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Parents, leadership discuss military family issues at school town hall meeting

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  During the second town hall meeting between Mid-Del Schools and Tinker AFB Sept. 4, Tinker parents and members of the installation's senior leadership met with Mid-Del education officials to discuss issues unique to military families and ideas to improve the Mid-Del education experience for everyone.

Topics included Advanced Placement portability, class sizes, standardized testing, pushing students who excel, grants the district recently received for the National Math and Science Initiative, virtual school, the new Teacher Evaluation System, a new student writing assessment program, robotics programs, and opportunities for children with special needs.

Four district administrative officials, including Superintendent Dr. Pam Deering, attended the event and participated in the discussion at the Airman and Family Readiness Center.
"We're continuing down the same road we started on at the last town hall meeting, of figuring out how to give our kids the best opportunities for success, and we enjoy a special relationship with Mid-Del schools," said Col. Steven Bleymaier, 72nd Air Base Wing and Tinker installation commander. "We have a unique opportunity here and we're thankful for Mid-Del's willingness to make a difference for us. The bottom line is we're all here because we care and we can build on that."

Dr. Deering began the discussion by addressing the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, additions to the curriculum. She said there are several activities geared toward fourth and fifth graders this year. Students who participate in some portions of the STEM programs may be eligible for a stipend. STEM topics will eventually be integrated into other school subjects including language arts.

Kathy Dunn, Mid-Del Schools' assistant superintendent, said to create the right environment the school district intends to introduce STEM programs at an earlier age. The Department of Defense STARBASE program has already been implemented at Carl Albert Middle School. The DOD-funded educational youth program focuses on teaching fifth graders -- known in the program as cadets -- STEM, through hands-on experiments and tutorials in hopes that an interest will be sparked and the kids will seek out STEM-based careers.

Administrative officials are also looking into "Botball" and engineering fairs. Botball is an educational robotics program geared toward middle and high-school aged students. Participants work in a team-oriented environment and build robots for competition with standards created on national science education.

Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield, Air Force Sustainment Center commander, who has publicly supported STEM programs, said these opportunities are an important introduction to vital subjects and a "huge investment in kids."

General Litchfield said an engineering or science fair would be an ideal arena to strengthen the Tinker-Mid-Del relationship as he'd encourage Tinker personnel to participate in that activity by judging or mentoring students.

In addition to STEM programs, Dr. Deering said the district has started a virtual online school and is striving to better the Advanced Placement program. She cited the National Math and Science Initiative, or NMSI, which is designed to give children of military members advanced education in the science and technology fields. She said NMSI is currently utilized by Advanced Placement high school students taking college-level courses.

"We want to create the 'cool culture,'" Ms. Dunn said. "We want to have students say it's 'cool' to be in the AP program and it's cool to get ahead in school."

General Litchfield likened the definition of "cool" to when it is just as acceptable and desirable to be on the front page of the newspaper for an AP activity as it is for being on the football team.

As the AP program takes off, Dr. Deering said school officials are focusing their attention on raising the district's SAT scores. To do so, they will begin studying the behavior of sixth-grade students and identify the children that need help.

The district will gain a better perspective as to the quality of education in comparison to the rest of the state in October when a standardized report card is announced.
To ensure Mid-Del military children don't fall through the cracks, the district is implementing two new programs. One, "Student2Student" is a program developed by the Military Child Education Coalition and is similar to a sponsorship program for those PCSing to a new base. The district plans to begin the program at Carl Albert High School. Another thing that will help military students transitioning to Mid-Del is the state's adoption of the "Common Core" curriculum standards, which means that the content taught in Oklahoma will be the same in 47 other states that the student moves to or from (Virginia and Texas are not participants at this time).

Ms. Dunn said the district is testing a new teaching method, otherwise known as the Marzano Casual Teacher Evaluation Model. The technique is designed to enable teachers to engage all students - from the introverted to the extroverted.

From the gifted to the child with special needs, the administrators said no student will be overlooked. Dean Hinton, director of Special Services for the district, said there are opportunities for children with special accommodations as well as learning needs and the district will do what it can to provide for both.

Ms. Dunn said she is excited for the 2012-2013 school year.

"This has been the most exciting year of my career. I think that's really good for Mid-Del and for Tinker," she said. "I think Dr. Deering is part of that excitement because her leadership is pointing us in the right direction."

Mid-Del and Tinker AFB plan on continuing this relationship, working together to make education better for the community's children, and base leaders look forward to future town hall opportunities.