Davis School District has support team for military-connected children

DAVIS COUNTY, Utah — The Davis School District has a Military Support Team that provides help for students with connections to the military.

According to the district’s website, “the average military-connected student will move 6-9 times throughout their school-aged years, which is three times more than their non-military counterparts.” 

This program was created after a town meeting at Hill Air Force Base when parents raised concerns that their children weren’t receiving enough support in the school system to help with their individual needs. 

How the support team began

The district teamed up with the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs to create a program that interacts with military-connected students and families directly. It connects them with necessary resources to help their children succeed.  

Military Educational Therapists provide services such as individual therapy, school group therapy, outreach help, safety planning, and crisis intervention. According to their website they work directly with the children in school to “help the student succeed in their social, emotional, and educational pursuits.”

Jordan Dye, a military educational therapist in the Davis School District’s Military Support Program says, “as a military-connected child and family, they have extra challenges that can impact their learning and their ability to interact with their life and their school.” 

What it hopes to accomplish

The goal of the Military Support team is to affix students and families to helpful resources. So, students can receive the support they need to succeed in school and life. 

Included in the team are Military Family Advocates who work with families to introduce them to various helpful resources, and remove stressful educational obstacles in the child’s life. 

Dye emphasizes the importance of the program by explaining it from a child’s perspective, saying, “you’re in this new environment, where mom or dad just left on a deployment… let’s help you transition in appropriate ways and work with these new or uncomfortable emotions that are happening right now.”

The support team is the first of its kind and meets with any militarily connected child, including children of parents who were in the military at any point in their lives.