Supporting Military Families

We see you, and we’re ready

A military child changes schools six to nine times before graduation. Here’s how ours became some of the first in the region ready to catch them.

It started with a phone call. A graduate of our own schools — someone who had gone on to work on military-family issues in Washington — asked me a simple question: why don’t Roseville’s schools have the Purple Star designation? I had to admit I’d never heard of it. By the time I hung up, I knew we were going to earn it.

Why it matters

Here’s what I learned. A child in a military family can expect to change schools six to nine times between kindergarten and graduation — roughly three times as often as their classmates. Every move means a new campus, new friends, a new curriculum, and often a new tangle of graduation requirements to sort out. Somewhere in America, about 200,000 military-connected students change schools every year, and California — home to the largest concentration of active-duty, National Guard, and Reserve families in the country — sends many of those kids into classrooms like ours. They don’t wear their sacrifice on their sleeve. But they carry it.

What Purple Star actually is

The Purple Star School designation, written into California law in 2024 and administered by the state Department of Education, recognizes schools that have made real, structured commitments to these students: a staff point-of-contact who helps military families with enrollment and the maze of requirements; professional development so staff understand what these kids are navigating; a dedicated web page of resources; and a student-led program to welcome new arrivals and help them belong. Notably, none of it requires new money. It requires intention.

First in our region

We earned the designation at four of our campuses — Adelante, Antelope, Roseville, and Woodcreek — making RJUHSD the first district in Placer County, and among the first in the greater Sacramento region, to do it. When ABC10 covered the news, the story that came through wasn’t about a plaque on a wall. It was a message to families: when the orders come and you land here mid-year, we’re ready for your child.

Now we’re taking it countywide

I didn’t want this to stop at our district line. So I’ve been sharing our application, our materials, and our staff’s time with neighboring districts — and I put a challenge out publicly, in an op-ed and in person: let’s make Placer County the first county in Northern California where every eligible school earns the Purple Star. Districts across the county are now working toward exactly that.

“This is the kind of thing government should do more often: it costs almost nothing, it asks only for a little intention, and it tells families who sacrifice for all of us that we’ve got their kids.”

I spent my career in public safety before I ever sat on a school board, so I carry a particular respect for the families who serve. Getting this right isn’t political, and it isn’t expensive. It’s simply the right thing to do — and I’m proud our schools were among the first in the region to do it.

Pete Constant is a retired police officer, a university professor, a parent of five Oakmont graduates, and RJUHSD’s Trustee for Area 2. See the full Family & Community Engagement record →