Make Your PCS a Positive Change of Schools

Start talking about the upcoming move with your child as soon as you receive your orders. Talk about the positive aspects of moving and experiencing new areas. 

Help your child explore the local area before moving using technology. All schools and districts now maintain websites, and many heavily impacted school districts have pages dedicated to military families. 

If your orders require that your family relocate before the end of the current school year, make sure to notify your child’s current school as soon as possible. 

Contact your child’s current school to arrange for unofficial copies of necessary school records that you can hand carry with you during the move and provide to the new school upon arrival. 

Be sure to pay any outstanding fees at your current school and return library books and any other items belonging to the school. If those items are not cleared, there could be delays with school records. 

If you will be arriving after tryouts have occurred for a favorite extracurricular activity, create a short video introducing your child and highlighting his or her skills in action; it might help reserve a spot on the team. 

Find out if the new school requires testing and/or prerequisites in order to place students at the appropriate level for their skills. It might be possible to arrange for those tests before you arrive. 

Make sure to contact your School Liaison once you get orders. School Liaisons are subject matter experts on preK-12 education and local school communities and can help ease the transition for everyone involved.