Erin Lunday, a doctoral student in Organizational Studies at Wright State, was recently appointed to the Ohio council of the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission.
The compact establishes procedures, rules and guidelines to address and solve issues military children face when they are forced to transition between schools. The compact was adopted by Ohio in 2009.
Lunday plays an advisory role for the council. She not only brings her background in education, strategic planning and program organization to the council, she also brings important experience.
Lunday was a military kid herself. Her father was in the army, stationed in Germany. She attended a Department of Defense school in Germany until she was 16. In the middle of her sophomore year, her father was ordered to move to Florida.
She had to uproot her life, leave her friends behind and move to a completely new country. She and her parents had to negotiate with the new school to ensure that the move did not stop her from graduating on time.
“For example,” Lunday said, “I was taking a business law class back in Germany, the new school didn’t offer that course. So, we had to find a course that was both similar enough to business law and would still fulfill Florida’s graduation requirements.” This was before the compact. Her parents had to fend for themselves. Now, the compact will help military children by working with both schools and parents to smooth these transitions.
Lunday is also the mother of two military children. She has dealt with these problems both as a child and a parent.
“I’m very experienced with the military and with moving, so I know what’s available for my children and I can push for that,” Lunday said. “This compact is supposed to help those parents who don’t have the background that I have.”
“Now, because of this compact, most schools around military bases are familiar with the process, the boards of education are familiar with it. Now there are Military Family Life Consultants and school liaison officers from the base who specialize in this area. So, it’s at the point now where it’s not left only to the parents to advocate for their child, there’s a conglomerate of resources and people who can help these kids.”
The compact also helps military children transition between sports teams. “I know of a situation where a kid moved between his junior and senior year from California, where he was the captain of the varsity soccer team, to Pennsylvania, where the coach sat him on the bench because he didn’t know him. This affects scholarships. If he’s sitting on the bench, scouts aren’t watching him. This compact works with school districts to make sure situations like this don’t happen,” Lunday said.
