Teens should be thinking about who to ask to the prom – not where they’re going to sleep or get their next meal. More than 1,000 children in the Davis School District are homeless. There has been a great effort by the Davis Education Foundation and District administrators to find a way to help these students. Their belief is that if a child’s physical needs aren’t met they can’t learn. 

At the last Board of Education meeting, Assistant Superintendent John Zurbuchen, Davis Education Foundation Executive Director Jody Lunt and Brad Christensen, Student and Family Services Director and Casey Layton, Director of Responsive Services gave presentations on the efforts to help these students and their families.

“Something we often hear in public education today is that we’ve expanded our scope beyond where we should be in the classroom and teaching,” said Zurbuchen. “Unfortunately, learning can only happen if certain precursors are met and if the student is ready to learn.”

He used Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to demonstrate how that relates to school needs starting with Self-Actualization. “That is a student is available to learn,” Zurbuchen said. “Everything below (esteem, belonging, safety, physiological) are needs that must be met before a student can learn. If any of these are not met the student is not going to be able to learn like we want them to.”

There are two choices to accomplish this, he said. “One, we can require teachers to meet those needs. But remember teachers are trained to be educators. They’re trained to teach, not necessarily provide other needs. Or two, we can have systems in place that meet the needs of these students.”

Lunt explained to the board the McKinney-Vento program. “It is a federal act that was put into place in 1987,” she said. “It is to ensure that all students, especially those living in a homeless situation, receive easy access to education. That is the law.”

So people might ask, “‘What does homelessness look like?’ I’m not seeing them in tents or on the street,’” Lunt said.

“There are three criteria we follow with this federal act,” she said. “Nighttime residence must be fixed. It must be regular and it must be adequate. If any of the three are not met they qualify for federal assistance through this program. These kids aren’t in trouble, they're just carrying a load that is significantly different from mainstream traditional students.”

One of the ways the Foundation is helping those kids is through Teen Centers at the high schools in the district. “We have 10 right now and the last two will open this fall,” said Lunt. “Last year’s encore data told us 4,805 individual students received services in the center.”

Lunt also talked about the new Teen Living Center that will open Sept. 12 that will provide a place for a student to stay the night. “The center is a supportive and supervised environment that offers food, shelter, clothing and emotional and mental resources for teens,” she said. “We won’t run it so we won’t have any of the liability on it. Our incredible partners Switchpoint will run it. The role of the Davis School District is to ensure the kids are coming to school.” 

“I could have used these services,” said Board member John Robison. “I was 11 when my mother died. I was raised by an alcoholic father. School lunch was sometimes my only meal. In addition to trying to survive I had to look out for my little brother who was four years younger.”

Robison said athletics are what saved him. “Sports saved me so I got my little brother involved with athletics too. We got through it. I don’t know how, but we got through it. We need to get the word out that there is a critical need for this.”

The school board has to identify those needs and how to fund that, he said. “It’s about helping kids navigate this. Nobody knew about my situation. I was senior class president. People probably looked at me and said, ‘John’s got a good life.’”

Robison said he would go to work at 10 at night until 6 in the morning then go to school. “I could have used a teen center.”