Find Out About Your
Children's New Schools

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Those of you who have school age children will be very interested in the schools and educational opportunities available at your new location. The academic success of our military children is a key interest of the Army and Fort Monroe.

Children's lives revolve around their school, their community, and your military lifestyle. We want to enable their placement and the transition to their new school to be as smooth as possible.

Fort Monroe has a School Liaison Officer who serves as a conduit of school information. He is the primary point of contact for public and private school matters, should you have specific questions or concerns. Our goal is to assure that "no military child is left behind".

What Parents Should Know: There have been many recent changes as a result of the President's 2001 "No Child Left Behind" Education Legislation. A number of these affect military families when transitioning to a new location and their children must change schools. Army families should know that the new federal education law requires each school system to develop annual report cards with data showing how well the schools are doing academically. School research is key, when choosing a new school and school system for the military student. This is especially true at Fort Monroe, where housing is very limited, and most incoming military personnel will live off post, in the Hampton Roads community.

While the new required report cards must state whether the schools are identified as low performing, whether they have qualified teachers, and how the school compares to other schools, there are other factors military parents should consider. These include how well the local school districts work and partner with the Army installation, whether they have agreed to work with the specific needs and concerns of the military student that is mobile or has special education requirements, and if they have signed the Army SETS MOA.

The Fort Monroe School Liaison Officer is available to discuss the education related factors that should be considered, since much of what is really important in school selection and education planning does not lend itself readily to countable numbers. These include issues related to personal motivation and learning environments, extracurricular scholastic and athletic opportunities, discipline incidents, attendance and tardiness, class size, strength of parent involvement, experience of educators, grading practices, student aspirations and school support, and of course, local, state and national test results.

A packet of current literature about the local public and private schools, school systems, or specific needs and concerns, is available for interested military personnel.

To contact the Ft Monroe School Liaison Officer in advance of your arrival, you are welcome to
send an e-mail HERE.