WHEREAS, in any given year, between 11 and 20 percent of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan experience post-traumatic stress disorder and 12 percent of veterans who served during the Gulf War experience PTSD; and 30 percent of Vietnam War veterans are estimated to have had PTSD at some point in their lives; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that every day, about 22 veterans, active-duty service members and members of the National Guard and Reserve commit suicide; and

WHEREAS, children of parents or guardians suffering from PTSD may be affected, since families usually suffer when a member has PTSD or other mental illness; and

WHEREAS, these same children may react in a way that affects their academic performance or behavior in school,

WHEREAS, veterans and their families need access to trained professionals who can help them, benefits rightly earned through service to our nation; and

WHEREAS, when professionals help a veteran manage their PTSD, that professional’s assistance is experienced by every family member, which, in turn, may improve a student’s behavior and academic performance; and

WHEREAS, veterans may be unaware of support systems they can access for themselves as well as for their families, and

WHEREAS, veteran parents/guardian must be made aware of benefits that are also available specifically for their children, and that training will be administered by the NYC Department of Veterans’ Services which include Mental Health Support, Employment Support During Post Deployment, Housing Support Services, Education Benefits, Human Rights Law Title 8, and Mentorship; and

WHEREAS, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators and the UFT Veteran Committees, working together, have agreed to present resolutions to their organizations’ governing bodies that would call for the Department of Education to amend the student information/registration form to determine if a child has a parent or guardian who is a veteran; therefore be it

RESOLVED, to ask the Department of Education to modify the student Information/registration form to include a question about parents’/guardians’ veteran status; and be it further

RESOLVED, a “yes” answer would trigger a notification to the parents about services offered by the NYC Department of Veteran Services; and be it further

RESOLVED, that every NYC public school should have at least one designated veteran/active duty military liaison trained on referrals to veteran agencies.