A new program will send graduate students in USC's Master of Social Work program to work as interns with the Temecula Valley School District, near Camp Pendleton, in Southern California. A $7.6 million dollar grant from the Defense Department will enable interns to provide counseling services while studying the social, academic and emotional challenges children with deployed parents face.
Amazingly, until 2008 the Defense Department had no knowledge of how many children from military families were in schools. Now, it appears as if around 80,000 children are being educated in schools on bases around the world and another two million are in public schools. Grants such as this one will help school districts around the country identify the particular needs of these students so resources can be tailored to meet them.
Recently retired Temecula superintendent Carol Leighty grew up in a military family herself. "When [USC] called me, it was a no-brainer," Leighty says. "When you're a military brat yourself, you're very sensitive to what those kids go through."
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