By Madelynn Coldiron

Staff Writer

Walton-Verona school district in northern Kentucky doesn’t qualify for state-funded family resource or youth service centers, but that hasn’t stopped it from creating what’s nicknamed a "resource center on wheels."

This center is actually the system’s Schools and Families Empowered Agent program. The program’s sole employee – "the agent" – works to remove any barriers between at-risk students and their education.

The result? The district has had zero high school dropouts since the S.A.F.E. program’s inception in 1999 and countless testimonials from grateful students and parents.

That record is a major reason why it is this fall’s selection for KSBA’s Public Education Achieves in Kentucky (PEAK) Award.

"In a time of ‘naming and claiming’ each child, they have done that well by providing resources to meet the personal needs as well as the academic needs of their students," wrote PEAK judge Jean Crowley, a Danville school board member and KSBA board development specialist.

The S.A.F.E. Agent program annually serves about 110 at-risk students and their families from preschool through high school. After initial funding from a state Department of Juvenile Justice grant, it is now funded by a $50,000 annual allocation from the Boone County Board of Health and additional resources appropriated by the school board.

"We get recognized for our zero dropout rate and that’s fabulous, but this program is so much more than that," said school board member Tina Crase, who put the nomination together.

The program’s official mission is "to bridge the gap between home and school for disenfranchised students and parents."

Taking that mission to heart, the program’s agent, Larry Davis, has done a little bit of everything in making sure kids stay in school.

"Over the years, I have helped parents get jobs, taken furniture to their empty apartments and houses, secured students’ medical coverage, obtained free dental and medical procedures for our students, and I’ve also linked families with various social agencies so that they could receive ongoing help with their family needs," Davis said in giving an overview of his job. "It is by interacting with these families and addressing their basic needs that I can refocus the student on school and the things he or she needs to do to graduate."

When he monitors a struggling student, Davis checks academic progress, attendance and emotional well-being through meeting with the students and contacting their parents and teachers.

"I personally seek out the S.A.F.E. agent for the at-risk kids who often slip through the cracks – kids who are loners or ‘troublemakers,’" Walton-Verona middle grades teacher Amy Cody wrote in support of the PEAK nomination. "These are kids who won’t often listen to anyone else. I have sat in when the agent has counseled one of my students and I can tell you, they hear him."

In 2006-07 alone, Davis recorded 100 home visits, regularly monitored 52 students, mediated 19 truancy cases and referred 32 students to medical professionals, including physicians and counselors. The numbers, notes the nomination, "are only the ones on record. It would be impossible to count the number of students that his presence in the building or words of encouragement has helped."

Davis is uniquely qualified to fill the agent’s position. He is a former special education teacher and director who retired as a high school principal nearly two decades ago. He currently also works part-time for the Kenton County court system and through his church involvement, forges relationships with community agencies, said Pam Sayler, director of student services, who first came up with the idea for S.A.F.E. Agent.

"The key behind this program is the individual who runs the program," she said. "That will be what makes it successful."