Florida’s State Board of Education will meet on Wednesday in the Bay area.
As they address newly-adopted education standards in the state, advocates for military-connected children are planning to make their voices heard.
What You Need To Know
- Advocates for military children say too many of them are falling behind in school
- Josephin Amato with Military Kids-Special Education Alliance plans to ask state leaders for more help
- You can learn more about her organization here
Spectrum Bay News 9 caught up with Josephine Amato outside of Robinson High School, a school with a high percentage of students with parents in the military.
“We noticed that military kids were often left behind and underserved,” she said.
Amato is the director for Military Kids-Special Education Alliance, and organization Amato and her daughter started six years ago.
“When my daughter first became ill and disabled, we noticed that we had a very difficult time in her reaching her equal access to freedom in public education,” Amato said.
Her husband has since retired from the United States Army, but her work continues.
She says a lot of people don’t know what the difficulties for military children actually look like by the numbers.
“Right now, 29% of military-connected students in the state of Florida are not reaching state educational standards. We have approximately 4,500 military-connected students being left behind,” Amato said.
As for why this is happening to military students, Amato explained that, “highly mobile students can lose anywhere between a year in educational progression and also regress.”
That’s why she’s planning to take her concerns to Florida’s education board and request greater support requirements to be included on Purple Star campuses.
It’s a special designation for a program that supports military-connected children as they relocate.
Amato is suggesting a number of changes, including professional licensed therapists specializing in military student needs, published reports of military student education benchmark statuses, a revamp of school improvement plans when it comes to military children — plus several other ideas.
“In every part of our military service we know what right looks like, and I know Floridians know how to do what right looks like. It would be the most robust Purple Star program in the nation,” she said.
For more information about Military Kids-Special Education Alliance, visit the organizations Facebook page.
State data on Florida's military-connected students, click here.
Articles written by Josephine Amato can be found here.
Information on State Board of Education meeting is posted here.