Teachers successfully introduce Operation Military Kids program to elementary school with family night
By BECKY THOMAS
Staff Reporter
The military is a central part of many area kids' lives. They may have a parent deployed overseas or spent their early years moving from place to place as a parent got different assignments.
Teachers at Windsor Elementary School have partnered with a nationwide program called Operation Military Kids to provide understanding and facilitate connections for children in military families.
Operation Military Kids is facilitated in Washington by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 4H Programs, state National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. Stacey Markley, a family assistant specialist with the state National Guard, said her office started an initiative last year to get Spokane area schools on board with the program to provide support for students who haven't always identified as military kids, particularly those with parents in the National Guard and Army Reserves who may not have expected to be deployed when they signed up.
“The guard and reserve stayed a part of the war longer than we expected,” she said. “A lot of those families weren't prepared.”
While she had a hard time getting regional schools to sign on to the program, a small group of Windsor teachers agreed to come to a training last fall. Markley said it might have helped that she's a parent of military kids who attend Windsor Elementary School.
“The workshop was probably one of the best workshops I've ever gone to,” Windsor preschool teacher C.J. Johnson said.
She said speakers shared the struggles of military families, from the stress of moving to a new place to the tragedy of losing a loved one in a conflict. Johnson, fifth grade teacher Stephanie Yanuszeski, music teacher Laura Roehl and band teacher Shaun Kelly got together following the workshop and agreed to start an Operation Military Kids program for Windsor.
“We have about 50 kids here who have parents that are active, and they don't know each other,” Yanuszeski said. “They have needs and we just want to make sure we're here for them. We're starting, I think, with them meeting each other and we kind of want to go from there as far as how the school can support them.”
While some military families in the area live on Fairchild Air Force Base, there are many who work on the base but live elsewhere in the West Plains. Without someone to facilitate meetings, Roehl said there's no way for the families to connect.
The teachers at Windsor aimed to change that with a family night April 14 at the school. Windsor's military students and their parents were invited to the event, which was sponsored by the base and Windsor. The event featured a light dinner, a few activities to help the parents get to know each other, but mostly casual conversation for the grownups and playtime for the kids.
“It was supposed to end at 7 o'clock and they were still here at 8:30,” Johnson said. “It was like a yard party; it was so cute. I mean, you could tell that they enjoyed it.”
The teachers hope the event created some connections for families and kids. They've shared their efforts with the rest of the staff at Windsor, pointing out that knowing about a student's home situation is important for military families.
Roehl said that while Americans have gotten better at supporting the troops, those they leave behind continue to struggle.
“We kind of forget about the families. The sacrifices of the family that stays here is sometimes more than (the person who's been deployed),” she said. “When the spouse stays behind, especially if they don't have family, they have nothing, no support. I think that for us, supporting the kids and the families is something really important for us to do.”
The teachers plan to host another Operation Military Kids event at Windsor in September, when many new students will be entering the school. They said they hope to have regular events in partnership with regional military organizations and eventually expand it to other schools in the Cheney School District.
Markley said she's happy that Windsor plans to continue the program, and she said after just one event Windsor's military families would be better off.
“At least now the kids have seen each other and the parents have met each other,” she said. “There's going to be a stronger network there.”
For more information about Operation Military Kids at Windsor, contact the school at 559-4200.
Becky Thomas can be reached at becky@cheneyfreepress.com.
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