Compact would ease transfers for military kids

Mic Smith
The Post and Courier

Melissa Gustafson sprays sunscreen on her son Sam, 7, as his brother Jordan, 12, waits his turn at the back of their mother's SUV at their North Charleston home Tuesday. They were headed to the Isle of Palms beach. The children will find out whether they have to move to another city when their father returns from his military deployment. Proposed legislation could make their lives easier with any future school transfers.

COLUMBIA — Twelve-year-old Jordan Gustafson already sacrifices a lot for his country: He gives up his dad on his birthdays and gets caught between being a kid and being the man of the house.

Now, Jordan is about to find out if he's going to have to move from his North Charleston home. A push is under way, though, to make military transfers easier on kids such as Jordan and his sister and brother, Abby, 10, and Sam, 7.

"We can't choose where we get orders," the children's mother, Melissa Gustafson, said. The family is expecting to find out what is in store for them when her husband, Isaac, returns in about eight weeks from a six-month deployment.

The Department of Defense is working with all states on a compact that would require schools to more seamlessly place children of active-duty military parents in special classes and make sure spots are open for them on sports teams and clubs if they've got the skills, among a long list of provisions.

Most children in military families attend between six and nine schools before they graduate. To address what they can, the Defense Department along with the Council of State Governments began work on the compact in July 2006.

So far, eights states have endorsed the plan through legislation, a voluntary action, and five more are pending. South Carolina's Military Base Task Force recently gave a nod to the compact and agreed to support efforts to make changes to the state's laws.

Advocates have the summer and fall to build support for the compact here before the Legislature reconvenes in January. One of the lawmakers would then need to file a bill.

Rep. Joe Daning, R-Goose Creek, said the concept sounds like something he could get behind. He serves on the House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee and is director of work force and military programs at Trident Technical College. He said he can recognize the importance of initiatives designed to help the state's military men and women.

"At first blush, I am totally supportive," Daning said. "We need to support our military, and this is a good way to do it."

Elsa Summers, a community readiness consultant at the Charleston Air Force Base's Airman and Family Readiness Center, said transferring schools can mean a variety of headaches for military families, especially when the transfers come in the middle of the school year.

"South Carolina would be really leading if they were to go ahead and endorse the interstate compact," she said.

The compact will help facilitate opportunities for military children when it comes to sports and magnet schools, she said. Many times, military children miss out on those chances.

Having high school-aged children adds a whole other dynamic, Summers said. They can run into trouble when it comes to transferring credits and completing course work on time.

The compact has a special focus on building flexibility when it comes to graduation requirements, such as waiving certain courses if similar ones are completed in other states. For instance, if a student took state history in Georgia, he would not be required to take South Carolina state history in order to graduate.

Unlike the average military family who moves about once every two to three years, the Gustafsons have been in the Charleston area for eight years. Isaac Gustafson is assigned to the Charleston Air Force Base.

"We've been very blessed," Melissa Gustafson said.

The compact

The U.S. Department of Defense is looking to South Carolina and all the states to put in place an interstate compact to help military children when they have to transfer schools. It would apply to children of active-duty military personnel.

The compact would:

--Allow schools to temporarily use unofficial records to prevent any delays in getting children in accelerated or special-needs classes, for example, and set timelines for the transfer of official records, including immunization data.

--Require schools to be flexible when it comes to making determinations about course placement and graduation requirements.

--Grant children additional excused absences surrounding a parent's deployment.

--Provide opportunities for children to participate in extracurricular activities, as long as they qualify.

--Give enforcement power to an interstate commission to make sure schools are honoring the compact.

"Passage of this interstate compact will have a lasting, positive impact on our military families," David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement. "Quality education is a primary quality-of-life concern. In fact, education is so important that it directly impacts military recruitment, satisfaction with assignments, readiness, and ultimately, retention."

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-799-9051 or ywenger@postandcourier.com.