Page 9 - Fort Irwin High Desert Warrior, February 2022

8 High Desert Warrior www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin www.aerotechnews.com/ntcfortirwin High Desert Warrior 9
February 2022
February 2022
News News

NTC dedicates Place In the Desert Fort Irwin schools designated California Purple Schools

e California Department of Education announced its inaugural list of Purple Star Schools
Jan. 24, and all seven schools in the Silver Valley Uni ed School District are named; including Fort
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Justice’s AAR Shack is the latest Irwin Middle School, Lewis Elementary School, and Tiefort View Intermediate School.
Place In the Desert (PID) dedicated at the National Training e complete list includes 31 K-12 schools in the state.
Center (NTC) in honor of Command Sgt. Maj. William A. e newly created California Purple Star School Designation Program (Purple Star Program)
Justice, the 21st Command Sergeant Major of the NTC and publicly recognizes schools that are committed and equipped to meet the unique needs of military-
Fort Irwin. connected students and their families. Purple Star Program schools seek to reduce the burdens on
“PID locations are chosen at the point where the leader had military-connected students and their families by providing support, creating transition programs,
the most signi cant impact to the RTU (Rotational Training and o ering sta professional development. is is the rst year that schools are being recognized
Unit), the installation and the Army as a whole,” said Col. Carl for this award, and the California Department of Education plans to make it an annual recogni-
L. Michaud, the NTC Deputy Commander and Chief of Sta . tion program.
e location of the PID is at an After Action Review (AAR) “Congratulations to the educators, sta , administrators, parents, and students at these schools,”
site on the edge of Razish, the largest urban training site at the said urmond. “ ese schools are crucial to supporting our military-connected students and
NTC consisting of nearly 800 buildings and is the location ensuring that they maintain their academic, college, and career aspirations while their parents
that Justice “conducted his rst NCO led instrumented AAR,” serve our country.”
said Michaud. e military is one of the United States’ largest workforces, with more than two million active
Surprised and honored with this recognition Justice re- duty service members and individuals serving in the National Guard and Reserves. Many of these
counted the time he spent at the NTC and said that “ e Army with, the people you work for; everybody is at the top of their his previous assignments: Cobra 40, Outlaw 40, and Lead 7. service members are parents or guardians of minor children. In 2017, California had 184,540
completely changed for me after my rst assignment here; you game” he added. Command Sgt. Maj. Justice relinquished responsibility on active duty service members and 56,167 individuals serving in the National Guard and Reserves.
just learn so much here” said Justice. “I’m certain that I learned Beneath the sign etched with “Justice’s AAR Shack” is the Jan 21st and is the only NTC/Fort Irwin Command Sergeant Military-connected students must move whenever their active-duty parent or guardian receives
more here than I ever taught anybody, the people you work NTC Patch engraved with the call signs used by Justice during Major (Lead 7) to be recognized with a PID. a relocation order. ese required relocations mean that a military-connected child can expect to
change schools between six and nine times from grades K-12, which is three times more often than
nonmilitary-connected children. As military-connected students transition between schools, often e Purple Star Program’s true value derives from its potential to:
to di erent states and countries, they must adapt to varying cultures, school populations, curricula, • Centralize and make knowledge accessible,
standards, course o erings, schedules, and graduation requirements. As a result, military-connected • Develop stakeholder networks, and
students often face unique academic and social-emotional challenges and struggle to stay on track • Support schools in cultivating and communicating cultural competency in supporting military-
to be college- and career-ready. connected families.

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