Purple Star for Military Families

By August 10, 2022 Blog

Military family life usually means a life of mobility, which doesn’t always work well with brick-and-mortar school life. Compass Charter Schools’ Online Learning Program (Compass Online) is one of a few schools designated with the Purple Star Program, which means we are one of the most committed and best equipped schools to meet military families’ unique needs. 

Compass Online is a free public online charter school for grades K-12 in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Yolo counties, serving scholars who reside in 18 counties in northern and southern California. Compass Online allows scholars of military families in the Purple Star Program to adopt a schedule and lesson plan that works for them.

Easing the Transition Process

“It is an honor to work for a school that is dedicated to helping scholars of military families,” shares Karla Gonzalez, scholar community advocate. “We understand how important it is to provide support to scholars during deployment and the absence of a parent during deployment. We have been working hard in training to understand military family life and developing resources that we can offer as a school to our military scholars in order to succeed in their education. 

New families reach out to me with questions about enrollment, our programs, and how Compass works. I am the liaison between military families and other departments, and I try to ease their transition as best as I can! I guide them with the transition process, placement, and offer referrals to a variety of resources for them. Some of these resources can include tutoring, deployment resources, and military family counseling. I am still working on gathering additional resources and strengthening the foundation of this program.

According to the Military Child Education Coalition (MEAC), “Military children move every two to three years. The Purple Star School program is designed to help schools respond to the educational and social-emotional challenges military-connected children face during their transition to a new school and keep them on track to be college, workforce, and life-ready. Military-connected refers to children of service members on active duty, and in the National Guard and Reserves.

Understanding Unique Situations and Scholars

We’re proud to hear such complimentary praise for our program and how we support military families. Bethany Schermer, parent to a Compass scholar who will be in 6-grade in Fall 2022, shared their testimony as a military parent:

My scholar has thrived socially and thoroughly enjoyed her classes at Compass. The faculty responded so graciously last year with the loss of my scholar’s father. In working with her supervising teacher we were not only able to keep her on grade level but also provide her with the support she needed to get through the year.

The support that Compass provides by providing each family with a supervising teacher has been a gift. This relationship has made the process much easier for me and provided options and explored alternatives to better suit my scholar.

A huge shout out to our supervising teacher, Tiffany Somerville! She has been incredibly helpful and understands the uniqueness of our situation. Mrs. Somerville also understands the way my scholar thinks and has been able to connect with her in a way no other teacher has. This bond made school last year survivable.

Thank you, Bethany! We are honored to support military families and educate their scholars through our rigorous academic program that is fully-supported with our Multi-tiered Support System. Hearing from our families brings us endless pride and joy.

If you are a military family considering options for your scholar, it is not too late to enroll into our free public online K-12 school, the Gold Standard in Virtual Education. We’re the experts in online education, celebrating over 10 years of excellence, and we aspire to improve for our Firebirds every year. Rise and soar with us at Compass Online! Enroll today!

About Compass 

Compass Charter Schools’ Online Learning Program (Compass Online) celebrates 10 years as the Gold Standard in Virtual Education. Serving thousands of online scholars throughout California, we support each K-12 scholar and learning coach with in-house counselors, talented accredited teachers, and a staff of excellence. As the only Purple Star School in California, and one of the few online AVID programs in the nation, Compass Online is beyond unique and impressive. Rise and Soar with our Firebirds – Enroll today!

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