April 15, 2024 • 21 mins
Discover the profound impact of Chesapeake Public Schools' collaboration with military-connected students, as Laura Lerf, Family and Community Engagement Specialist, and Captain Matt Frauenzimmer the Commanding Officer from NSA Hampton Roads join us. Together, they share their experiences and the specialized resources designed to ease the challenges faced by nearly a quarter of our student body with military ties. Our conversation unveils how programs like the Anchored for Life clubs and the prestigious Purple Star School designation are not just accolades but lifelines for students navigating the complexities of military family life.
This episode is a celebration of the resilience and diversity these students bring, with personal insights into the life-changing support provided by military school liaisons and Military Family Life Counselors. Tune in to hear about this successful partnership that makes our district a model for others to follow.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The school year might be nearing an end, but now is
the time to enroll and registeryour child for the 2024-2025
school year.
Visit cpschoolscom for moreinformation on how to register
your child today.
Welcome to Amplified theChesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, welcome back.
This is Matt Graham here withRichie Babb, and we are here on
another episode of Amplified,the Chesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
And we are just back fromspring break.
Happy to be here.
It was a great break, did youhave a good?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
break I did.
I didn't take vacation for thewhole time.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But it was relaxing, it was nice.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
nice, I'm sure I mean being the family man you have.
Well, not that I'm but, but mykids are just grown, uh, but I'm
sure you had a full springbreak, oh, man.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, we took.
I took a couple days off, butthe kids were off and we had the
in-laws in town from new yorkokay it was a great time.
I love having them in it.
Our house definitely turns intolike a little mini hotel, hotel
Graham, yep Hotel Graham.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Hotel Graham was over for spring break.
Yeah, but one thing.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I can tell you, though, is they're already back
and I still get text messagesfrom them saying how cold it is.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Sorry about your luck .
Yeah, you should have stayed.
I don't know what to tell you.
Yeah, buy some property.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, but anyways, one got is that April is the
month of the military childRight.
And did you know, Richie, thatHampton Roads is home to the
largest naval base in the worldand the only NATO command on US
soil?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, yes and no, I knew that the largest naval base
was here.
I think a lot of people knowthat yeah, yeah.
But I did not know that theonly NATO operation on US soil
was here.
Yeah, I didn't know that eitherI.
I didn't know that either.
I mean, I knew NATO was here,but I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, yeah.
And then in Chesapeake, in ourschool system, 20 to 25 percent
of the students aremilitary-connected students Wow,
that's like 8,000 or 9,000 kids.
That's a lot of kids, it is, itis, it's a lot.
Yeah, and on this episode we'revery happy to have two people
that work military-connectedkids within our school system.
One of our success stories andanother story behind our story
(02:34):
here in Chesapeake PublicSchools is the strong connection
that we have with the militaryand the support that we provide
for our military families andstudents.
Today we have two specialguests Laura Lerf, a family and
community engagement specialistwith Chesapeake Public Schools,
and Captain Frown Zimmer, thecommanding officer for NSA
Hampton Roads.
(02:54):
Welcome to the podcast and,laura, can you go ahead and
start us off and tell us alittle bit about yourself?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I am a proud Chesapeake PublicSchools graduate and I started
my career here in 2008.
I started at Indian RiverMiddle School as an English
teacher, spent seven years thereand then kind of realized that
I wanted to help students moreon the emotional side of things.
So I got my degree in schoolcounseling and I was at Hugo
(03:21):
Owens Middle School as the sixthgrade counselor for six years.
And while I was there I servedas the school's military point
of contact, planning events forthe military families and, you
know, making sure our militaryconnected students got
acclimated and just reallyrealized that I loved working
with the families.
You know, a big part of beingthe sixth grade counselor is
helping those students getacclimated to middle school, but
(03:42):
helping their parents getacclimated to middle school as
well.
And then when I saw that thisposition as a family and
community engagement specialistcame open, I thought I'd go for
it, and now this is my thirdyear in the role.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Very nice.
Now, Captain Franz Zimmer,you're originally from
California, right yeah, SanClemente, California and so tell
us something about the route toget here.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, great.
My dad grew up on the EastCoast, ended up on the West
Coast.
My dad was a Marine Corpsinfantry officer and similar I
was Navy, went to school on theEast Coast, spent most of my
time in West Coast, in factNorthwest.
Right after we got married, mywife and I came through here.
I was in a course at NavalStation Norfolk.
We fell in love with the area,made some great friends, and so
(04:24):
at the end of my squadroncommand tour we said, hey, we
have a couple options of wherewe want to go, and to the top of
the list was the Hampton Roadsarea.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So that's how we landed Now.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
there was 16 moves in 19 years before that, but we
have been here.
This summer will be eight years.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Wow, wow.
So do you get to stay how long?
You know how long you're goingto be here.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
That's the plan.
Okay, Okay To write retire herein the old dominion and and uh
raise our family.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Okay, Well, tell us about your family.
You have kids and I do.
I got a.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I got a 15 old daughter that is in fourth grade
at WH Taylor Elementary School,and my wife and I will
celebrate 25 years being marriedhere in about a week.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Wow, well, congratulations.
Wow, that's very impressive.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, so how did y'all's roles sort of intersect?
Where did the collaborationstart?
And begin.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
You know, for me, the first time I met Laura was when
we did servicing our schools.
I think she had just got here.
I had just got here and thiswas 2021.
So it's on the tail end ofCOVID, still kind of in that,
that that fragile area, and itwas August and we did servicing
our schools, where I bring awhole bunch of sailors on in and
we prepare the classrooms forthe school year to come.
(05:40):
This is, you know, hey, we'regoing to be back in session
again.
This was awesome and that wasthe first time that I met and
understood what ChesapeakePublic Schools was about.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Yeah, and when I came into this role, part of it was
being the point of contact forour military families for the
district, and so I kind of tooka lot of the lead from the
military school liaison, who atthe time was Dr Jeffrey McGee,
and so we started doing militarypartnership meetings with
Captain Fraunzimmer andleadership from our schools and
representatives from NSA HamptonRoads, and we just kind of made
(06:12):
sure that we were supportingall of our military families.
You know, what are thechallenges that they're facing?
What can we do to support themwhile we're here, what kinds of
things do we need to be aware of?
And so just making sure that wehave that continued partnership
.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Do you find, having moved around that school systems
this is common in schoolsystems to have this sort of
support in this kind of program?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Never seen it before.
To be quite honest, and I'm notsurprised Chesapeake Public
Schools is the first and only inthe Commonwealth of Virginia to
be 100% Purple Star Schools andI heard a lot of great things
about Chesapeake.
You know from people that I'veworked with before and then
coming here and seeing it andputting your hands on it.
You know, with Dr Cott and therest of the team that they have,
they're engaged in a way that Inever saw before in any of the
(06:57):
other school districts that I'vebeen.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah.
So, Laura, tell us somethingabout the kind of supports that
we offer.
I know you've said some things.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
So Purple Star, I think, is definitely an
important component.
That's a designation that'sawarded by the Virginia
Department of Education.
Our schools, every three years,have to complete a really
detailed application, just kindof detailing all of the things
that they do for ourmilitary-connected students.
They have to provide evidenceof a well-established peer
(07:28):
transition program.
They have to detail everythingthat they do for our students
who are receiving specialeducation services.
There's different trainingmodules that the points of
contact have to complete, aswell as everybody in the school,
and it's also a really greatway for them to, you know, show
all of the awesome activitiesthat they do for Veterans Day
and Memorial Day and Month ofthe Military Child, which is
celebrated in April.
So I think that's reallyimportant.
(07:49):
We're also really excited tohave some military family life
counselors in our schools andthat's been really awesome to
see.
You know, in the three yearsthat I've been in this position,
years that I've been in thisposition, when I started we had
call them MFLEX Military FamilyLife Counselors.
We had them serving, I want tosay, three of our schools and
now they're in 27 of our schools.
So it's just, it's such a greatresource.
(08:11):
And then our current militaryschool liaison, ms Tiffany
Johnson.
She's amazing.
I had a chance to work with herwhen I was a school counselor
at Hugo and she's another onethat's always there to answer
any questions that families have.
She'll get them connected withme, I get the families connected
with her and we just make surethat we're serving them any way
that we can.
And another thing we have is ourAnchored for Life clubs, which
(08:32):
are in several of our schoolsand that actually serves as the
peer transition piece for thatschool's Purple Star designation
.
And so they do different things,like having quotes on the
morning announcements, you knowabout resilience and things like
that.
All of our new students thatcome in and not just military
connected students, all newstudents that come in.
They give them a tour of thebuilding, they introduce them to
the key people that you shouldknow in the schools.
(08:54):
And the coolest thing, I think,is that they provide our
schools with different kits atno charge to the school.
The schools can order as manyas they need.
They offer kits for newstudents.
It's a really cool swag bagthat's got pencils and different
cool things in it that kidsmight need for school.
They offer deployment kits forstudents who have a parent going
out on deployment.
They offer grief kits if astudent loses a parent and
(09:15):
divorce kits if they've got astudent whose parents are going
through divorce.
So all of these differentresources that this club offers
to our students thanks to ourpartnership with the military.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, Anchored for Life, fully federal funded, and
just a great partnership withschools.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Nice and you were just last month at Hickory,
right, yeah, what was happeningover there.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, so Read Across America Day.
It's my most favorite day ofthe year.
Every year, it's what I lookforward to reading the book
without pictures to a wholebunch of kindergarten and you
can tell that it is one of hisfavorite activities.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It is so fun to watch him read that.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I'll tell you it's the highlight of my tour so far
and reading to those kids andit's just.
They're the future leaders andit's always a great time.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Right, and it's not just you, though, it's your team
, right, that come to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yep, we bring.
I think we had 40 sailors thatcame on in and across Chesapeake
Public Schools.
Some did it in Norfolk PublicSchools as well to do the Read
Across America, and then ourchild development centers as
well.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
And he doesn't just come in and read either.
You know he allows the kids toask him questions and he doesn't
just come in and read either.
You know he allows the kids toask him questions.
He kind of talks about hisexperience, the kids being able
to hear that you've lived onwhat all but one continent.
You know, it's so cool for themto hear that experience and
they're able to ask himquestions on things that he's
seen and things that he's gonethrough.
And a lot of our kids don'tever leave Chesapeake and so for
(10:43):
them to have someone to come inand be a guest in their school
and hear about those differentexperiences, it's really
powerful to see.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So what's the one continent, antarctica.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Antarctica A penguin, you got it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Good for you.
You didn't have to live there.
Wow, so this just occurred tome.
Obviously, we have a hugemilitary presence in Hampton
Roads.
How do you get to be the guythat is the liaison with us?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, great question.
So when we take a look at themilitary bases, I like to say
when God created the big threebases, that's, Norfolk Naval
Station, Jeb Little Creek andOceana, I have all the rest and
part of all.
The rest is here in Chesapeakewith the exception of Fentress
and that's Oceana's, that's herein Chesapeake.
But I'm kind of the lead whenwe took a look at the commanding
officers where naturally shouldI be involved in that community
(11:26):
, enriching the community, andwe have 3,000 acres.
I was just down with a coupleof Chesapeake city councilmen
and deputy city manager down andgiven a tour of our
installation down in NorthwestAnnex, commonly referred to as
the radio station down there,and so for me I am the lead guy
for the Navy with Chesapeake.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
So one of the things we do, of course, is our that
you mentioned before is ourOperation Military Families.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Yeah, so this year it'll be our third annual event.
It's being held on Saturday,april 27th, at Indian River High
School.
It's starting at 3.30.
And it's just a really fun wayfor us to celebrate our military
families.
We always hold it during April,which is month of the military
child, and so we make sure tohave some informational sessions
(12:11):
for our families on things likesupporting your child through
deployment, but at the same timewe also make sure to offer
different school and communityand military related resources.
We have our human resourcesdepartment brooding any of those
military spouses that mightneed a job and just offering
them information and resourcesthat are available in Chesapeake
.
And then, while the parents arevisiting their informational
(12:33):
sessions, we've got really funteam-building activities for our
students to participate in andwe're really excited this year
We've got the United StatesFleet Forces Band Woodwind
Quintet.
That's going to be performingfor our families as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And it's really well attended.
It has been the last couple ofyears right.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Yeah, it's something that they really seem to enjoy.
I think we had a parent reachout not too long ago wondering
when it was going to be, so thatmakes us happy.
We're excited to put that on.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, as Earth Day is coming on up, we plant a tree
with you guys every single year.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Oh yeah, that's right .
You were at Chittum, I think,last year.
That's a beautiful school, itis, it is.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, so we'll be planting trees again with you
guys this year.
There are other opportunitiesthat we do in service projects
to come on in and then otherwise, as we go on through.
Hey, what are some of thethings that are changing in the
Hampton Roads?
What are the other deployments?
How do we prepare for certainthings?
And then just being youradvocate as well on the federal
side, when it comes down tofederal funding and stuff like
that or other areas that we canthrow the federal government,
(13:30):
the weight of the federalgovernment behind when we're
looking at other funding andother types of things, I know
that both of you experienced thechallenges that military
families have each side of thecoin, different sides of the
coin so I'd like for each of youto talk about what you perceive
as the challenges that militarychildren and families have.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And, Laura, you can start with you.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
My counseling experience, I always saw kids
that varied so much coming intothe school system.
You know you have these kids whoare PCSing to the area you know
permanent change of station andsome of them will walk right
into your school building andsay hand me my schedule and
point me in the right direction,I'm good.
But then you have otherstudents who really need that
(14:10):
extra care and that extrasupport making friends.
They might be a little bit moreon the shy side and so just I
love seeing the variations inkids and that's where I love
being able to step in in myschool counselor role and help
those students get acclimated.
And then, as far as thefamilies, everything from school
district to school district isso different.
You've come from differentparts of the country and
(14:31):
different parts of the world andit's just hard to figure out
how everything works when you'rein a new spot.
So I love being able to kind ofhelp those families navigate
how it is in Chesapeake, answerany of their questions and link
them up to anybody else that canbe of support to them.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, and you've experienced it both as a parent
and as a kid.
Yeah Right.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Well, I didn't have to experience it as a kid.
My dad was out of the MarineCorps by then.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I never moved once growing up, but I've seen it
through the eyes of my kid.
My oldest daughter went to fourschools in one year.
That's a lot of schools.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Between Northern Virginia, florida and Washington
State.
Oh gosh, and that's navigatingso many different things, and
having someone like Lori to holdyour hand when you show on up
is absolutely critical,especially when you're just
trying to figure out where's mytowels so I can take a bath as
you're moving across.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, right, all right.
So, Laura, we've been talkingabout sort of the challenges and
the needs of military kids andmilitary families, but the
experience that these militarykids bring to school gives them
a sort of unique perspective andunique abilities, right?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Oh, absolutely.
You know, when I was at Hugo Iran a club, an after-school club
, for our military-connectedstudents, and I remember one of
the activities that I did was Iput up a map of the world and I
had them put a thumbtack orsomething as to all of the
places that they've lived, tackor something as to all of the
places that they've lived, andjust seeing the places all over
the world where our studentshave gone, listening to them
(15:56):
talk about the different foodsthat they've eaten and, like I
said earlier, some of ourstudents here don't ever leave
Chesapeake.
So having those students withthose worldly experiences
bringing them to our otherstudents, I think it really
opens their eyes and I mean itallows these military-connected
students to have friends allover the world.
With social media andtechnology the way that it is
(16:16):
today, they don't ever have tolose touch with their friends.
They can keep in contact withthem and have friends wherever
they go.
So it's really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And the other thing, I think probably getting these
military kids together.
It gives them a support networkamong kids who have some of the
same experiences.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
I ran a deployment group when Iwas at Hugo and being able to
kind of listen to the kids saywhere's your parent deployed
right now?
You know, this is where mine isand oh gosh, they might be in
the same spot or close to eachother or something like that.
It's just, it's really cool.
We certainly don't discount anyof their struggles, but just to
kind of watch them flip itaround and say well, this is
what I get to do instead of thisis what I have to go through.
(16:54):
This is what I get to do.
It's just really cool.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Do y'all have any special messages or anything
that you would like to sharewith our military connected
families and students?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I think I just want our families to know that we
have so many supports that areavailable to you.
Please reach out anything thatyou need.
We will do our best to connectyou with if we can help in any
way.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, and it just occurred to me.
There may be some militarypeople listening who are like I
didn't know, you offered allthat.
What's their best way, what'stheir best route to getting?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
in touch with you and taking advantage of some of
these offerings.
So they can reach out to medirectly lauralurf at
cpschoolscom.
Or they can reach out to medirectly lauralerf at
cpschoolscom, or they can reachout to the Office of Family and
Community Engagement.
Our office is obviously the onethat puts on all of the events.
We do a military familyworkshop in November of every
year.
So it's ongoing activities and,like I said, we're always
available to connect them to anysupports that they may need to.
(17:49):
So they're free to reach out tome.
They're free to reach out toTiffany Johnson and we'll help
them in any way that we can.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
And that same vein for any of the folks, regardless
of the service that they're inwhether they're Navy, army, air
Force, marines or Space Forcegoing to their installation.
Each installation has a schoolliaison officer and that is your
entry into the door for eithercoming in or leaving, and that
school liaison officer is yourone-stop shop for all that.
That gets you in contact withwhatever school that you're
(18:15):
going to.
So for those that are here inChesapeake that are going
somewhere else, that schoolliaison officer is your first
stop.
When you get those PCS ordersto go to Timbuktu to figure out
how do I go from this schooldistrict to that school district
, they know exactly theinterstate compacts that are
there and then they're going toreach out to that school liaison
in that location that you'regoing and have a warm handoff in
(18:36):
between your student and thatstudent wherever they're going
in the world, whether it'soverseas or whether it's in the
US, wherever, that schoolliaison is absolutely critical
for that first step.
When you get those permanentchange of station orders, talk
to your school liaison.
What are the schools I want togo to or what you know I'm going
to go to this school?
What do I need to know?
Hey, let me put you in contactwith this person, let me call
(18:58):
them and now you got a friendright when you show up and they
should be doing the same thingover as they're coming on in,
going through Tiffany, going toLaura and being able to connect
those kids immediately when theyshow up and that's you know,
those are some of the higheststress times are when you're
doing that PCS move and, granted, you do make friends faster.
As a military brat, I'm supposedto tell you that brat is an
(19:20):
acronym, it's a brave, resilientadaptable and tough, but you
know, that's an initial type ofthing Just to take one thing out
of the parents or the kids'bucket as they're moving.
They're going to have afriendly face and they're going
to have someone that reaches outeven before they show up I mean
via email or whatever the casemay be to connect you and to say
(19:41):
hey, you know, tommy's going tomeet with Billy, he's going to
be on the buddy bench on Tuesday, your first day at school.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
That's awesome to have that friendly face on it,
and that's where it starts, andwe're lucky because Tiffany's so
great, we work so well together.
We've been working together foryears and we've got each other
on speed dial.
I really don't think that thereis a day that goes by that
we're not either talking on thephone or texting with each other
and she really does a great jobof connecting with our families
, like you said, that are comingin or going out.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
She just she has so much information to offer them.
So we're just, we're reallylucky to have this partnership.
I want to thank you both forcoming in today and being on our
podcast and sharing all thisinformation for our families.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thank you so much Thankyou.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Amplified the
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast and we want to extend a
special thank you to all of ourmilitary families and connected
students.
And don't forget to RSVP to ourannual Operation Military
Families event that's held onApril 27th 2024 at 3.30 pm at
(20:46):
Indian River High School.
You can RSVP and find out moreinformation by visiting
cpschoolscom.
The school year might be nearing an end, but now is
the time to enroll and registeryour child for the 2024-2025
school year.
Visit cpschoolscom for moreinformation on how to register
your child today.
Welcome to Amplified theChesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Chesapeake Schools is located in the Hampton Roads
area of southeastern Virginia.
We serve 40,000 students in 45schools and three centers.
This podcast is designed totell the stories behind our
story and to introduce andcelebrate the people and
programs that make us one of thepremier school districts in
Virginia.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
All right, welcome back.
This is Matt Graham here withRichie Babb, and we are here on
another episode of Amplified,the Chesapeake Public Schools
podcast.
And we are just back fromspring break.
Happy to be here.
It was a great break, did youhave a good?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
break I did.
I didn't take vacation for thewhole time.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But it was relaxing, it was nice.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
nice, I'm sure I mean being the family man you have.
Well, not that I'm but, but mykids are just grown, uh, but I'm
sure you had a full springbreak, oh, man.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Well, we took.
I took a couple days off, butthe kids were off and we had the
in-laws in town from new yorkokay it was a great time.
I love having them in it.
Our house definitely turns intolike a little mini hotel, hotel
Graham, yep Hotel Graham.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Hotel Graham was over for spring break.
Yeah, but one thing.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I can tell you, though, is they're already back
and I still get text messagesfrom them saying how cold it is.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Sorry about your luck .
Yeah, you should have stayed.
I don't know what to tell you.
Yeah, buy some property.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, but anyways, one got is that April is the
month of the military childRight.
And did you know, Richie, thatHampton Roads is home to the
largest naval base in the worldand the only NATO command on US
soil?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, yes and no, I knew that the largest naval base
was here.
I think a lot of people knowthat yeah, yeah.
But I did not know that theonly NATO operation on US soil
was here.
Yeah, I didn't know that eitherI.
I didn't know that either.
I mean, I knew NATO was here,but I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, yeah.
And then in Chesapeake, in ourschool system, 20 to 25 percent
of the students aremilitary-connected students Wow,
that's like 8,000 or 9,000 kids.
That's a lot of kids, it is, itis, it's a lot.
Yeah, and on this episode we'revery happy to have two people
that work military-connectedkids within our school system.
One of our success stories andanother story behind our story
(02:34):
here in Chesapeake PublicSchools is the strong connection
that we have with the militaryand the support that we provide
for our military families andstudents.
Today we have two specialguests Laura Lerf, a family and
community engagement specialistwith Chesapeake Public Schools,
and Captain Frown Zimmer, thecommanding officer for NSA
Hampton Roads.
(02:54):
Welcome to the podcast and,laura, can you go ahead and
start us off and tell us alittle bit about yourself?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I am a proud Chesapeake PublicSchools graduate and I started
my career here in 2008.
I started at Indian RiverMiddle School as an English
teacher, spent seven years thereand then kind of realized that
I wanted to help students moreon the emotional side of things.
So I got my degree in schoolcounseling and I was at Hugo
(03:21):
Owens Middle School as the sixthgrade counselor for six years.
And while I was there I servedas the school's military point
of contact, planning events forthe military families and, you
know, making sure our militaryconnected students got
acclimated and just reallyrealized that I loved working
with the families.
You know, a big part of beingthe sixth grade counselor is
helping those students getacclimated to middle school, but
(03:42):
helping their parents getacclimated to middle school as
well.
And then when I saw that thisposition as a family and
community engagement specialistcame open, I thought I'd go for
it, and now this is my thirdyear in the role.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Very nice.
Now, Captain Franz Zimmer,you're originally from
California, right yeah, SanClemente, California and so tell
us something about the route toget here.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, great.
My dad grew up on the EastCoast, ended up on the West
Coast.
My dad was a Marine Corpsinfantry officer and similar I
was Navy, went to school on theEast Coast, spent most of my
time in West Coast, in factNorthwest.
Right after we got married, mywife and I came through here.
I was in a course at NavalStation Norfolk.
We fell in love with the area,made some great friends, and so
(04:24):
at the end of my squadroncommand tour we said, hey, we
have a couple options of wherewe want to go, and to the top of
the list was the Hampton Roadsarea.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
So that's how we landed Now.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
there was 16 moves in 19 years before that, but we
have been here.
This summer will be eight years.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Wow, wow.
So do you get to stay how long?
You know how long you're goingto be here.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
That's the plan.
Okay, Okay To write retire herein the old dominion and and uh
raise our family.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Okay, Well, tell us about your family.
You have kids and I do.
I got a.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I got a 15 old daughter that is in fourth grade
at WH Taylor Elementary School,and my wife and I will
celebrate 25 years being marriedhere in about a week.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Wow, well, congratulations.
Wow, that's very impressive.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Yeah, so how did y'all's roles sort of intersect?
Where did the collaborationstart?
And begin.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
You know, for me, the first time I met Laura was when
we did servicing our schools.
I think she had just got here.
I had just got here and thiswas 2021.
So it's on the tail end ofCOVID, still kind of in that,
that that fragile area, and itwas August and we did servicing
our schools, where I bring awhole bunch of sailors on in and
we prepare the classrooms forthe school year to come.
(05:40):
This is, you know, hey, we'regoing to be back in session
again.
This was awesome and that wasthe first time that I met and
understood what ChesapeakePublic Schools was about.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Yeah, and when I came into this role, part of it was
being the point of contact forour military families for the
district, and so I kind of tooka lot of the lead from the
military school liaison, who atthe time was Dr Jeffrey McGee,
and so we started doing militarypartnership meetings with
Captain Fraunzimmer andleadership from our schools and
representatives from NSA HamptonRoads, and we just kind of made
(06:12):
sure that we were supportingall of our military families.
You know, what are thechallenges that they're facing?
What can we do to support themwhile we're here, what kinds of
things do we need to be aware of?
And so just making sure that wehave that continued partnership
.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Do you find, having moved around that school systems
this is common in schoolsystems to have this sort of
support in this kind of program?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Never seen it before.
To be quite honest, and I'm notsurprised Chesapeake Public
Schools is the first and only inthe Commonwealth of Virginia to
be 100% Purple Star Schools andI heard a lot of great things
about Chesapeake.
You know from people that I'veworked with before and then
coming here and seeing it andputting your hands on it.
You know, with Dr Cott and therest of the team that they have,
they're engaged in a way that Inever saw before in any of the
(06:57):
other school districts that I'vebeen.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah.
So, Laura, tell us somethingabout the kind of supports that
we offer.
I know you've said some things.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
So Purple Star, I think, is definitely an
important component.
That's a designation that'sawarded by the Virginia
Department of Education.
Our schools, every three years,have to complete a really
detailed application, just kindof detailing all of the things
that they do for ourmilitary-connected students.
They have to provide evidenceof a well-established peer
(07:28):
transition program.
They have to detail everythingthat they do for our students
who are receiving specialeducation services.
There's different trainingmodules that the points of
contact have to complete, aswell as everybody in the school,
and it's also a really greatway for them to, you know, show
all of the awesome activitiesthat they do for Veterans Day
and Memorial Day and Month ofthe Military Child, which is
celebrated in April.
So I think that's reallyimportant.
(07:49):
We're also really excited tohave some military family life
counselors in our schools andthat's been really awesome to
see.
You know, in the three yearsthat I've been in this position,
years that I've been in thisposition, when I started we had
call them MFLEX Military FamilyLife Counselors.
We had them serving, I want tosay, three of our schools and
now they're in 27 of our schools.
So it's just, it's such a greatresource.
(08:11):
And then our current militaryschool liaison, ms Tiffany
Johnson.
She's amazing.
I had a chance to work with herwhen I was a school counselor
at Hugo and she's another onethat's always there to answer
any questions that families have.
She'll get them connected withme, I get the families connected
with her and we just make surethat we're serving them any way
that we can.
And another thing we have is ourAnchored for Life clubs, which
(08:32):
are in several of our schoolsand that actually serves as the
peer transition piece for thatschool's Purple Star designation
.
And so they do different things,like having quotes on the
morning announcements, you knowabout resilience and things like
that.
All of our new students thatcome in and not just military
connected students, all newstudents that come in.
They give them a tour of thebuilding, they introduce them to
the key people that you shouldknow in the schools.
(08:54):
And the coolest thing, I think,is that they provide our
schools with different kits atno charge to the school.
The schools can order as manyas they need.
They offer kits for newstudents.
It's a really cool swag bagthat's got pencils and different
cool things in it that kidsmight need for school.
They offer deployment kits forstudents who have a parent going
out on deployment.
They offer grief kits if astudent loses a parent and
(09:15):
divorce kits if they've got astudent whose parents are going
through divorce.
So all of these differentresources that this club offers
to our students thanks to ourpartnership with the military.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, Anchored for Life, fully federal funded, and
just a great partnership withschools.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Nice and you were just last month at Hickory,
right, yeah, what was happeningover there.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Yeah, so Read Across America Day.
It's my most favorite day ofthe year.
Every year, it's what I lookforward to reading the book
without pictures to a wholebunch of kindergarten and you
can tell that it is one of hisfavorite activities.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
It is so fun to watch him read that.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I'll tell you it's the highlight of my tour so far
and reading to those kids andit's just.
They're the future leaders andit's always a great time.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Right, and it's not just you, though, it's your team
, right, that come to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yep, we bring.
I think we had 40 sailors thatcame on in and across Chesapeake
Public Schools.
Some did it in Norfolk PublicSchools as well to do the Read
Across America, and then ourchild development centers as
well.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
And he doesn't just come in and read either.
You know he allows the kids toask him questions and he doesn't
just come in and read either.
You know he allows the kids toask him questions.
He kind of talks about hisexperience, the kids being able
to hear that you've lived onwhat all but one continent.
You know, it's so cool for themto hear that experience and
they're able to ask himquestions on things that he's
seen and things that he's gonethrough.
And a lot of our kids don'tever leave Chesapeake and so for
(10:43):
them to have someone to come inand be a guest in their school
and hear about those differentexperiences, it's really
powerful to see.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So what's the one continent, antarctica.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Antarctica A penguin, you got it.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Good for you.
You didn't have to live there.
Wow, so this just occurred tome.
Obviously, we have a hugemilitary presence in Hampton
Roads.
How do you get to be the guythat is the liaison with us?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, great question.
So when we take a look at themilitary bases, I like to say
when God created the big threebases, that's, Norfolk Naval
Station, Jeb Little Creek andOceana, I have all the rest and
part of all.
The rest is here in Chesapeakewith the exception of Fentress
and that's Oceana's, that's herein Chesapeake.
But I'm kind of the lead whenwe took a look at the commanding
officers where naturally shouldI be involved in that community
(11:26):
, enriching the community, andwe have 3,000 acres.
I was just down with a coupleof Chesapeake city councilmen
and deputy city manager down andgiven a tour of our
installation down in NorthwestAnnex, commonly referred to as
the radio station down there,and so for me I am the lead guy
for the Navy with Chesapeake.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
So one of the things we do, of course, is our that
you mentioned before is ourOperation Military Families.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Yeah, so this year it'll be our third annual event.
It's being held on Saturday,april 27th, at Indian River High
School.
It's starting at 3.30.
And it's just a really fun wayfor us to celebrate our military
families.
We always hold it during April,which is month of the military
child, and so we make sure tohave some informational sessions
(12:11):
for our families on things likesupporting your child through
deployment, but at the same timewe also make sure to offer
different school and communityand military related resources.
We have our human resourcesdepartment brooding any of those
military spouses that mightneed a job and just offering
them information and resourcesthat are available in Chesapeake
.
And then, while the parents arevisiting their informational
(12:33):
sessions, we've got really funteam-building activities for our
students to participate in andwe're really excited this year
We've got the United StatesFleet Forces Band Woodwind
Quintet.
That's going to be performingfor our families as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
And it's really well attended.
It has been the last couple ofyears right.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Yeah, it's something that they really seem to enjoy.
I think we had a parent reachout not too long ago wondering
when it was going to be, so thatmakes us happy.
We're excited to put that on.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, as Earth Day is coming on up, we plant a tree
with you guys every single year.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Oh yeah, that's right .
You were at Chittum, I think,last year.
That's a beautiful school, itis, it is.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, so we'll be planting trees again with you
guys this year.
There are other opportunitiesthat we do in service projects
to come on in and then otherwise, as we go on through.
Hey, what are some of thethings that are changing in the
Hampton Roads?
What are the other deployments?
How do we prepare for certainthings?
And then just being youradvocate as well on the federal
side, when it comes down tofederal funding and stuff like
that or other areas that we canthrow the federal government,
(13:30):
the weight of the federalgovernment behind when we're
looking at other funding andother types of things, I know
that both of you experienced thechallenges that military
families have each side of thecoin, different sides of the
coin so I'd like for each of youto talk about what you perceive
as the challenges that militarychildren and families have.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
And, Laura, you can start with you.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
My counseling experience, I always saw kids
that varied so much coming intothe school system.
You know you have these kids whoare PCSing to the area you know
permanent change of station andsome of them will walk right
into your school building andsay hand me my schedule and
point me in the right direction,I'm good.
But then you have otherstudents who really need that
(14:10):
extra care and that extrasupport making friends.
They might be a little bit moreon the shy side and so just I
love seeing the variations inkids and that's where I love
being able to step in in myschool counselor role and help
those students get acclimated.
And then, as far as thefamilies, everything from school
district to school district isso different.
You've come from differentparts of the country and
(14:31):
different parts of the world andit's just hard to figure out
how everything works when you'rein a new spot.
So I love being able to kind ofhelp those families navigate
how it is in Chesapeake, answerany of their questions and link
them up to anybody else that canbe of support to them.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, and you've experienced it both as a parent
and as a kid.
Yeah Right.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Well, I didn't have to experience it as a kid.
My dad was out of the MarineCorps by then.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I never moved once growing up, but I've seen it
through the eyes of my kid.
My oldest daughter went to fourschools in one year.
That's a lot of schools.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Between Northern Virginia, florida and Washington
State.
Oh gosh, and that's navigatingso many different things, and
having someone like Lori to holdyour hand when you show on up
is absolutely critical,especially when you're just
trying to figure out where's mytowels so I can take a bath as
you're moving across.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, right, all right.
So, Laura, we've been talkingabout sort of the challenges and
the needs of military kids andmilitary families, but the
experience that these militarykids bring to school gives them
a sort of unique perspective andunique abilities, right?
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Oh, absolutely.
You know, when I was at Hugo Iran a club, an after-school club
, for our military-connectedstudents, and I remember one of
the activities that I did was Iput up a map of the world and I
had them put a thumbtack orsomething as to all of the
places that they've lived, tackor something as to all of the
places that they've lived, andjust seeing the places all over
the world where our studentshave gone, listening to them
(15:56):
talk about the different foodsthat they've eaten and, like I
said earlier, some of ourstudents here don't ever leave
Chesapeake.
So having those students withthose worldly experiences
bringing them to our otherstudents, I think it really
opens their eyes and I mean itallows these military-connected
students to have friends allover the world.
With social media andtechnology the way that it is
(16:16):
today, they don't ever have tolose touch with their friends.
They can keep in contact withthem and have friends wherever
they go.
So it's really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
And the other thing, I think probably getting these
military kids together.
It gives them a support networkamong kids who have some of the
same experiences.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
Yeah, I totally agree with that.
I ran a deployment group when Iwas at Hugo and being able to
kind of listen to the kids saywhere's your parent deployed
right now?
You know, this is where mine isand oh gosh, they might be in
the same spot or close to eachother or something like that.
It's just, it's really cool.
We certainly don't discount anyof their struggles, but just to
kind of watch them flip itaround and say well, this is
what I get to do instead of thisis what I have to go through.
(16:54):
This is what I get to do.
It's just really cool.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Do y'all have any special messages or anything
that you would like to sharewith our military connected
families and students?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
I think I just want our families to know that we
have so many supports that areavailable to you.
Please reach out anything thatyou need.
We will do our best to connectyou with if we can help in any
way.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, and it just occurred to me.
There may be some militarypeople listening who are like I
didn't know, you offered allthat.
What's their best way, what'stheir best route to getting?
Speaker 4 (17:27):
in touch with you and taking advantage of some of
these offerings.
So they can reach out to medirectly lauralurf at
cpschoolscom.
Or they can reach out to medirectly lauralerf at
cpschoolscom, or they can reachout to the Office of Family and
Community Engagement.
Our office is obviously the onethat puts on all of the events.
We do a military familyworkshop in November of every
year.
So it's ongoing activities and,like I said, we're always
available to connect them to anysupports that they may need to.
(17:49):
So they're free to reach out tome.
They're free to reach out toTiffany Johnson and we'll help
them in any way that we can.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
And that same vein for any of the folks, regardless
of the service that they're inwhether they're Navy, army, air
Force, marines or Space Forcegoing to their installation.
Each installation has a schoolliaison officer and that is your
entry into the door for eithercoming in or leaving, and that
school liaison officer is yourone-stop shop for all that.
That gets you in contact withwhatever school that you're
(18:15):
going to.
So for those that are here inChesapeake that are going
somewhere else, that schoolliaison officer is your first
stop.
When you get those PCS ordersto go to Timbuktu to figure out
how do I go from this schooldistrict to that school district
, they know exactly theinterstate compacts that are
there and then they're going toreach out to that school liaison
in that location that you'regoing and have a warm handoff in
(18:36):
between your student and thatstudent wherever they're going
in the world, whether it'soverseas or whether it's in the
US, wherever, that schoolliaison is absolutely critical
for that first step.
When you get those permanentchange of station orders, talk
to your school liaison.
What are the schools I want togo to or what you know I'm going
to go to this school?
What do I need to know?
Hey, let me put you in contactwith this person, let me call
(18:58):
them and now you got a friendright when you show up and they
should be doing the same thingover as they're coming on in,
going through Tiffany, going toLaura and being able to connect
those kids immediately when theyshow up and that's you know,
those are some of the higheststress times are when you're
doing that PCS move and, granted, you do make friends faster.
As a military brat, I'm supposedto tell you that brat is an
(19:20):
acronym, it's a brave, resilientadaptable and tough, but you
know, that's an initial type ofthing Just to take one thing out
of the parents or the kids'bucket as they're moving.
They're going to have afriendly face and they're going
to have someone that reaches outeven before they show up I mean
via email or whatever the casemay be to connect you and to say
(19:41):
hey, you know, tommy's going tomeet with Billy, he's going to
be on the buddy bench on Tuesday, your first day at school.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
That's awesome to have that friendly face on it,
and that's where it starts, andwe're lucky because Tiffany's so
great, we work so well together.
We've been working together foryears and we've got each other
on speed dial.
I really don't think that thereis a day that goes by that
we're not either talking on thephone or texting with each other
and she really does a great jobof connecting with our families
, like you said, that are comingin or going out.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
She just she has so much information to offer them.
So we're just, we're reallylucky to have this partnership.
I want to thank you both forcoming in today and being on our
podcast and sharing all thisinformation for our families.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thank you so much Thankyou.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Amplified the
Chesapeake Public Schoolspodcast and we want to extend a
special thank you to all of ourmilitary families and connected
students.
And don't forget to RSVP to ourannual Operation Military
Families event that's held onApril 27th 2024 at 3.30 pm at
(20:46):
Indian River High School.
You can RSVP and find out moreinformation by visiting
cpschoolscom.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com