How School Liaisons Help

Back-to-school time is busy for most military children, especially those who have just moved with their families to a new duty station.  Did you know that the average school-aged military child moves every 2.9 years and attends up to 9 different schools? The School Liaison Officer programs were created to help ease transitions for military children and families, in their numerous relocations.

School liaisons' ultimate goal is to assist and support military parents, educators, and command leadership to provide the utmost positive academic environment for military school-aged children. Several specific supports include connecting students and familiarizing families with new schools and enrollment procedures, maintaining direct communications with installation commanding officers to solve education-related issues, promoting partnerships-in-education, educating parents about military student resources and special needs navigation, and informing educators about the military lifestyle.

All branches of the service have established SLO programs, and there is typically a school liaison at major installations, worldwide. Each program supports all military children of active duty and activated Reservists (not service-specific) including Coast Guard and National Guard, so every child can be served in any branch area. To get in touch with your local SLO, consult the Military.com Base Guide, and for a complete directory of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps SLOs, visit  "Military K-12 Partners: a DoDEA Partnership Program".