School liaison officer helps parents, children coordinate education

Published March 16, 2011
By Steve Hoffmann
81st Training Wing Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- For a military child, the path to graduation often traverses numerous school districts from across the country as they follow their parents from base to base. This can lead to frustration on the part of parent and child as they try to stitch together a frayed patchwork of classes and credits to form a coherent education. The job of the school liaison officer is to help the parent and child take their frayed blanket and turn it into a beautiful quilt.

The position of school liaison officer is new to Keesler and is part of a fiscal 2011 Air Force initiative to have a school liaison officer at every base. Air Force guidance defines a school liaison officer as "advocating for the educational needs of military children and assisting Airmen and families with information, referral, resources and advocacy regarding local school districts and other education options including home schooling, private schools, charter schools and virtual schools."

"My job is to be a neutral liaison between installation leadership, school districts and military parents and students," explained Gerry Cross, Keesler's school liaison officer with the airman and family readiness center.

"I'm available to assist parents and students with their questions about area schools and to make the child's educational transition as seamless s possible."

"With the rise in deployments and frequent moves, we want to be sure that the military child isn't left behind in their education," said Mr. Cross.

According to Air Force statistics, military children between the ages of 5 and 18 move on average between six and nine times during these years. Academic standards, graduation requirements, special needs services and sports and extracurricular eligibility all vary greatly from state to state.

As parents, children and school officials try to make sense of these varying requirements, having a school liaison officer to help answer their questions can alleviate a lot of the stress in the process.

"I want to be as visible as I can be. I want people to know I'm available," said Mr. Cross. Currently, Mr. Cross is in the process of getting the word out. Since he began his job at the end of January, Mr. Cross has visited with six of the nine school superintendents that represent the nine school districts his area will cover. He attends all school board meetings and meets regularly with 81st Training Wing leadership.

A parent of four children, including one cared for through the Exceptional Family Member Program, Mr. Cross is familiar with the questions and concerns parents have for their children's educational needs. Mr. Cross is also a recently retired Air Force first sergeant stationed at Keesler for the past four years. Prior to that, he spent 12 years in Air Force recruiting high school students, working with Junior ROTC groups and setting up recruiting events with high school officials, principals and guidance counselors.

"I moved eight times during my Air Force career placing my children in different school districts from state to state. One move was during my oldest son's senior year in high school," Mr. Cross pointed out. "Moving, meeting graduation requirements and matching up credits are all issues I frequently deal with."

Mr. Cross will draw on his own Air Force experience as he continues his task of making himself known to those who could use his services.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge of getting out and making sure principles, guidance counselors and parents know who I am," said Mr. Cross. "My goal is to build good relationships and get the required results for parents and their children."

For more information, call 376-8505.