NC SUPPORTS MILITARY CHILDREN

Dear Friends,

Since September 11th, North Carolina has experienced the largest deployment of military personnel since World War II. With more than 120,000 military families living in our state, including the National Guard and Reserve, there are thousands of children who are struggling with the separation from one or both parents during this difficult time.

Just as spouses take on additional responsibilities at home when their husband or wife is deployed, teachers can provide stability and a normal routine for children who are dealing with the stress and other problems caused by deployment.

To help our educators identify and assist these students, my office, in partnership with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and the N.C. National Guard Family Readiness Program, has developed this web site, www.ncpublicschools.org/militarysupport.

The site provides a variety of resources to help public schools be supportive to military families. Links on the site explain what deployment is and how it affects families, describe stress indicators so teachers can identify students having problems, and direct the user to numerous resources such as the N.C. National Guard Family Programs Resource Guide, North Carolina Supporting Military Children (pdf, 961kb).

I encourage you to use this site and share it with other educators. North Carolina has six major military installations and the fourth largest number of military personnel in the nation, including more than 30,000 National Guard and Reserve members who live throughout the state. That means educators and administrators in all school districts, not just near military bases, must work together to help students adjust and focus on learning during the deployment of a parent.

Mary and I want to thank the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for hosting this website and the North Carolina National Guard Family Programs Office for its support of the content on this page. We also want to thank the brave men and women who honorably serve our state and nation, and we pray they will all return safely home.

Governor Mike Easley

NC NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENTS BY COUNTY 2001-2006

This map shows the number of National Guard families in each county who have been affected by deployments since 2001.