CHARLESTON, W.Va.— A display of solidarity was shown Tuesday afternoon at the West Virginia Culture Center when military and civic organizations came together to sign the West Virginia Common Ground Partnership Compact.
The Common Ground Partnership Compact aims to organize the resources, initiatives, and programs of government, community, and military organizations to help them work together to provide support for students in the state.
Coordinator for the WV Department of Education Robert Mellace said that being able to organize the event was personal for him because of his experience of going to school to be a teacher but also because he served in the West Virginia National Guard for 20 years.
“It’s been really special to be able to combine what I wanted to go and get a degree in with what it is that I’m doing in the military,” Mellace said.
He also said that the compact has grown since its conception, especially with the resources that they offer.
“24 organizations now, we had 20, now were up to 24,” Mellace said. “And so, it’s expanded over time since 2011, we started at ten, so it’s just continued to grow.”
The new organizations that were added this year are West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Office of Veterans Education and Training Programs, U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Huntington, Department of West Virginia Marine Corps League, and West Virginia University Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math Technical Assistance Center.
Mellace also said that through the compact they are aiming to be able to talk to students and let them know that there are different organizations and resources for them and that it’s not just limited to military students and their families. But they also want to get the different military organizations together so they can talk and get a better understanding of what the students need.
“Trying to get service members into schools and talking about all of the different things that they do in their careers,” Mellace said. “Trying to build mutual appreciation between the military and schools, so that when they get together, they can talk about how we can help each other because there’s certainly a lot of great programs that the military has that can be beneficial to academic, physical fitness, a lot of the things that students need to know when there in school.”
And one of the things that has been created since the start of the Common Ground Partnership is the Purple Star Award.
“The Purple Star really is set out to recognize military friendly schools for the things that they’re doing,” Mellace said. “For example, Purple Star schools have a trained military family point of contact, and that person is a conduit for when someone is in military service and they get deployed for that family while they’re away to try and help them, provide them with resources.”
And Ryan Saxe, who has served as Superintendent for two counties, Berkeley and Cabell, says that he has been able to see the impact that this agreement has had on students.
“As the Superintendent that has had the distinct pleasure to serve in two school districts, both Purple Star districts, I’ve witnessed first-hand the transformation, impact of these initiates, and I’ve made sure to ensure that military students and their families feel valued, supported, and important and empowered to thrive at our schools,” Saxe said.
He also said that having these resources for students is ensuring that they are ready after graduation.
“Veterans bring leaderships, mentorship and inspiration into our schools,” Saxe said. “Showing students how classroom lessons connect to real world careers, including the diverse opportunities available in the military, keeping our promise that when students walk across the stage, they are college, career or military enlistment ready.”
Every three years the organizations come together to show their commitment in continue the effort in helping students receive the resources they need in order to succeed.
Mellace says every three years was agreed upon by everyone and because it coincides with the Purple Star Award and some military groups switch leaders around that time.
“It’s good because we want to make sure that we keep all of our leaders up to date, officers a lot of the time they transition every two or three years or so and we want to make sure that everyone is on board in this collective mission to support the success of all students together,” Mellace said. “So sometimes it’s good just to bring everyone into one place to talk about how we can help students across the state, help teachers.”