Florida acknowledged five K-12 school districts that go above and beyond in their support of military kids and families today, including one in Central Florida.
Brevard County Schools earned the distinction of Purple Star School District, as at least 75% of its schools received a Purple Star.
These schools offer a transition program to assist students from military families coming into the school and training for staff to identify and respond to needs specific to those families.
Purple Star Schools also provide opportunities like service projects that connect the school with the military community, annual military recognition events, or a JROTC program.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said these supports are crucial for the success of military kids, who have to move around and change schools more frequently than their peers.
“But one of the things that we understand, and just as somebody who was on active duty way back, when you show up, when you're a military family, you don't tend to have a lot of stability, because you go someplace for two years, then maybe you go somewhere else for a year and a half,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis said this can pose several unique challenges to academic success.
“But it's not easy when you have kids in school, and kids have to switch schools, so we wanted to make sure that these transitions were positive. The experience was positive for our military families,” DeSantis said.
Watch the governor's full press conference here on the Purple Star School Districts:
Christina Etchberger was at Tuesday’s announcement in North Florida.
She’s an Army spouse, mom to two boys, and an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher at Callaway Elementary School. She said the Purple Star Program has made all the difference for her family.
As a family, they’ve been deployed to Oklahoma, South Korea, and now Florida, where her husband’s family is from. Both her boys benefited from meeting with military counselors at lunchtime, provided by their Purple Star School.
“It gave them the opportunity to meet other military children and talk about the ups and downs of military life,” Etchberger said.
She said there are also special activities, events and ongoing support provided by administrators, teachers, counselors, and social workers throughout the year.
“During the Month of the Military Child, we provide access to children's literature about military life for children and teens written by military community members, we have the Military Scholar Recognition Award presented by the mayor, and breakfast and lunch events for military scholars year round,” Etchberger said. “Callaway has also made it a priority to foster connections with military personnel by partnering with the Tyndall Air Force base as mentors for our scholars, including a recent visit about Santa tracking through NORAD.”
DeSantis said 176 public and private K-12 schools in Florida have earned a Purple Star School Distinction this school year.
The Florida Purple Star School Designation was established by the Florida Legislature in 2021. Once awarded, schools and districts get to keep their star for the next three school years.
Florida also has a Collegiate Purple Star Campus program for community colleges and universities that support military families.
Check out the list of Florida Purple Star Schools here:
