Hammitt Bowen Junior Elementary earns Purple Star designation for military-family supports

Hammitt Bowen Junior Elementary School in Marion County has been designated a Purple Star school, school staff announced during a segment of a local weekly program.

Miss Bevers, the family engagement liaison at Hammitt Bowen Junior Elementary School, described the application as “a very long and lengthy process.” She said the designation required the school to identify a military point of contact, create a student-led transition program and reserve a slot equal to 5% of the student population for military-connected students.

The Purple Star award recognizes K–12 schools that demonstrate a commitment to students from military families. “We have a student led transition program, which our safety patrol will have the new students that come here that are military based, they will assist them, you know, show them around the school,” Bevers said. She also said the school’s web page lists the specific criteria used in the application process.

Bevers said the 5% figure means that “whatever our population is, 5% of our population will be allotted for just military families,” and that the school’s family engagement liaison would assist parents and introduce incoming military families to the community. She offered the example of a family moving from Jacksonville to Ocala who would be shown around and connected to supports at the school.

Staff member Miss Crawford was cited by Bevers as a colleague who helped lead the application work. The program host noted that Marion County has a large veteran population and said the designation is important to the community; Bevers said the district sees and supports military families.

Bevers said Hammitt Bowen will host professional development for other family engagement liaisons and invited neighboring schools to learn from the work done at the school. The host congratulated Bevers and staff on the award and encouraged other schools to follow suit.