Kitsap Education

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Some retired miliary leaders are concerned that there won’t be enough recruits for the military because too many young people are overweight. Check out the short bit from the AP here.  Read the full report, Too Fat to Fight, here.

This statement and the push by the military leaders for legislation to improve school lunches relates back to a post I wrote in November 2009 about a mission readiness report issued by these leaders. Check it out here.

The report points to lots of factors that make today’s young people less than desirable for service, including asthma, ADD, lack of a high school diploma .. and obesity.

I’ve heard/read opinions from some folks today criticizing the military leaders for targeting school lunches and food in schools. Most of the opinions I’ve heard say that just targeting food in schools isn’t enough. Even if the kids get healthy stuff for lunch (and breakfast in the case of some schools) they will still eat junk the rest of the time. That may be so, but at least if school lunches are improved it would be a start.

I appreciate these influential people lending their voices to this cry. Many people have been criticizing the food available in schools, whether it’s lunches or from vending machines, for years. British chef Jamie Oliver is even trying to start his own food revolution.  

But I do have one criticism for these military leaders. As the spouse of a 19-year veteran, I know what kind of food is served in the military and it’s not doing anyone any favors either. Installing NEW huge deep fat fryers and massive coolers to keep racks of soda cool on aircraft carriers, for example, is not going to make the people who actually do get into the military anymore ready to fight. So perhaps these military leaders could direct some of their attention to those folks currently serving as well. Can’t hurt.

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I’ve been working on a story about how the military, states and school districts are working to ease the transitions that military kids make from school to school when they move.

I’ve considered my own experiences with my three little military kids and wondered if any other military families had positive experiences with the school transitions (a coach that went the extra mile to let your daughter try out for soccer) or negative ( a school that wouldn’t let you enroll until your “official” transcript arrived – three weeks late!)

Please email me at kitsapeducation@yahoo.com with your story and contact information.

Thanks

Marietta

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Military kids change schools ON AVERAGE six to nine times over the course of a k-12 education. Most high schoolers change at least twice. Those moves can really monkey with learning, grades, extracurricular opportunities, not to mention graduation requirements and standardized testing results. No Child Left Behind and stepped-up graduation standards in many states does not make it any easier. On a personal level, I know several military kids (my own included!) who had to take a state history class more than once due to state-to-state transfers and differing graduation requirements.

In 2006, the Department of Defense and an organization called the Council on State Governments began to look for ways to ease the transition for military students. Since, 11 states have adopted an interstate compact that helps students deal with simple issues, such as transfers of records, to more complicated discussions about special education plans or qualifying for gifted and talented classes.

 The compact itself is lengthy, but the Council on State Governments website has a couple good tools for understanding it. Check out the information here: http://www.csg.org/programs/ncic/EducatingMilitaryChildrenCompact.aspx.

Kansas and Kentucky were the first states to adopt the compact, thoughit is not without controversy. In Virginia, home to the largest Navy base in the world, adoption of the compact stalled. Read about the controversy: http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/military-kids-challenges-are-part-territory.

Kitsap has strong ties to a Washington task force reviewing the compact. State Rep. Christine Rolfes (D-Kitsap Peninsula) is vice chairwoman of the task force. Central Kitsap Superintendent Greg Lynch sits on it.

The task force held its final meeting Nov. 13 to finalize its recommendations to the Legislature on whether to adopt the compact or not. I will have an update in a later blog post on the group’s recommendations.