001go ahead and Okay, perfect. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. We're going to go ahead and get started. I appreciate those of you that have already put in the chat box where you're joining from, what role you're in. If you haven't done that yet, we'd love for you to share. You can also share if this is your first time attending our PLC or if you're returning, we would love to know that as well. But again, welcome to our purple star campus support professional learning community and our third session which is developing a purple star advisory committee. Our PLC's are really a great way for our educators to collaborate with and tap into a network of peers and partners to support our military connected students. We love that this new PLC has been
002designed for our school professionals and educators across campuses throughout Texas that have either earned or are working towards the Purple Star Campus designation. Our knowledge sharing model brings together a network of learners including our subject matter experts and peers from multiple focus areas for a really robust and holistic approach. you'll have the opportunity to identify potential solutions to common challenges related to Purple Star campus pro programs. And if you have a moment, we'd love for you to grab a Post-it note or a sheet of paper for a little activity that we'll be doing later. So, um if you've got that near you, grab that. Uh we have a fun activity to start out our session today. So, just brief introductions. If you've returning uh attendee, you've seen me before. My name is Nikki Harrison. I'm
003with the Military Child Education Coalition, commonly referred to as MSE. We really support all military connected children by educating, advocating, and collaborating to resolve education challenges that are associated with the military lifestyle. Our vision is that we would love for every military connected child to be college, work, and life ready. And I'm a um milit grown-up military child, military spouse, and a parent, mom to two military connected kiddos. And I'm going to um kick it over to my colleague Marie to introduce herself. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Marie McGary. And like Nikki, um I was an active duty army spouse for 24 years, a proud mom to two military connected teens. Um I recently became an empty neester when my daughter started her freshman year down in Louisville. And I am an educator, webinar
004presenter, professional development trainer with MSE. And I love when I get a chance to present to Texas educators because I got my start in MSE in 2017 as a parent and parent support programs in El Paso. So happy to be with you all. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much, Marie. I appreciate that. And we have two other colleagues here today with us from MSE, Kim Armstrong, who will be working behind the scenes in the background and in the chat box. And we also have Terry Whitten, who is one of our military student consultants, and she's here as well to assist. And so you can wave to everyone, Terry. She's here. and I would like to have Dr. An Lei um go ahead and introduce herself and tea. Hi, thank you so much and thank you
005all for being here today. Won't take up too much of your time. Our military connected student programs is super excited to be able to uh collaborate with MSE to offer you professional development and uh resources. Uh my name is Dr. Ann Lelay. I serve as the manager and lead for the military connected student programs and purple star initiatives. Uh our director is Kelly Kravitz and sometimes if you uh send in some technical assistance support you will hear from Mr. John Dobbins who's our HMR student program specialist. So we do make up the military connected uh program support system here at Texas Education Agency. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much Dr. Le. I appreciate that. and we are going to talk about the collaboration and partnership with TEA next. It's been a wonderful opportunity for us
006to be able to come together and partner and offer this five-part professional learning community series that includes professional development and office hours. And we started back in September and we're going to run through February of next year. So, um it's a really great series that we've put together. It's a collaborative effort that underscores the commitment to nurturing a positive educational experience for our military families and acknowledges the vital role that schools play in facilitating the successful integration of our military connected students into their academic communities. And I see so many of you are um from uh different schools within your local areas. So again, so appreciative of you being here and thank you for continuing to share in the chat box. Just a little bit about our Purple Star Campus Support PLC series. Again, you
007see the the slide there or the flyer there, excuse me, of our PLC that you may have seen floating around. Um, again, really great collaborative effort with uh TEA. Our goal is to provide coaching, support, and strengthened guidance. And just as a reminder, at the end of our PLC session today, we will have office hours uh where we will answer questions. So if you're putting questions in the chat box, please know we'll come back to those um and we'll answer those during our office hour sessions in the last 30 minutes. Our learning objectives for today, we are going to describe a campus transition program for our incoming military connected students. We're going to define what that studentled campus transition program looks like and devise a plan to develop a committee to really help support your
008military connected students and families in your school district. Um, and so that's really what we're going to be talking about today and I'm going to turn it over to Marie. >> Great. Thanks, Nikki. So our overarching goal today, our main idea during our third session together is that you will learn how to effectively implement a campus transition program and an advisory committee to support military connected students and families. So I'm going to ask you to grab that post-it note and your pen. We have a little activity for you. And this activity will give you an opportunity to experience on a small scale what it's like for our military connected families to leave everything behind when they transition. And this uh activity illustrates the impact of transition. So pen, post-it notes, scrap paper, whatever you have
009for this activity. And I'm going to give you a series of questions. You'll write some things down and then we'll do next steps. So, the first thing I want you to think about is your daily or weekly routine. Uh maybe it's the way that you drive home from work at night. Uh if there's a special place that you like to eat lunch or grab your favorite cup of coffee, an event that you always attend. So, I'd write like you to write down that daily or weekly routine number one on your paper. The next thing I would like you to think about are those people other than your family that you have established a relationship with and rely on. Maybe it's the person that cuts your hair uh or if you have a favorite babysitter. So,
010I'd like you to write down that person's name. And then the third is I want you to think about a group that you are connected with either formally or informally. So maybe that's your book club or your Sunday school class or your church community or uh somebody that you eat lunch with, your lunch bunch that you eat lunch with every day. Maybe it's those same people. So I'd love for you to write the name of that group down on your paper. bowling club. All right. Now, I want you to sign your paper. I want you to own it. So, sign that paper and then I want you to fold it very carefully, very neatly. All right. So, you have this perfect paper and inside that paper contains all those people, things, places that mean the
011world to you in your particular environment right where you are. And now I want you to tear it up and I want you to throw it away. And I want you to think for a minute, how did that feel? How did tearing up those relationships that uh saying, you know, tearing up that hair stylist that gives you that perfect cut every single time? I will let you know as a military spouse, that is one of the hardest things to leave behind is that hair stylist. And I have awful bang pictures to prove it. But how did that feel when you had to throw that away? That's how our military families, our military kids feel every time that they have to PCS and they have to say goodbye to all of those things that meant something
012to them, those familiar routines, those familiar people that they relied on. And they're doing that, severing those connections every time that they leave and PCS and change from one duty station to another. And it's a small activity, but it is an impactful one. Um, and we have done this with students. We've done this with groups of people. Um, and just some of those feelings. So, it's a great way to illustrate that idea of transition uh with your students or if you're introducing uh information to your colleagues about what the impact is of transition on military families. So, we discussed some of the challenges of our military families in previous PLC's, but we want do want to review this information because we do feel it's important and because we do have so many new folks joining
013us for today. So, it's important when you have this understanding of these challenges, then you have a better idea of how to support military connected students and help them to develop that sense of belonging and connection at their new school. So, we've talked about transitions. There's those academic transitions that all students face from one grade to another from one from moving from high school to college, but there is also those multiple transitions within that. So our military children are changing schools between six and nine times during their K to2 academic career. Then there's those transitions of deployment, separation, PCS moves, moving perhaps from military status to a non-military status through retirement uh or changes in circumstances. Maybe there's a reduction in force that can lead to potential loss of health care. Maybe there's been changes
014within the family in terms of marital status. that unpredictability that military families face, those frequent changes, oftentimes they come without a lot of warning. MSE is continuing to examine the effects of transition and changes on our military families. The uniqueness of military family situation. So if you know one military family, then you know one military family. So while these experiences may be the same, how that family responds to those experiences can be very different. And it might be impacted by the fact that perhaps it's a blended family or a single parent family or dual military family or perhaps there are grandparents that are really involved in helping to raise military children. So understanding the commonalities but also having that appreciation and be able to look at the unique impact that it has on each individual
015family as well. We'd also like to share with you those six phases of transition for a highly mobile military family. And you notice that it is cyclical, right? So it's not just one and done that you are moving fluidly from each phase of the transition from one to another. So there's that pre-awareness. The family becomes aware that they're moving. They're notified of those orders. They begin those initial planning phases to include looking at new schools. Where are we going to live off post? Are we going to rent by? What's that timeline of the move going to look like? Will we be able to finish the school year? Will we have to move in the middle? Will the service member have to go ahead and so will the family members that are behind be handling that
016move on their own? Then there is the actual move time that takes place. So perhaps the family is in temporary housing. Maybe they're living in a hotel because those household goods have gone or perhaps if it's an overseas move, they're remaining in the house and doing house camping as we like to call it. that the majority of those household goods are have gone on uh to make sure that they get to the other end safely and timely. Those fragile first two weeks and we really want to focus on those and we do talk a lot about that in our PLC's. The family is in that new location. They might still be in temporary housing waiting to get into their permanent house. This is when the student is trying to figure out that new landscape, that
017new school, including those new relationships. So, making contact and providing support during those critical first two weeks when a student is new to your school is really vital in how they are going to make that transition. And then there's that sweet spot. There's that fitting in time. Uh the families arrive, they're settled in that new uh situation, new housing, new community. They're learning the territory. They've enrolled in the new school. They're finding out their new routine. And then within sometimes it's a year, sometimes two, three, four years depending, they are aware of another move will be upcoming. Those orders come down. They're notified that they're moving. And that process of re searching new schools, new communities begins again. And then there's that school exit, which I would suggest is as important as that school welcome.
018the family is getting ready to withdraw from that school, getting their records in order, making sure that that transition is a smooth one to that new school and new community, and then acknowledging that that student was there, that they is going to be a loss for your school and your community when that child leaves. And how do we help them to do that in a positive way? Say goodbye to friends. Or perhaps you notice that the student is avoiding friends so they don't have to say goodbye. By understanding this cycle and coupled with the importance of the kindness and the attention that you all as educators provide to these students, it really can make a huge transition to our military connected students during this transition process. So the campus transition program introduces military-connected students to
019the school environment uh how that school works and they implement a student-led campus transition program and then organize and host newcomer social and educational events. So that's what that transition program overview looks like. Part of the campus transition program is for the campus-based liaison to coordinate those introductions. So, some ideas for coordinating this include providing professional development to ensure that campus staff attend annual professional development trainings regarding the unique needs of our military connected students. Coordinating or helping to set up or facilitate orientation programs. So organizing those orientation open houses, those meet and greets for new students and tailoring these to our military connected students and parents. Assisting with academic planning, providing or offering or connecting with individual school counseling programs, transcript evaluations for our new military connected students to address any unique needs or
020concerns. connecting them with resources within the community. Perhaps that student might be in need of counseling services, academic advisors, or maybe postsecary advising as well. And then that one- on-one connection is important. So, offering students and parents a school tour perhaps before uh upon enrollment. Uh providing them with a lunch buddy, cultivating other students connections. Um, so, hey, oh, I noticed that you're interested in being a part of the band. Let me introduce you to our band director or our lacrosse coach. And then coordinating those events, planning with student leaders, special recognition events for military families or c celebratory events. Um, I know a lot of schools do those around Veterans Day. So, I'm sure you can share some of the ideas that perhaps you implemented in your schools this year. And then providing regular
021updates. So, promoting that transition campus transition program for incoming families. So, updating that on their website, providing calendars in information so new military families are aware of dates of upcoming events or opportunities to participate in the new school. Nikki, >> thanks. So, let's talk about some of the benefits of a campus transition program. And we always like to start with research. MSAC is a researched and evidence-based organization. And so, we find that that's really important. And so, these are findings from our C Pearl Purple Star research report that was conducted back in 2022. And C Pearl stands for the Center for Public Research and Leadership. and um we'll put that uh link to that report in the chat box. But here are some of the benefits of a campus transition program. Encouraging a positive military
022supportive school climate and culture that's so important for our military connected families. Again, supporting new students acclamation to the new environments. Marie talked previously about those six phases of transition and the fragile first two weeks. It's really important for new students to be able to connect during those first two weeks of school, fostering those personal connections in the school and within the community and encouraging the building of relationships as well. And so we want, you know, families to be able to really do both. Um, and sometimes it's I like Marie mentioned lacrosse or band. For my kiddos, it was football or soccer, but you know, having them connect as soon as possible is going to be really important. So, we'd love for you to share with us um in the chat box how your studentled
023campus transition program is structured. I know there's quite a few of you attending today. you're new and so you may not know how your campus transition program's structured um at your campus, but if um you are, let us know. Um what does that look like? Is it something that's part of your student council or uh your JOTC students are part of that transition program? Um please share and we'd love to to hear kind of what you're doing. Someone said, um, we use leader and me lighthouse teams. I like that. That's very unique. Um, it could be I don't know if anyone has a studentto student program. Yeah, student ambassador programs or classroom ambassadors. Uh, we have someone said anchored for life. Um, anchored for life great program. So yeah, great. Thank you for sharing and
024please continue to share in the chat box as we move on. So, the student-led campus transition program is coordinated by a group of student leaders trained to support and provide guidance to your incoming military connected students and help them adjust to their new school environment. And we'll say even though it's it's great to, you know, we want you to support those incoming military connected students, we feel like, you know, a campus transition program is beneficial for any new student, right? whether they're military connected or not, um they need support. So, as new military connected students are identified upon enrollment, the goal for the campus transition program is to immediately initiate the um peer-led student transition team to help new students adjust to their new school environment. This is going to help with those making connections,
025which is actually a key resiliency skill. Um when we talk about um resiliency skills in our military connected kids, connections are are one of those. It increases a sense of overall belonging. And in many schools, uh transition teams are implemented either by a student to student. I think some of you said anchored for life. I see a youth sponsorship program in the chat box. Um so it can look different at pretty much, you know, any school. And so we've listed some of the more um notable ones uh that you see there on your screen and we've also put links in the chat box. So um thank you for sharing for those. Looks like a lot of you have some sort of student ambassador program. So that's fantastic. So student leaders and ambassadors also play an
026important part in ensuring military connected students have a smooth transition and a positive academic experience. And so that can look like establishing a mentorship program where student leaders or ambassadors guide newcomers with information about campus life. Uh designating an ambassador who can welcome answer common transition questions. Provide information about campus resources and services. Not necessarily be the expert. We say this quite often. We're not looking for your students to be the expert, but just to be aware of what exists on your campus, encouraging student organizations to host and promote diverse, inclusive, and welcoming events for that effective campus integration. And what we really want to do is we want to empower these student leaders and ambassadors to advocate for the needs of our military connected students with the campus administration. They can help by voicing
027concerns, suggesting improvements, and engaging to really create a more supportive campus climate culture for military connected students. And you can see there on the screen, one of the things we talked about is, you know, any student leader ambassador should be supported or sponsored by a campus-based staff member. And we've listed um who some of those individuals are. And you may be here with us today. And so, um, it could be a a variety of different staff. So, let's talk a little bit about that campus-based military liaison and how they play really an important role in supporting our military connected students and families. Um, we recommend the following be part of of that role. And first is identification. Our second session of our PLC, we talked about identifying who those military connected students are. you have
028to know who they are to be able to best support them and using your student information systems um or PES um is what's used um here in Texas and so that's really important that military student identifier and knowing who those students are advocating for our military connected students within the school and community that's first understanding those unique needs and challenges and then the connection with resources whether It's within the school, the campus, uh, district. It could be the local community. There could be national or web- based resources that you can connect students, parents, and staff with. And then supporting them through the transition. Um, I'm going to go back to Marie and our six phases of transition and how we talk about it is a cycle and it happens every few years. And so helping
029prepare them with welcome packets and exit folders and for all the things that they need to make that transition really smooth because we know it's going to happen um quite consistently with our military families. Marie, >> great. Thanks, Nikki. So, one of the the parts of military culture that was always one of my favorites um is that idea of a battle buddy, right? So, um, you know, Nikki and I were certainly battle buddies together when we worked together out in El Paso. Um, and it makes a world of difference. So, our question for you is, how do you strive to develop a network to best support your military connected students and families? So, who are some of your battle buddies? Who are some of those relationships that you have fostered to help you support or
030develop a network to support your military connected families? We'd love for you to put that in the chat box. Oh, terrific. Mlex school liaison. Love it. Really effective team members. All right, we'll let you put social workers. Terrific. School in El Paso. Yes. Family Facebook groups. I love that. Terrific. Great. Continue to put those in and share with one another. I think that's great. Um maybe some folks have said they've had a lot of support at the state level. I see one of our uh state purple star folks are in here from the state of Ohio. Um so that is a great connection to have there. Installation if you are near a military installation. A lot of people have done outreach and and gotten found support there. districts, other schools, perhaps other schools that are
031also going through the purple star uh campus program as well. And all of that that you know sharing of knowledge and support helps you to be more effective. And then who else do you include in this network? So who are some of the other people maybe at the school level that you have invited to be part of your network? I'll tell you, I hope you are tapping into those military families. They're great volunteers, counselors, administrator, absolutely for that administrative support is really key. Teachers, parents, 100%. Other community leaders, principal, assistant principal, for sure. uh other community leaders, maybe there's other military service organizations within your community that you can reach out and be supportive as well. So, there's lots of great resources uh and reasons to develop this web this community of support and we've
032put a a link to some information about that with our MSE purple star research report and so you can find some additional information including that. Um the nurse, yes, counselors, absolutely. All of those people that have that direct boots on the ground connections with those military connected students. Um Girl State, American Legion. Wonderful. Keep those responses coming. We highly recommend that to effectively support military connected students in your school or district that you create or assemble a committee to help you with the work to guide your initiatives that are important to you. So it is really critical to get that buy in. Having topdown support will be a vital key to your program's success. specifically seeking out teachers who may have had some connection or experience with the military community. I know some schools have
033designated those teachers, they put a little purple star outside of their classroom, sort of that beacon for new students to know that, hey, this person understands where I'm coming from. So, that's a great suggestion. While developing your Purple Star Advisory Committee um is not a requirement of the Purple Star Campus designation, it can be really helpful to have support for implementing that campus purple star campus program. And so if you haven't considered before, there is a list on the slide on your screen there of some committee members that would be really effective to have as part of your program as you're developing your initiatives. So maybe if you could say, "Oh, I have some of these folks." Is there someone from this list that you might consider adding to your Purple Star School Advisory Committee?
034We'd love for you to share those in the chat box if oh hey I didn't think about um you know this particular community group or you know someone mentioned this um so there's not a prescribed you know we need to have this person that person it's what works best for you and as Nikki mentioned we are going to discuss this a little bit further in just a minute our problems of practice so speaking of that our problem of practice is a real case presentation and an opportunity for joint problem solving in a community practice. So, we are going to give you all an opportunity to discuss and to deepen your understanding of the situation. And for those of you that are new to the group, this has been, I think, one of my favorite parts
035of these PLC's. It's an opportunity for us to break out and have a smaller discussion together. And there's been a lot of of sharing of ideas and and great feedback on this. So we are going to ask you to share reflections or recommendations on the problem of practice and then at the end of the session we'll get back together and we'll discuss those recommendations for the group. We will be breaking out into different breakout rooms because we have such a wonderful large number of attendees and then uh we'll have an opportunity to discuss that in a smaller group. So before we discuss the problem of practice, it's important to understand the why behind having a campus transition program and why that's so important. So let's take a look at the impact that transitions have on
036military connected students and families and and we're going to take an opportunity to hear directly from them. In 2020, MSE conducted the military kids now survey. And it was an opportunity, as I said, to hear directly from military connected students, parents, veterans, and professionals who are serving military connected children. So, it was developed over four months. It contained 80 closed and open-ended questions, and there were over 5,100 responses given. students were asked the question, "If you could give advice to others about how to better understand military connected students, um, you know, who would it be? What would it be?" And there were lots of great responses. There's, uh, some snippets there, um, different quotes on the screen. We also are putting a link to that survey into the chat box as well, and we'd really
037encourage you to look at that. But I just wanted to share this quote from a student because I think it's really reflective of this student and it's really insightful of this student's experience that I think applies to to a lot of our military connected students. So this Navy student said, "Sure, I have lots of stories of my fun, exotic travels, but it all has a price. I have attended four different schools in the past four years, and it is not easy. In fact, it's pretty exhausting. I might seem a little cold, but it's only because I've learned that you never know when you might have to move and suddenly say goodbye to your friends. I know it's hard to do so, but if my peers were just a little more open and accepting, transitioning to
038a new school would be so much easier. So, I'm always impressed um by that self-reflection and self-insight. you know, that insight that this student has about why those transitions are hard. Um, so maybe something to to think about as you're developing your Purple Star campus programs. And, um, this last one, teachers can make the transition easier by making a priority to get to know those students. Um, and so maybe that is part of your motivation as well, um, being that person to make that special difference for our military connected students. So, here's our case study. As a newly designated campus, there is limited guidance available on how to develop, organize, and maintain an advisory committee to support military connected students. So even though this committee is not a requirement for a purple star campus designation,
039it would be helpful in implementing our program. So the challenges are for this school is that stakeholder identification. So they're not sure about who the key individuals would be to serve or to ask to serve on the committee. The second challenge are the roles and responsibility. So committee members are not exactly clear about what their role is on the committee, what their responsibility is. So they're not exactly sure how they can best help. And then the final challenge is that implementation and evaluation. So how can we go about measuring the effectiveness in their program knowing what works, what uh doesn't work, maybe what needs to be changed or what are we missing. So those are some of the challenges and then Nikki is going to share the questions that we are going to discuss in
040our breakout rooms. >> Okay. So the questions that I will have you all discuss in the breakout rooms are number one is how can you best utilize your studentled campus transition team and so talk about those student ambassadors how they um you know would uh work well to you know be utilized give examples of maybe some things that you're currently doing ideas or recommendations for improvements if you have had your team for quite some time also talk about what do you believe are some common challenges in forming an effective advisory committee. Um time commitment we know um our most of our plates are overflowing and so sometimes time is really hard and what are the best practices for building your advisory committee and creating a school and community um for uh buyin and kind of
041getting everyone on board. So I'm going to go ahead and open all of the breakout rooms. you should see a notification that puts you into the room. We'd love for you to discuss these three questions amongst your group and then we're going to all come back together and uh we'd love for someone from a room each room to to do a share out. There'll be four of them. And so um I'm going to go ahead and do that. And so again, love the discussion. So, I've opened all of the rooms and so you should see a notification for you to pop into your breakout room. >> I just joined so I'm not um seeing that not notification. Sorry. >> No, it's okay. I'm I actually saw that. So, I'm putting a um >> couple of
042you couple of you that just joined into a room. >> Okay. Okay, I think we have everyone joining back now. We should be um getting everyone to come back in. I hope the session together was um beneficial, helpful to hear what others are doing um in their campuses with their campus transition program, student le campus transition team. We'll give it just a a minute here for everyone to join back. I think we've almost got everyone. Okay. So, for that, how can you best utilize your studentled campus transition team? Is there anyone that'd like to share? If you have a a studentled campus transition team, best way that you're utilizing them, feel free to um unmute. Anyone from maybe room one like to share? I'm going to encourage them. We had some good answers in there.
043group. I would share for them too. >> Oh, good. Good. Sylvia is in Sylvia was in my group. Got it. >> Yes, ma'am. We use ours with greeting in the mornings. They greet this all the students coming in as well as parents. Give them high five, shake, shakes, handshakes, and they also do our morning announcements. So, every day we have groups coming down from different grade levels. And this is their task. Every morning they have a schedule for the whole month so they know when they're coming. Wonderful. I love that. I love the greetings. I love a great way to utilize that studentled campus transition team. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing. Anyone want to share any uh challenges that you have in forming an effective advisory committee? We talked about that purple star advisory committee.
044While not a requirement for the purple star campus designation, it's it's great to have volunteers. Um, anyone have any challenges if they have a committee? >> I can just share what we talked about in our group. And of course, that's the the old thing about teachers. Um, they already have their plates are full and they have things dropping off of that plate and they just cannot figure out where the time is going to come from to do one more thing. And that's and that's something that we're constantly asking teachers to do is one more thing. And so that's where they have to realize, okay, I really need this advisory committee. I need people to help me so that I'm not the the lone ranger in this advisory committee. And um I think that one, you
045know, that kind of covers covers both of those questions. >> Great. Thanks, Terry. I appreciate that. And the last one, which is uh kind of like a two-part to that question, is best practices for building your advisory committee, creating school and community buyin. And um I'll I'll can share from our group the discussion of um you know, having parents assist. Um we had someone that said they have uh reached out to their slows, their school liaison officers. um if you're near a military installation and they have been amazing and very helpful in um assisting build that that campus transition team and training and and all of those things and so I think that's a a great shout out to our school liaison officers. Um they can be really helpful. So great. Thank you so much.
046We hope you all enjoyed the collaborative effort of the breakout sessions. We we think it's important to be able to talk with peers and and from individuals all over the the state of Texas. It's always nice to see what others are doing. So, some of the best practices for a campus transition program are to ensure campus staff are collaboratively engaged in the transition process alongside the campus-based military liaison. I love how Terry talked about teachers cannot be the end- all beall for everything and so having other staff uh be assistant uh being able to assist in that process is great. Parents, guardians, including them in the welcome practices and programming. I think I said in our group the best volunteer is a military spouse. um we get tapped for a lot of things, but we
047um really build a life of of volunteering pretty much. So, if you've got great parents, it's a great way to to them to assist you. Empowering students to drive the campus transition program. Uh supporting social and emotional needs of students that are leaving the school. That's really important. our best practices continued. Um providing an opportunity for military families to uh give feedback, right? Uh have that have some system built in to gauge the needs and preferences of military connected families. Uh leveraging your social media uh regarding upcoming military connected community events. That's a great way to utilize that that program. um promoting it, knowing, you know, letting military families know that it exists is really important. That's why we love the the purple star campus designation. Um if you have that, um put it everywhere.
048I was like, put that purple star everywhere so that people know and provide a web page for military families that kind of has all those links and resources um for professionals and uh parents and any community stakeholders. Murray, great. Thanks, Nikki. So, we did want to share some additional resources and tools with you uh before we wrap up today. The first one, and this is a shout out. Uh, we had someone in my group talking about I'm not quite sure where to start. So, I think this is a really great resource. Campus transition program best practices document outlines the requirements and best practice strategies for implementing a campus transition program. The element of purple star campus designation is crucial for helping new military connected students develop a sense of belonging and connectedness uh in their
049new school. So, we've put a link to that in your chat box and um I would really encourage you to take a look at that. I think it's a great great resource. We also have some upcoming sessions uh for the Purple Star uh school campus support. So, our next session, we're taking December off, so our next session is January 21st, and this is a fun one. It's activities and event planning. And so, that will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Central Standard Time with those office hours beginning after that. Um, sorry, 2 to 3 and then the 30 minutes of office hours afterwards. And then we are also including a link to register for the series if you have not done so. You can use that QR code or use that link to to
050register. If you have already registered for the series, you are good to go. You are signed up for all of them. And then I'm going to turn it back over to Nikki for some reflection on today's session. So, we'd love for you to share in the chat box. There's been so much sharing happening in that chat box and engagement. Three insights you've gained from today's session. And um you know, if you're new, what's some some new things that you've learned that you didn't know before you attended today? Two action items that will assist you in your your district or your campus in implementing your campus transition program. It may be that you find out who your school liaison officer is. If you're near a military installation, that might be an action item. And one topic
051you'd like to learn more about at our next session. So feel free to to share in the chat box. Keep them coming and um we'll move through the the rest of our PLC session today. Uh if you have had answer or questions, excuse me, in the chat box, we will answer those during our office hours um right at the end of of the hour. Our Purple Star campus support Padlet um and there's a link to it. We've been utilizing this throughout the PLC um series. I I do go in and I check it periodically and I do see some of you all are posting questions and then some of you all are going in and you're answering those questions. So, please feel free to use that. Padlet's just a platform that MSE utilizes to to
052store resources and information and it really exists until we delete it which we don't ever do. So, so it's a great resource. So, before our next session in January at the beginning of the new year, we'd love for you to access the Padlet and post who you would like to include in your Purple Star Advisory Committee. And I did see our last session I asked to post one event that you've done or you're planning or you're going to do in the month of November. And I saw somebody did post like we're doing something for Veterans Day. So, thank you for that. We are really excited to talk about this. Next um uh slide and resource is our military connected student support summit. Um really excited about this. This is our first ever statewide summit that's
053dedicated to supporting military connected students across Texas um in collaboration and partnership with the Texas Education Agency. It's a full day event, one day. Um, it's going to bring together educators, administrators, stakeholders to share best practices, explore innovative strategies, and build stronger support systems for military connected youth. So, save the date. It's January 29th of 2026, and it will be held in San Antonio, Texas at Region 20 Education Service Center. And there's a QR code, and we've put the link in the chat box as well. So we would love to see every as many people as we can see there, educators, professionals, um please feel free to register and share. And then lastly, we want to just say thank you so much for attending the session today. We appreciate it. If you're new, we we
054hope you've enjoyed this third session. If you're returning, we hope you're enjoying the PLC series. We have a link um that'll be in the chat box as well as the QR code that uh you can share your feedback on today's session. We are also putting the link to the PowerPoint PDF for today's third session of the PLC and we will share the recording as well. Um we'll share the link to where the recordings are housed. That'll be available um either later this week or early next week. But uh if you haven't uh been able to attend the first or second session, those um recordings and those slide decks are on that link as well. So again, thank you so much. We appreciate you being here today. We're going to roll right into our office hours.
055Um if you have questions, please feel free to stay behind. Um and we are excited uh to have you here today. So thank you so much.