Unfortunately, one of the features of serving this great country of ours means the possibility of moving around many times for the families of soldiers. Deployment often translates to uprooting the family of a soldier, including relocating in another city, state or even country in some situations. When a family has school-aged children, this can mean having to adjust to a completely new situation, including a new home, a new community or neighborhood, and even a new school. According to the Pentagon, there are more than 723,373 dependents that are children of active duty Military parents and are between the ages of five and eighteen.
Sergeant Robert Zoellner did not have to worry about the trickiness of finding the right school for his three children when he moved to the Luke Air Force base housing in Glendale, Arizona last year. This is because his wife, Andrea Zoellner, did her homework beforehand to make sure that all three children would enroll into the best possible schools.
Andrea says that she got a head start by traveling to Arizona beforehand to check out local schools. She also made use of a website called http://www.greatschools.net which allowed her to scout school districts that were local to the navy base. Moving to Glendale was the third move since Robert Zoellner joined the military in 1993. This family knows how important it is to make sure that a move involves a smooth transition for any children involved. Selecting schools and making other important decisions beforehand can greatly simplify the moving process.
