McMullen serves as advocate for students and parents, and a go-between for districts and base leadership
By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
For children of military families, the everyday pressures faced by any student can be intensified by a deployed parent or the feeling of displacement that comes with every new move.
Now military students at Medical Lake, Cheney, Spokane and other area school districts have had a new ally in their corner.
Steve McMullen is the school liaison specialist at Fairchild Air Force Base, a relatively new position not just for him, but for the military as a whole. He said the position was created about a year ago after numerous studies revealed the effects of deployments and station changes on children with parents in all branches of the military.
The primary focus of the job is to advocate for military student rights in area school districts, ensuring that kids have the support they need and experience a smooth transition when they transfer in or out of the area, McMullen said.
“We're there to give (students) some consistency with different districts across the country,” he said. “We help smooth the path and get kids over the hurdles.”
McMullen regularly attends school board meetings and meets with school district administrators, base leadership and parents, fostering relationships and identifying any potential issues that need to be addressed. He also searches out programs that could be helpful to individual districts with a high number of military students and serves as a “one-stop shop” for parents looking for information on area districts so that they can make informed decisions on where to send their children.
The job might seem immense, but McMullen said his entire 18-year career has centered on providing services to military children and their families, and he came prepared to deal with the steep learning curve. In the early 1990s he started working with young children at Fairchild's Child Development Center. From there he moved into a training and curriculum specialist position, first in the family childcare program and then in youth programs.
McMullen also advocates for special needs kids and is part of the Exceptional Family Member Program, which provides assistance for service members with a spouse, child or dependent adult with special educational needs. The program has added import for McMullen, who has special needs children himself.
“Combining all of these experiences along with my educational background has helped me not only prepare for my current job duties but has helped me be able to understand the different perspectives people bring to the table when I am helping them,” McMullen said in an email.
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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