Military Connected Families

Our Resolution

At Raul Yzaguirre Middle School, we are committed to recognizing and addressing the unique needs of our military-connected students. Our vision is for all staff—teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, administrators, and support personnel—to be knowledgeable about these challenges and work collaboratively to foster a supportive, understanding, and resilient school environment.

Military Families New to Raul Yzaguirre Middle School and PSJA ISD

On behalf of Raul Yzaguirre Middle School, we would like to welcome you to our Family! Here at Raul Yzaguirre Middle School, we embrace our military families and are here to make your transition as easy as possible. At Raul Yzaguirre Middle School we have teachers who are military veterans, and we understand the need to quickly maneuver and adjust to a new environment on a moment's notice. We are here to ensure that every Military Connected Student receives the quality education they deserve and has access to all the opportunities and tools available.

Challenges Faced by Military-Connected Students

Military-connected students often experience a range of academic, social, and emotional challenges that can impact their educational journey, including:

• Frequent School Transitions: Frequent relocations due to military assignments can disrupt academic progress and social development, as students must repeatedly adjust to new environments and expectations.
• Family-Related Stressors: Deployment, reintegration, injury, or the loss of a parent can create emotional strain that affects concentration, behavior, and mental well-being.
• Special Needs Services: Navigating special education services can be particularly challenging due to varying regulations, testing requirements, and available resources across school districts.
• Policy and Curriculum Adjustments: Understanding and adapting to new school regulations, policies, and curricula—often different from previous schools—can create confusion and stress.
• Social and Emotional Adjustment: Building new friendships and becoming part of a peer group in an unfamiliar setting may increase stress and anxiety, especially in the early stages of transition.
• Mental Health Risks: The ongoing cycle of relocation and family separation puts military-connected students at a heightened risk for anxiety and depression.

 Campus-based Military Liaison

The campus-based military liaison assumes the duties of the campus transition liaison. In this capacity, they oversee staff development initiatives and coordinate a range of events, such as Purple Up activities, Veterans Day Programs, and various other activities for our students. Additionally, they serve as sponsors for our student ambassadors with military affiliations and provide assistance in drafting the annual district board proclamation.

Military Liaison duties

The Military Family Liaison’s major duties and responsibilities: 

• Serves as advocate for the military community and integrates the military student into campus.
• Provides resources and program information support to military families.
• Interacts with military families and students. 
• Serves as the primary point of contact for school-related matters, assists military families with educational issues, coordinates with local school systems and forges partnerships between the military, community and schools.

Duties of Campus Military Liaison

Point of Contact which works collaboratively between military-connected students and their families and the campus.
Ensure Military connected students receive assistance from the campus student leadership.

Joint Base Raul Yzaguirre Middle School Liaison Program Manager

Joint Base Raul Yzaguirre Middle School Liaison Office (SLO) helps parents ease the transition of the mobile military lifestyle and can assist prior to your PCS, upon arrival, while at your installation and when you prepare to depart for your next duty station. They specialize in serving military families with K-12 school-age children and are able to provide information about the local school systems and community. The SLO will support parents and school districts with the Interstate Compact for the Education of Military Students interpretation, information on schools and boundaries, Home School, Deployment Support, provide School and Community Outreach partnerships. These military-dependent education professionals serve as a link between military families and all surrounding school districts ensuring maximum educational opportunities for academic success.