Education liaison officer reaches out to help children Published Oct. 15, 2007 By Mary Brown Family education coordinator F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. -- The military has identified student transitions as one of the top quality-of-life issues, especially for junior high and high school students. If the children aren't happy, the move can be really difficult. With the increased operations tempo, deployments are also a concern for both the military students and the schools. 'For the sake of the child' is the motto of the Military Child Education Coalition, an organization that promotes partnerships and networking of military installations and their supporting school districts. I work at the Airman and family readiness center and support the 90th Mission Support Group commander, Col. Ron Jenkins, who is also the school liaison officer. Our goals are to address transition and other educational issues related to the military-connected child and to educate school faculty on military lifestyle and educational issues of concern. My job is to advocate to the schools for our military children. I can't create something for families that the school district legally or physically can't provide. I don't control the district or private school rules, regulations and policies, but I will do my best to address our issues to the school leaders. Currently, Andrea Black and I are working on an Oct. 13 meeting for our seventh through 12th graders to address school issues. The teens will be leading this meeting. There'll be free popcorn, pizza and soda. Any interested students should meet us in the Warren Teen Center at 2 p.m. Oct. 13. Although I'm already working with schools in several capacities such as Junior Leadership of Laramie County, Liaison Officer for the Air Force Academy and ROTC, Safe and Drug Free Schools, Red Ribbon Week, Laramie County Youth Services Council, the Laramie County Community Partnership, and the Wyoming Congressional Medals point of contact, I'll be meeting with all the principals, or their representatives, in several weeks. There will be a meeting for parents in late October and a quarterly newsletter starting in November. I'm attending both the Wyoming Lifelong Learning Association conference, as well as the Parent Education Network conference, in October. For more information on the impact of moving on children and their education, visit these: http://www.militarystudent.dod.mil, http://www.militarychild.org/Deployment .asp or http://www.militarychild.org/ResBooklet.asp. I am here to be your school's and children's education liaison. If you have issues or concerns, great ideas to share or you'd like to be on my e-mail list, call 773-5943 or e-mail me at Mary.Brown@warren.af.mil.