload that after this meeting. I think I've already completed mine. I will not um in in this audience um share that those details, but I have an myself as an example there for you to see. It's a very basic framework. um it's just an opportunity to insert a headsh
013shot and a couple of things about yourself and then we'll share that with new members in advance um so they can get to know um existing members a little bit before they join their first meeting. So that is our council membership update. Um I am going uh going quickly Colonel J because I want to make sure that we um get uh some of our more substantive updates covered before you need to to log off. Um, so I'm just going to keep speeding along and move us into our 2026 council priorities. Um, we'll take a couple of pauses here though, um, if there are any suggestions for additional activities. But this item, the 2026, uh, or the council priorities agenda item, really is I I expect to be a standing item to review with the council
014each meeting. Um, these were the priorities that were discussed um, at the beginning of the fiscal year. The council follows the the fiscal year from September through August. Um and then uh at the end well at each quarter um I plan to um share with the council any progress or steps uh what we also call results that have occurred um since our last meeting in supporting or um uh actualizing or operationalizing these priorities. Um we have um Dr. Dr. Lelay helped to create a a framework, a priority plan framework for organizing our priorities and thinking about um our priorities around three um primary focal points, our stakeholder engagement and outreach, training opportunities and resource dissemination and strategic partnerships and leadership engagement. And so those six priorities um I did not read through them, but they've
015been sorted into um one of those focal points. um that doesn't always fit just in one place. Um there can be some overlap. Um but we've organized this the concept of just continuing efforts of awareness of the military interstate compact and the work of this council as a part of our stakeholder engagement and outreach. And then that I mentioned this uh priority earlier increasing our communication with districts that have lower military connected students enrollment. under training opportunities, the council's discussed um bringing case studies both to the council but um to our broader audience to share. Um and a second um priority or or activity here is promoting the criteria for purple star campuses. And then under strategic partnership and leadership engagement is we had identified reinforcing the connections with the school leaison officers and filling
016our vacant council positions. So this is just a framework to help think about those focal areas and what kinds of um uh prior our priorities within those focal areas and in this next line you'll see our action steps and results when we report out on these priorities. So this slide um breaks out those two goals in the priority plan that we'd identified under stakeholder engagement and outreach. Um across the first row you'll see in terms of just general awareness u of the military compact one of the act uh action steps that was discussed at a previous meeting with the development of a communication plan. On the right, you'll see our quarter results. Um some steps we've made towards um those efforts and that communication plan was um in our last meeting, we talked about putting
017out some communications related to the month of the military child. And we'll be talking about that a little bit more if you're not familiar with the month of the military child um as an agenda item. But we put out some letters to installation commanders. And then again um Colonel Ju had um suggested well that's a great place um to start um what about school districts? And so Dr. Lay's team here at TEA put out um a social media announcement through TEA's uh social media account and also distributed a newsletter. I think in the future there are other newsletters that HMAR is Dr. Lay's um team the highly mobile at risk population which is where military connected student support is housed within the the agency. Um, but we have other newsletters that we might want to
018expand into in the future. Counselor, uh, newsletters. Um, uh, subject areas specific are are the ones I work with directly, which may or may not be, um, as farreaching as as a counselor newsletter, but that's something we can explore um, in the future. What I'd like to actually do um, talk about on this step um, is something a little different we haven't done in the past. When we talk about developing a communication plan, um what I'd like to do is pull together a small subcommittee of council members outside of our of our quarterly meetings um to come together and create um uh a draft communication plan together. Um I know we have different capacities and skill sets uh among the council. I'm not going to put people on the spot today, but I have a
019couple of people in mind that I'll be reaching out to directly to to uh see if they would be interested in in serving on this subcommittee for the development of a communication plan. Um, but I do offer to anyone and everyone if that is something that you would be interested in, please let me know. um just a couple of folks that we can meet offline in a little less formal setting um and talk about um what uh opportunities exist um throughout the throughout the year um and then we can bring that communication plan to a future council meeting. Um so just planting the seed now if it's something that you would be interested in a subcommittee to develop a communication plan um that would include things like month of military child but other um other
020outreach and communications um that we can put out as a council to our districts and to our installations. Please let me know. Um but you may also be getting an email from me to uh see if it's something you might be interested in. Um, moving to the next, um, increased communication with districts with lower military connected student enrollment. Um, these are a couple of notes that I've pulled just highlights from Dr. Lelay's report and she'll be talking um, with you and her staff report um, more about some of the activities that her team here at TEA has been doing to um, support uh, military connected students across the state. But I really wanted to highlight um one of her action steps is she has put together um a group of military champions. She's talked about
021them in previous meetings, but this is a representative at each educational service center in our state. Um for those of you who uh don't work as directly with the public school system, Texas is such a big state. We're broken into 20 regions and within each region is an educational service center that supports the districts in that region. Some of those regions are probably the size of um some of our states, which that's might be an exaggeration, but um uh our our regions, even our region service centers have a really broad um uh uh scope. Um but by having that um military champion in every region um that really has the opportunity to reach those students and those those campuses and districts, administrators, counselors and teachers um who are not necessarily um directly in a surrounding
022area around an an installation certainly those um staff members and families but but even beyond. So by extending that to all 20 regions, I think works towards that um advisory committee priority of increasing our communications with those districts. And so I'm not going to go into a lot of these results. I've pulled out a couple um but you'll be hearing more about um some of these those those highlights in Dr. Lay's report. But one the second thing I do want to point the second action step towards increasing this communication um that the uh council has discussed and that is data collecting and reviewing the student data. The last bullet point under results um Dr. Lay's team has updated uh their statewide um military school indicator data infographic. She's shown that graphic before. We'll make sure
023you have copies available in the workspace. Um but I think getting digging in and reviewing that data um is a step that this council has not yet taken but that we can address in a in a future meeting. So we have the data. What do we do with it? Um can certainly be a future topic of conversation. Before I move on to another to the next um focal area, um are there any um comments, questions, or potential other action steps um that council members would would like to address related to stakeholder engagement and outreach? >> Um hey, this is Colonel J. for the um first goal there about developing a communication plan. And is that going to be limited to council members only or can anybody jump into that subcommittee? >> That is a great
024question, Colonel Ju. I um I would like to limit it to council members or their design. Um and I meant to mention that so I'm so glad that you asked if um you yourself don't have the capacity to serve but have someone um sitting in your office right now who might have some capacity uh to to serve. Um I would accept a designate from a council member. Um so great question. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate >> Absolutely. >> So this is a fairly new approach for the council. So, um just I will bring this opportunity up each time that we review our quarterly results um that if there are any um new action steps or activities that you would like to bring up or suggest um I will create space for that each meeting.
025We will though at the end of each um fiscal year review our priorities to determine what have we met that might roll off of our priority list. what um do we no longer um uh feel is needed um what's ongoing um or needs additional work and at that time um we can also add any action steps that and goals that we want to set for the upcoming year but you'll have that opportunity at a quarterly basis as well so that I will move to our next focal area which is training opportunities and resource dissemination um these um we had identified bringing in case studies And so while we do not have a case study for the council to review today, we have added as I mentioned in the agenda a new agenda item, the schoolison
026officer update and this will provide an opportunity um to learn a bit more about the school as officers, the role that they play um as well um as to dig into some of the case studies that things that they're encountering um as an opportunity both to um I hear about their work, the work that they do. Um, but also just kind of firsthand connect when we talk about obstacles and barriers, what those look like, as well as how u we troubles troubleshoot and I and what some of the solutions are and workarounds around for those um those issues. Um so we think that will be an opportunity um in that new agenda item to address that priority. Another area that was identified or action step um for promoting training opportunities and resource dissemination was to
027promote the criteria for purple star uh for the purple star uh campuses and designation. Um there are some highlights listed here that again Dr. Lei's team um has um accomplished and been working on this quarter. So you will hear more about these activities um in her update. Um, but I also wanted to mention um the last bullet point there is that Dr. Lelay has been invited to join a national purple star panel um as a Purple Star state lead. And so um kudos to her for that recognition and we are excited to to hear um report back um from that panel um and how we can continue to support Purple Star. I do want to make a quick distinction here um I think um that may not be clear. The military compact um is is
028separate and apart from purple star campus designation. The military compact really are the rules. It is the agreement among member states um to abide by and support um certain these provisions or rules as I mentioned related to admission and enrollment of students. This council, the state advisory council is a requirement of the compact as a member state. Um and so again it is an interstate comp compact um that provides a set of rules um by which member states agree to uphold as members. Purple star campus designation is it is a recognition. It's a distinction for schools um regarding their their intentional practices and structures that support students and families. Um they have transition programs, they have visible resources, they have a website. Um it was act the purple star um initiative was actually started by
029a state um MC 3 commissioner. So the two do get inter intertwined quite quite a bit, but the actual purple star campus designation is not a part of or covered by the campus, I'm sorry, or covered by the the compact. Um, so Mick 3 sets the rules and purple star campus designation reflects schools how schools put supportive practices into action. Um, but the last thing I'll say is while Purple Star Campus is not part of the CA the compact or the state advisory council's formal role, promoting Purple Star Campus criteria supports many of the same principles by encouraging these these campus level practices that support the proper implementation of the compact um and help schools consistently meet the needs of military connected students. So it is absolutely I think appropriate to say that this council
030would pro promote that criteria because those criteria for purple star designation again um support proper implementation of the compact. So I will pause here and see if we have any again questions, comments or um other action steps or suggestions related to training opportunities and resource dissemination. as a new agenda item. I'm not expecting um to hear a lot of suggestions here and now, but again, at the end of the year is when we will kind of clear the slate and identify those action steps together. Um but for now, we'll keep working on what we have identified. And then the last focal point is our strategic partnerships and leadership. Here is where the council has identified our positions. Um so um skipping order in the second row there filling vacant council uh positions. We um have
031talked about identify a plan for current vacancies. Um I do I have created a schedule of terms to better anticipate vacancies um because we've been a little proactive um and just started once a member's term has ended and we could actually start a meeting or two before that so that we could not have that gap. Um some results some things that we've done since our last quarter um we I mentioned earlier some letters of interest have been distributed and the one pager that Colonel U suggested has been developed or at least drafted. Going back up to our first row, um our school leaison officers are one of our most strategic partners this council can have. Um and so we had uh talked about adding a school leaison update to our meetings and we will have
032our first update today. And so pausing here any questions, comments or additional action steps? All right. Okay. Well, then I will keep moving so that we can um benefit from take advantage of our our first um school update here in just a moment. Before we do that, I do want to uh pause here um to acknowledge that um it is the month of the military child uh which is April. So, April is recognized nationally as the month of the military child. It's a time set aside each year to acknowledge the unique experiences and contributions of uh children and military family. Um the observance was established by the US Department of Defense to ensure military connected children are recognized um by the sac for the sacrifices that they make alongside of their families. Um and so
033it also provides an opportunity for our agencies, our schools and communities to increase awareness um and to reflect on how some of the transitions that our students experience um impacts them um and to reaffirm our commitment to supporting their success. So as a part of um of of that acknowledgement, we have a couple of updates on activities around the state. Um but before I move on, um uh fun fact. So a key feature of the month of the military child is purple. And that's that that uh visible um uh acknowledgement symbolic uh visible show of support for our military connected students. Um and why purple? Um you may know this, but this is the fun fact. Um purple symbolizes all branches of the US armed forces. So combining the colors um traditionally associated with each
034service gives you and so with that I will bring up I'm not sure I have all of the right animation here for you Dr. Le so I'm just gonna do >> for you and turn over to you for this. >> Yeah. Okay. Well thank you so much Commissioner Snder. Um, our program through collaboration with our grantee, the Military Child Education Coalition or MSE, uh, we released a Brave Hearts, Bright Futures Texas Month of Military Child toolkit. And this was to help support statewide awareness and engagement. And it included uh readytouse graphics for emails, newsletters, social media, statewide proclamation, purple update materials, and uh we had a very specific uh Texas military connected student facts infographics that districts and campuses could use and easily share with the communities. Um we selected April 10th as our purple
035up. And so on April 10th, we had a lot of school districts across uh the state of Texas wear their purple. They created t-shirts based on the uh images that we uh we put in our toolkit. They promoted it through social media. And so it's just uh it's the first time Texas has ever had an impro uh a toolkit like this to help promote and it was just overwhelming to see the amount of um usage across just social media alone. So on the next slide, uh we have a couple of those snippets of uh social media that we grabbed um from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from uh Twitter X, I don't Instagram, all those um all those. And so um with that, it was just exciting to see how they were innovative in using and promoting
036purple up and month of military child. Um I do believe there's one more slide. And so this effort really the toolkit it aligned to the council's goals. Um it helped to increase awareness of military connected students. It helped to promote consistent messaging across Texas. And then it also helped schools to visibly recognize and support our students in a way that reinforces the intent of um the compact. And so, yeah, I'm just super excited to be able to share this and we're hoping to continue uh updating this every single year so we can have intentional uh social media blast and increase awareness for month of military child and purple health. >> Thank you, Dr. Lei. The the MC the national headquarters we talked about um Mick 3 has a toolkit on their website, but it's really
037exciting that Dr. delays team has developed a Texas specific toolkit. And so if you missed it this year, well, first of all, it's not too late. We're uh we're still in the month of April, um there are um uh a QR code a little bit later in the presentation and the presentation will be available to council members. Um and then of course if you're having trouble finding the toolkit, um if you're in the audience, uh reach out to us here at TEA and we'll make sure um we get you a direct link. or you could just go on to the TEA website and Google um uh toolkit would probably get you where you you need to be. Um while we're here though, I have to ask Dr. Lei, I've I've meant to ask before uh
038love the Texas graphic. Um can you is there anything is this specific to Purple Up or is this a graphic that your team is using for um for all of its work year round? um for this year it actually started off when we sent our Texas cohort our ESC military champions to the uh GTS summit and so with that we created with our uh our grantee um MSE a specific Texas design to have t-shirts made and so all of us had t-shirts and so we uh we did the solidarity thing at GTS where all Texas representatives was wearing that shirt and that's you'll see that picture later on we have that shirt and so with that We wanted we got so many recognitions and questions about the image itself because if you look at um
039the way that the text it's the shape of Texas with the heart and all the words supporting military. So everyone loved it so much that we ended up giving that image uh to our toolkit. So anybody in the state of Texas who wants to use that to create their own t-shirts, they can print that um on their own. So, it is a Texas specific. Um, we use it for all of our military uh promotion work this year. >> That's fantastic. Uh, love that that can be replicated. Um, council members, it's it's um u Oh, free and open use if you uh need a a purple up t-shirt um to uh wear wear your colors, show your pride. Um, any questions uh for Dr. delay before we move on to our next agenda item. All right.
040Well, then I will move us forward to our um school liaison officer update. Um I would like to uh introduce our council member Simone Hendris. She will ask I'll ask Simone if you could tell uh start us off with just a little bit about yourself um your and your role um and and then walk us through the schools on officer update. Um, before she does that though, I have um would like to um work with our communications department here at TEA to I'd like to extract this part of our recording because I think what she is going to share will really be um a useful piece of for onboarding for our new um council members that we are looking to onboard. Um I've asked her to start while we've talked about this can be an
041opportunity to review um some of the work and case studies that our schoolison officers are encountering. Um I really thought it would be helpful to start with just the role of the school as officer that all of our council members may um not be aware. Um and so um that's in part of asking you to start with an introduction of of yourself Simone um member Hendrickx so that um we can use this piece for future um members to learn a little bit more about the very one of our most important partners the schoolison officers. >> Sure. Thank you so much. A little bit about me. So uh I am a school leazison officer uh at Fort Bliss uh El Paso, Texas. We have 10 school districts that we support. We have we are very lucky.
042We have three school leazison officers that support uh uh this uh community, but I also uh represent our Texas slow team uh all over the state here at the council. I have been a uh school leazison officer for I want to say this is my 14th year. So yeah, it it's time flies when you're having fun. So yeah, I think it's the 14th year. I was an educator before, kindergarten teacher and uh so came from the school district, but found my calling because as a member of a military family and transitioning with my own students and children uh uh from Germany to to here and other places. Uh this is near and dear to my heart because our uh military families uh deserve that support and need that support and the school leaison officer team
043in Texas is exceptional and they will support uh every family that comes through our gates. So I'm very excited to share today with you just a little bit of what the school leazison team does and how we can support uh uh the mission of the council. So yeah uh and and you know you all uh are in the field and know that but I wanted to start off by uh just highlighting some of the transitional challenges and barriers that our military students face. Everybody's transition is different but these are some of the things that we work with on a regular basis. Uh the hardest transitions are those that happen midy year when everybody else is already in place and you have families uh that are transitioning and students have to get uh acquainted as the
044new kid in school just one more time. Uh right now at the end of the school year, we still have families that are transitioning in and out and those are uh a difficult uh transitions can be difficult transitions uh because of credit transfers and course alignment issues uh and of course social and emotional stress during transition. Uh families might deal with deployment or other changes due to our military lifestyle. Uh but what we see is you know uh graduation requirements that are different from stateto state. So those families uh uh come oftentimes through our doors to to get help with the MC 3 credit transfer and course alignment issues or uh things uh for example that entry ages and eligibility for kindergarten or prek differs from state to state. So those are additional uh uh
045barriers that our families might uh encounter and we are here to help with that. Next slide please. >> So the what does the school leazison office actually do? So we facilitate those smooth transitions for our military connected students. Uh we are here to support uh we communicate with the schools. uh we help families and especially we enable our families to advocate for their children. So through workshops and through education and through office visits we make sure that our military families have the tools so that they no matter where they go uh uh they are able to advocate for their children. They have an understanding of what their rights and uh uh also what uh they need to do for their children. So that is one of the things that school leaison officers um spend a
046lot of time with. Uh we advocate for them that the disruptions are minimal. Uh we want to make sure that uh you know soldiers are mission ready and the families are stable because if a soldier has to worry about is my child going to have to repeat uh uh third grade because we didn't have the right documentation then their mind is not on mission uh and and they there are concerns. So we want to make sure that we help uh communicate to the schools uh and help families that face those uh uh um obstacles. We also are the uh um we are the bridge between the installations and the school districts. So um through several forums we bring together uh installation leaderships with our uh local school districts so that we can uh share with
047them what trends do we see um what are some of the concerns that the um installation command needs to be aware of that will impact soldiers and their mission readiness uh when it comes to education. So every uh installation has those forums where we bring together uh installation and education and the slows are the ones that uh are the bridge between the two of them. And of course one of the big uh uh missions that we have is promote promote the awareness of uh uh you know what is it that our military families deal with and how can we help? How can the interstate compact aid in that transition? Uh, and this is an ongoing uh uh point because we have new uh educators that move in and out of districts. So the um and
048they might not be aware of the inner state compact. So the education piece and uh uh you know promoting that awareness is uh um a constant and is a big part of what we do. uh and especially those uh districts that might not have as many military students in attendance uh and don't encounter those uh uh cases very often. It is uh crucial that we connect with them and and and uh teach and share that awareness. Next slide please. So these are the areas of impact that I wanted to highlight. There are many more but these are the ones that I wanted to share with you uh this afternoon. Student transition. So slows uh are there to help streamline their enrollment and records transfer. We work with the pe uh clerks. We work with uh
049administrators of schools to help in that student transition. Uh and of course you know uh transition is not always just about the academic uh issues. It can be that a family needs additional resources through uh uh that transition or they might deal with a deployment. So we are here to provide resources such as uh peer programs uh and other uh resources that can help families as they transition. We work very closely with educational institutions uh to like I said before to make sure that the awareness of the challenges that our students uh encounter is there. We uh host events for our school districts workshops and we have uh collaborations with the school districts that highlight uh the needs of our military uh population. What are their barriers? How can the schools be proactive? What uh
050resources are um working in the schools to help our transitioning families? So that is a big uh uh part of what we do. The visibility of the school leazison officer uh in the school districts as well as uh the um you know installation resources um is a key point. uh we make those connections to so that we then can turn around and help our military families that face that uh uh uh those transition issues. We provide guidance on uh graduation pathways and also you know we um help school districts and families to in interpret and uh uh implement Mick 3 rules and regulations. Uh oftentimes a family might have heard about the mig three but they are not uh really sure of what it entails. So the school leazison officers are here to provide that
051guidance and work together with the school districts on the behalf of of our military students command teams. Obviously uh we are here to help uh so that our soldiers can uh uh be mission ready that they don't need to worry about you know uh uh family uh situations or issues. Uh we are here to help strengthen that family readiness and resilience through support and through resources um that we can share with our families. Uh it it builds that trust. If families know the installation and the school districts are working together to eliminate barriers, uh um we hear many families say, "We are glad that uh uh you are working together for military families. It improves the retention and also the quality of life for that installation. If families can move into our school districts and
052are pleased with uh uh the military friendly environment uh you know it has a direct impact on the quality of life. Next slide please. >> [clears throat] >> So these are some of the critical partnerships that the uh school leaison officers uh everywhere have uh and and how we uh interact with the different uh stakeholders for example district leadership, school counselors, educators and support staff. So we uh are part of the board meetings uh school leaison officers go and listen to board meetings. We we have uh um events such as uh you know education summits where we bring together district leaderships and installation and command teams uh to talk about what are the issues uh that surround education. Uh with that we invite state agent uh state education agencies so that uh our installations have
053a good overview of these are the educational barriers and this is how we as an installation can uh uh provide uh you know guidance and help our soldiers to to navigate those systems. So uh we have many forums where we bring together commanders and superintendent for discussions. Here on Fort Bliss, for example, we have our process action team meeting uh that meets on a quarterly basis to see what is uh um what are the concerns in the local school districts. Uh but also we work with our military families and students. uh you know we have workshops uh uh uh that help our military families navigate the system and of course we are always there with our students. Um we are very versed in local and state policies and uh provide legislation input whenever uh uh
054it is asked for or whenever it is needed uh because we do see a lot of uh um issues come through our office. So these are our partnerships that we uh constantly work with >> and community partners of course uh you know region 19 for us uh or uh other community partners also have a uh um a part in those forums. Next slide please. for school leaison officers. The most important part I think is fostering those connections. We build those strong relationships early with our families with new incoming commanders with uh our school staff every um school year. We reach out to our superintendent so that we have that uh connection. We try to be proactive and not reactive. Uh so that means that we uh you know we keep track and document uh uh
055the impact and data. What are the issues that we are seeing uh what works when we uh um you know work with the school districts on resolving cases so that we can provide that input uh to other agencies. Um, we also try and be very uh um very uh versed in policy uh so that we can help our families as they navigate through the school systems. Uh we work with our school districts on standardized communication. So this means that uh we provide them with uh resources that they can use when they uh uh communicate to their um families what is available for military families in the district. So we work with them closely on that. Um we lead through education and training. So education and training is a big factor when it comes to school
056leaison officers. It seems we have trainings for all of our stakeholders. Uh which is an important part because we want to enable our families and our uh school districts to have the knowledge to help our military connected students uh uh day in and day out. So um education is a big component of what we do. We try to be very accessible and visible. So you will find the school leaison officers uh at board meetings, at newcomers briefs, at wherever we can connect with educators, wherever we can connect with military families, the school leazison officers are present to provide resources and to provide uh um you know guidance in in whichever form the parents need. Obviously uh our focus is always student centered. We are looking for solution that benefit our military students uh no matter
057where they are in what situation they find themselves. We try to um help them to have a positive experience and a positive outcome. We also like to highlight and share success stories which hopefully we'll be able to uh uh do at the state council on a regular basis uh to where you will hear from school leaison officers around the uh state on what are their success stories, what are their uh um parent concerns and how did we uh um help those families. Now as a team Texas slows uh also work together so that we can learn from each other. We share uh what works and what doesn't work uh so that we all can benefit uh uh from that experience. Next slide please. So this the role uh in policy execution. So um obviously we
058support the implementation of the interstate compact when it comes to our families and educators uh because we try and uh uh translate the policy of the MC3 into the practice with every parent that comes through our doors. Uh every um case is different. Uh you know every school district that we work with is different. So sometimes it is just as a a quick phone call uh to remind the counselor, hey, you're aware of the mick three uh and and we can move on. Sometimes it takes a little bit uh uh more to to get a case resolved. So the school leazison officers are here to uh take that policy and put it into practice. Uh we make sure that schools are aware and understand the MC 3 and know how to implement it. Um like
059I said before this is ongoing because you have uh transitioning population in the school districts as well. Uh we try to identify and address those gaps that we see uh across district lines. uh uh you know there might be um an increase in for example um we had an a case here in our school district where a new um member was not aware of the MC3 and we had parents that came and said hey they said we can't enroll uh um because we don't have our shop records. So these are easy fixes, but if we see that more more families come through uh that have the same concern, we go to the school districts and uh try to address that and uh you know make sure that those gaps are closed. Um we want to
060prevent repeat issues. So therefore we always follow up with the school districts and all of the stakeholders that are involved uh as we you know address Mick 3 issues. Uh resources are always a a big um part of what we do. Uh we help the families to navigate the system but we also provide resources so that they can then move on and help themselves later on. Um we try to speed up uh problem resolution so that families don't have to be in limbo for a long period of time because um as you can imagine the longer an issue lingers on uh um we don't want families to get frustrated and disenroll their children or things like that. We want to make sure that we can address issues to where students are successful in the classroom
061uh and attending school. Next slide please. So how can the slow support the state advisory council? So this uh we are excited for this opportunity and I think that uh uh my colleagues and I have a a great wealth of information that we can provide. So we can provide uh the insight on common transition barriers across the state. Uh what do slow see what are the things that come through our offices. We can share best practices and also provide you with case study presentations so that you can have a better uh uh feel of hey what uh might an actual case look like and what does it take to resolve that. Um it will strengthen the communication uh channels between the state council and the school leaons. We uh support policy implementation and we can
062contribute to council priorities and initiatives uh because we are the boots on the ground uh and can provide you with uh that insight and also uh provide data collection support as we go through uh the school year. slows. Um, you know, keep track of, uh, uh, how many times was the was a case elevated to the MC 3 national office? Uh, how many cases was uh, um, resolved by just um on the lowest level with slow support. So, and what cases did we see? So uh that is what uh we can also provide to you. And that is uh uh um just a a short overview of what uh school leazison officers around uh the state of Texas do and how we can support the mission of the state advisory council. >> Thank you member
063Hendrickx. I I really think of our schoolison officers as the connective tissue um between each of those entities and I think your presentation really reflected that um not just directly supporting our families but um connecting uh with the school systems, educating the school systems um and then bringing that back um to to the council, the national office, to my office um so that we're all as you said connected Um, member Hendrickx has reached out to me in legislative session and called my attention to bills. So, that that policy piece is there, too. They they really um they really do have their fingers in lots of different pots. Um, and um we are are really fortunate to have um such a a a a deep uh pool of of talent in the state of Texas. um
064as one of the states with the highest um I believe we're number two um in the number of of military connected students and I think Dr. Lelay was um on one of your slides did I see that we're at about 230,000 students to date. >> Yes, 230,000 >> keeps our mil our our school officers um very busy. So, appreciate um your uh your update today, Member Hendris, and looking forward to hearing from um from you and um uh your team members in future updates. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Any questions uh uh for member Hendrickx before we move on? All right. Well, I will definitely be reaching out. Resource development caught my attention today to u member Hendricks. So, I think we have um some other um topics that we can talk
065about um as we look at our our our training and resource dissemination um priority um in the year ahead. >> Yes, ma'am. Looking forward to >> Thank you. All right. With that, we will move to council member and staff reports. Um just as a reminder uh to council members, um myself and Dr. lay as members of the council and TEA staff members will often have standing updates as a part of this um this agenda item, but this is also your item. Um and you are always welcome to bring um any updates you have either informally ad hoc during the meeting or if there's something you would like to um share in advance of a meeting. Um sometimes that update might actually rise to the level of it's an agenda item. Um but just want to
066again encourage you to bring um topics for discussion um to present to the council um as as you have them. Um but with that I Dr. Lei has an additional update. I I pulled I kind of glossed over some of the results and action steps in our priority plan just because I knew she'd be taking a deeper dive as a part of her staff report. So I'll turn things back over to you Dr. Lei. >> All right. Thank you. So the first uh part of our updates is going to be purple star campus designation. Um commissioner Snyder did share um previously it is separate from the compact but wanted to really highlight that purple star campus designation functions really as a practical framework that oper operationalizes many of the same commitments by translating compact principles
067into consistent campus level practices that support our military connected students and families. So, one of the central priorities of the council is increasing understanding of um the compact. And so, Purple Star actually advances this goal by ensuring that campus staff knows who our military connected students are, understanding their unique needs, and are prepared to respond effectively every day and not just during transitions. So, we are about to gear into our next open application window for Purple Star campus designation to be awarded for the 2627 school year. campuses are now um working on gathering all their materials to apply starting in May for the seventh year that uh Texas has had purple star campus designation initiative. Each uh awarded campuses will hold that designation for two years and after two years they must reapply for that
068designation. So on the next slide, um I do want to share that these are some of the reasons why Purple Star campus designation matters for campuses who may be interested in applying. But from a structural standpoint, Purple Star provides that shared framework and common language that supports consistent communication, training, and outreach across the state of Texas. We want to be able to provide our military connected students and families with the best practices in supporting their unique needs. And this is our effort in promoting purple star so that we have consistent um strategies implementation and support for our student population. It also creates a very natural opportunity to align the messaging with council identified moments such as month of military child and national veteran and u military families appreciation month. So with purple star we do
069have four criterion and these intentionally mirror best practices that the council supports. That's the staff training, transition support, the advisory structure, and the family engagement. On the next slide, you'll see a um rough timeline of what we're looking at. Starting um with our purple star window. Our application window will start in May and it will close May 29th. We offer office hours. I've already offered one um in April uh 15th and I have one more. And these are very helpful for impromptu um questions that the uh campuses may have as they're applied because we want our campuses to be designated and any way that we can help um clarify anything um based on Texas administrative code and statute we will um and then we go through a review process. We're happy to have such a
070a robust volunteer group um this year and um also utilizing our grant to be able to um have outside entities to help us um with our uh reviewing and then we are hoping to award uh announce the awards in September. Um and so with that just really want to say that uh the compact established that protection and policy where purple star really creates that system and capacity to create to carry out those uh protections consistently consistently. Sorry tongue tw tongue twist policy paired with practice. This is a purple star is one way that Texas uh turns that commitment into action. So we are really looking forward to our May 1st uh application window opening. Uh that's enough with purple star. So moving on to the next slide. Um this is super exciting. So on April
0711, uh starting off in honoring April as month of military child, we were able to release out a military tea learn course. And if you're not familiar with tea learn course, it is a self-paced online uh free um course that you can take uh at your own pace. And what is unique is you also receive um continuing professional develop uh development credits, CPE credits where a lot of our educators require to continue with their certification. And so um they they do receive a certificate after completing this. This course advances the council's goals in increasing statewide awareness, understanding, and consistent implementation of best practices to supporting our military connected students and also really reinforces the intent of the military compact. On the next slide, it breaks down um our module. So, it's a five module and
072this was made possible again through our grant work um with MSE. And so we worked uh very strategically this year to build out uh this course and um within 24 hours of launching this course we had close to 165 enrolled learners uh from across the state. uh MSE shared that they have worked with many states and uh Texas is uh the first to offer a comprehensive programspecific course to support military connected students in the US and we have heard from other states uh commissioners u where they had helped to share this course out through their network as well. So we're getting a lot of really good feedback and really good uh results from from this uh course alone and we haven't even had it out for an entire month yet. On the next slide, um
073I do want to highlight when we talked about um the professional development, the trainings, the professional learning communities, these are opportunities for us to help the state and all of our stakeholders to build capacity to increase awareness. And this helps us to be able to appropriately identify military connected students, providing the correct support for our military connected students and really just services that they need to be successful. Not just academics, but social, emotional, and also mental health. And so the next two slides really highlights the significant training opportunities that were delivered this school year. Really focusing on that building capacity, increasing awareness, and strengthening best practices. Collectively these efforts have actually exceeded the total amount of training that we have offered in the past three years uh combined. So this year we have had more
074trainings more opportunities than all the three years prior combined together. So through these uh program advance uh advances the council's priorities and strengthening that educator readiness, promoting that consistent implementation and ensuring equitable statewide support. These summits here that you see here or conferences also advances the goals by expanding statewide educator capacity, cross agency collaboration because you'll see we try to um increase our capacity and our collaboration through nurse networks um so that we can connect through um practices where the nurse can identify some of those traumabased um and connect to uh resources there. we've connected to CTE um divisions and we've connected through so many different aspects that we have uh intentions of increasing moving forward. So we are always trying to find ways to increase that by partnering up with other agencies, other departments
075um so that we can tap into um additional u aspects of the students educational career because we know that military connected students can um be dy identified in many many different aspects. We have special education, we have um uh English learners, we have um a GT advanced courses. And so we're just really at the beginning stages of trying to um increase and expand on our capacity. And then on the next slide, we're very excited. This is coming soon. Um our first family-facing resource called New School New Beginnings. And this resource is to help military families really navigate school transitions in Texas by explaining military compact, purple star campuses, key educator systems, and available statewide supports. This tool itself will also help to advance council goals by disseminating clear, accessible information about the compact, strengthening family
076awareness, supporting smoother transitions for our military connected students, and it's an easy read. It's not uh jam-packed full of uh words, but there's checklists that parents can use and it's going to be available in many many formats. Uh so we have online PDF. Um we will also be working on creating that interactive issue um version of it where you can flip uh you can do an electronic flip like a book. And we are also planning on having the excuse me having these printed out and um disseminating it to our ESC military champions so that they as they are visiting with campuses as they're working with families they can hand out hard copies of um these uh resources uh so everyone can have it on handy uh have it on their hand. And then on the
077next slide we are very excited as well for our upcoming grant. So, our grant work has made our ye our school year very successful in increasing the amount of resources and trainings that we were able to provide. It actually ends at the end of this month, but we are excited to be able to extend this out for another two years with um increased uh funding from the state. And so, um our grantee continues to be military child education coalition. And uh with that, we are investing in the sustainable infrastructure and the cons consistent support that we are able to provide to expand statewide capacity and coordinated systems. Um through this continued partnership and intentional engagement, um we are able to partner with uh Mic representatives like uh Lindseay Dabau to be able to be speakers
078and keynote uh contributors to our summits and our conferences. And this helps to bring the awareness and understanding of uh the compact and also strengthening that educator training um directly advancing the council's purpose to promoting awareness, implementation, effective participation. On the next slide, I wanted to highlight I think yep that's the shirt that was in the uh brave hearts brighter future month of military child. So we did have those shirts printed out and this is our ESC military cohort. One of the grant activities that uh we will be uh rolling out at the beginning of the grant is that regional military champions attendance at the upcoming MSE global training summit that's in June in San Antonio at uh University of Texas San Antonio. So it's going to be June 23rd 24th. And then additionally, our
079military cohort will have a uh specially curated PD day, professional development day on June 25th to be able to have um intentional training, but also we are uh working to develop uh another resource for our school systems. And so investing in their participation actually builds that statewide expertise that can be scaled back to the districts and campuses um across the state of Texas. In addition to the national level training, our grant um includes regional summit activities that will help to implement uh local implementation and coordination. And we wanted to be able to build out on the success of our Texas military connected summit uh that we held in January, which we discussed um at the last council meeting. And we are currently exploring, there's no definite yet, but we are currently exploring El Paso as
080our first regional location. And so we do recognize the strategic importance um to border and installation connected communities while also trying to continue the alignment of the council's goals. So that's my update. And if you do have any questions or you want to learn where all these resources are, this QR code goes directly to our military family resource. I'm also the web master of that one. So I keep that one updated um quite frequently. So any new uh resources that we develop it is up and within the next day. >> Thank you member. Um lot of exciting initiatives and um resources coming out of your team. I'm well I'm excited about everything but um really interested in the tea learn um opportunity which was a couple of slides back um because it is uh if
081I'm saying this correctly an asynchronous opportunity um open to is it teachers only you need a unique ID can any member of the public access those resources can you tell us a little bit more about uh the course >> sure yes so So the tea learn course is actually open to anyone. We do have family members who um uh create an account. So you just create an account. You don't have to have a special ID or anything. Um once you create the account, you can enroll and you can take the course at your own pace. It doesn't have to be any specific web browser or anything. We also have um uh districts and uh community members from outside of Texas, but we always put that caveat. This is Texas specific. So this is for Texas
082schools. But a lot of the other states are looking at Texas at what we are doing, especially our TEA learn course and Purple Star because they're trying to bring back um what we do to their state, which is amazing because we want to be able to help all of our uh our military connected students. As we know, they transition in PCS um quite frequently. So, if you're a family, you're an educator, you're uh a committee member, anyone can enroll and take this course. It is not limited to any specific stakeholder. Um that's great news. I think um council members who are looking for um a little more information um as well as training and resources, I would encourage you to um check out the course. I am curious. I'm going to put her on the
083spot a little bit, but um Member Garza, if you're with us, I was going to ask um member Garza's uh holds our counselor position. I was going to ask are are our counselors um required to complete CPE hours? >> Yes. Yes, we are required to keep our certification in the state of Texas. So, teachers, I knew for sure. I wasn't sure about counselors. Um uh I am at a loss for the what the acronym stands for for a moment. Can is it continued prof >> continuing professional education? professional education is what I thought. Um, thank you. It's just one of those things you say if you know, you know. But, um, not everyone does. Um, I'm wondering, member Garza, if um, pushing this out through the counselor listerve and Stephanie learners team, um, might be
084helpful and get a few more um, clicks on the site. I'm seeing some nods. We can certainly do that. Uh, >> yes, I think that's a great idea. Yeah. >> Wonderful. officially with the counselors that are like within San Antonio and the surrounding areas since we're such a military concentrated area and maybe even Colleen and out by El Paso. Yeah, >> absolutely. That's something we can easily do. I'm I'm thinking communication plan folks. That's one of the things I picked up from Dr. Lay's um presentation is just like this is all of these great trainings and work is happening but getting the message out there. Um and so um looking forward to to identifying some more ways like some of the content some of these resources are here. It's that dissemination and making those connection
085points. So also want to reach out to the schools on officers. I'm sure you're seeing these um these resources that are available if they can be um helpful for to you and the districts you serve. Um QR codes are included in the presentation that will be available um in our shared workspace after this meeting. Um thanks so much Dr. Lei. Anything else before we we move to our next report? Um just speaking about the communication uh I am aware that this course has been um promoted out in the special education the MTSS mental health space um through our liaison because our our collaborators from our agency also helped to ensure the module 3 which is uh supporting military connected students with disabilities content. And so as we finished this, they uh they were notified of
086it and they were also sharing it on their network. So um that is another component that we shared out. >> Wonderful. >> Um let me get us back to our our stopping pace. Here's that QR code again if if you didn't reach it. And um I will before I post the um the presentation, I'll drop in um a link there for folks. Sometimes I know when you're working from your computer, it might be easier to click on a link. Um, thank you so much. Really excited work coming out of your team, Dr. Lei. All right, the next staff report is mine. I really have shared um just about all that I have to to share. Um, so what I will use for my staff report is a reminder of that secure file sharing workspace I
087keep mentioning. We will go ahead and resend invitations to members after this meeting. Um, this is a a council member onlyly space. Um it is where we will upload our meeting minutes and our presentations. Um we'll keep a copy of the operating procedures there. We have some flyers. The um the council one pager I mentioned will uh be uploaded there um as a resource. You can use that information for yourself for your CV um even if we're not actively soliciting um positions. So that resource will be available to you. Other important links, meeting dates and reminders. So, we will resend the invitation. Once you set up account, um you should just be able to enter your email and um uh password. If you did this but forgot about it or aren't really sure, I just
088put in my email um click continue and then forgot my password and you can set one up again. If you have any trouble, you can reach out directly to me. Judy Ayaga is our um is my administrative support team member. So, many of your communications, you'll have her email. you're welcome to reach out directly to to GD2 and and either one of us can help make sure that you can access that space and those documents. Um, and now I open it up to to the group. Um, as a reminder, if you don't have an update this meeting, um, just want to keep reminding folks about this opportunity for future meetings. Um, but the floor is open if anyone [clears throat] has an update to share. um for Colonel J. No updates. He did just want
089to say thank you again for the purple up and our um mix three month military child initiatives that TA has been is working. Um it's great to see that we're moving forward and really recognizing our month of military children um throughout the year. So, thank you. I did um I had the thought to ask for other pictures of activities from council members, campuses, and installations and then realized that we do um need uh signed releases if we're going to show faces as a part of our open meeting. So, we'll be a little more proactive next year um and um let folks know maybe in the January meeting um provide the information you would need if you want pictures to share pictures from your regions on how to handle those signed releases. But even just verbal
090updates um we appreciate those dates if I move um are are different across the state and across the nation. Um so um if you have had your events we hope they were successful or if you're planning one um we wish the same that you great success and a lot of positive energy for our our military connection students purple up any other updates uh topics or announcements >> okay with that I'll go over just a couple of upcoming events um as I mentioned various dates u in April across the across the country um in recognition of our military connected students and their families. By the way, I really appreciated um member Hendrickx and her update, that connection. Um Dr. Lei and I are both at the Texas Education Agency. Um and um I know myself, I
091focus so much on on the things that come across my desk, which are students that are having issues with their their enrollment and admissions, um graduation requirements, which are very serious things. Um, but I really appreciated member Hendrickx connecting that back again, that connective tissue to the mission. Um, you know, parents um who are worried about their kids um can't um be at their best and give their all um at their very important jobs and so appreciated that that um that connection that she made for us today. So, um, for all our kids and families, um, we hope that they are, um, uh, safe and and well, um, we do have a couple of of military interstate compact, uh, MC3 101 trainings. If you attended the meeting that Lindsay double, um, from the national office,
092um, presented, then you have completed that training and we've gone ahead and marked that for you. But if you have not completed a 101 training or were not in that meeting, believe that was the I've already forgotten. I think it was our October meeting. Um then you can register on the on the national site. I do not have it listed here, but I am actually registered for the 2011 training um that they have put together. Um so I'll be sure to share those. You can get them on the MC3 website, but I'll be sure to share those dates in the future as well. if you are looking for um part two. And then our our next advisory council meeting um we are scheduled for July 20th. That's our quarter 4 meeting following the fiscal year
093calendar. As always, we meet at 1:00 on a Monday. Um and and that next meeting is July 20th. we will um look at dates for the upcoming year and the July meeting and um send those out to everyone after the July meeting so that we have our our our year ahead scheduled. And with that, we have completed our agenda for our quarter 3 April 20th meeting. It is time to adjourn. And uh to do that, that's always with a thank you. Thank you for your service on the state advisory council, your continued commitment to advancing educational opportunity for our military connected students across Texas. I look forward to seeing uh you in July. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you. you.