Madison City Schools

Central Office staff at Madison City Schools “purple up” for the national #monthofthemilitarychild Purple Up campaign.

Madison schools back military as Purple Star School District

MMadison City Schools is now recognized as a “Purple Star” school district. That should be gold to military families who move often and frequently transition to new schools. The Alabama Purple Star Schools Program was created by a legislative act to help ease the social/emotional and sometimes academic burden children face from frequent moves. The program set certain criteria that school districts and individual schools must meet to earn “Purple Star” status.

Criteria includes such things as having a point of contact at each school for military students and families, hosting a dedicated Purple Star page on its website featuring resources for military families, maintaining a student-led program for peer support for newly enrolled and transitioning students, a strong board reso-

lution of support, and other actions. Schools that qualify receive a Purple Star emblem to ... display on site. “I am proud to report that every single school in our district attained Purple Star status,” said Madison City Schools Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols. “This classification affirms on paper what we have tried to do all along for our military families. Make their transition

John Peck and school experience as smooth as possible, so service

Madison City Schools to our country is less of a burden on the homefront.” Public Relations Manager One of the hallmarks of the Purple Star Schools Program is for every school and/or the school district to have a student peer group led by a faculty advisor that welcomes and orients new students to schools. Every school across MCS has so-called S2S (studentto-student) peer groups that do this. These chapters raise awareness of the needs of all transitioning students, both military-connected and civilian. They do this through socials, special efforts to join newcomers at lunch and school functions, orienting them to the community, and other forms of outreach.

Cassie Scroggins, a senior at James Clemens who has been part of S2S welcoming groups, said at the Purple Star announcement last month, “I hope for the new students coming in that they will find their place here in Madison City. And I know that they will with the help of our students and staff and our administration who are committed to making them feel welcome as they make this their home.”

Superintendent Nichols comes from a military family so he understands that military service is a family commitment. His father served 27 years in the Army and Air Force. “We wear some wristbands that say ‘Kids Serve, Too,’ because they do when their parent serves,” Dr. Nichols said. “We’re just proud that every one of our schools made that commitment to meet the criteria to be a welcoming place for military kids.”

The Purple Star program was designed to help families mitigate the challenges of mobile-military life by setting standards, which assist students in adjusting to their new school locations. The nation’s military families make many sacrifices to ensure that their fellow citizens enjoy the great freedoms America stands for.

A recent survey by the Military Child Education Coalition reports there are nearly 1.65 million military-connected children enrolled in schools across the United States and abroad. Military students move three to four times more often than their civilian counterparts. On average, they relocate nine times in their K-12 experience.

One in four students in Madison City Schools is military-connected, with more than 400 of those having one or more parents in the U.S. uniformed services.