The work you don’t see in our schools

It is a Monday morn­ing. A stu­dent has not shown up again. Before assump­tions are made, some­one paus­es and asks a dif­fer­ent ques­tion: What is real­ly going on? A call is made, not to dis­ci­pline, but to under­stand. Is there food in the house? Did they miss the bus? Did some­thing hap­pen over the weekend?

By mid-morn­ing, anoth­er stu­dent walks in, qui­et and with­drawn. You learn they were removed from their home over the week­end and placed with a rel­a­tive. Before lunch, a dif­fer­ent stu­dent needs clean clothes and a show­er because the water at home was shut off. 

This isn’t an exception.

This is a typ­i­cal day, and the peo­ple respond­ing to all of this are not always who you think they are. They are the coör­di­na­tors of our Family Resource Centers and Youth Service Centers work­ing inside our schools, often behind the scenes, doing what­ev­er it takes to remove bar­ri­ers so stu­dents can learn.

Success starts with stability

We talk a lot about stu­dent suc­cess. But suc­cess does not start with cur­ricu­lum — it starts with sta­bil­i­ty. These coör­di­na­tors step into the gaps most peo­ple nev­er see:

• A stu­dent who hasn’t eat­en since yesterday.
• A fam­i­ly choos­ing between pay­ing rent and buy­ing groceries.
• A teenag­er try­ing to fig­ure out life after grad­u­a­tion, with no guid­ance at home.
• A child embar­rassed to come to school because they don’t have clean clothes.

So the work becomes what­ev­er the moment requires: food, cloth­ing, hygiene, hous­ing sup­port, job con­nec­tions, men­tal health resources, trans­porta­tion, and advo­ca­cy. A safe space to go — not just for the stu­dent, but for the fam­i­ly. Connection to oth­er com­mu­ni­ty resources. Not in the­o­ry, in real time.

In ele­men­tary schools, the work cen­ters on the fam­i­ly, help­ing par­ents sta­bi­lize their envi­ron­ments so chil­dren can show up ready to learn.

By mid­dle school and high school, the focus shifts. Students are taught how to advo­cate for them­selves, how to ask for help, nav­i­gate sys­tems, pre­pare for work, and plan for life beyond graduation.

Funding is falling behind 

Here is the part that sur­pris­es almost every­one, and def­i­nite­ly sur­prised me: This work is not fund­ed by the school district.

Family Resource and Youth Service Centers are pri­mar­i­ly fund­ed by the state, and that fund­ing is based on the num­ber of stu­dents who qual­i­fy for free or reduced lunch. You know those green sheets we used to have to fill out if you are a par­ent — this is why. (Now this infor­ma­tion is com­plet­ed in Infinite Campus under “Meal Benefit Form,” but it is still important.)

That means:

• If fam­i­lies don’t com­plete the required forms, fund­ing drops.
• If state bud­gets are cut, fund­ing drops.
• If costs go up (which they have), resources stretch thinner.

And the num­bers? In recent years, fund­ing has dropped to just over $200 per eli­gi­ble stu­dent for the entire year. That is for stu­dents who qual­i­fy for free and reduced lunch.

Let that sink in. That amount is not just for sup­plies. It also sup­ports staffing for the cen­ters, pro­gram­ming, and emer­gency needs. And here is the part that mat­ters most: they do not only serve the stu­dents tied to that fund­ing. They serve everyone. 

If a fam­i­ly walks in and needs help, they are not asked, “Do you qual­i­fy?” They are asked, “What do you need?” So the real­i­ty is this: the need is uni­ver­sal, but the fund­ing is not.

As men­tioned before, Kentucky is the only state in the nation that has Family Resource and Youth Service Centers embed­ded in schools. What we have here is not the norm — it’s some­thing unique­ly designed to sup­port the whole child and the whole fam­i­ly. And like any­thing mean­ing­ful, it requires aware­ness, advo­ca­cy, and com­mu­ni­ty sup­port to sus­tain it.

The work is hard

This work is not clean. It’s not per­fect­ly struc­tured. It doesn’t fit into neat systems.

Do they always get it right? No. The needs are com­plex. The sit­u­a­tions are dif­fer­ent every day. The sys­tems they nav­i­gate aren’t always designed to work smooth­ly. But here’s what mat­ters more than perfection:

• They come back the next day.
• They adjust.
• They try again.
• They keep show­ing up for stu­dents and fam­i­lies, no mat­ter what the day brings.

And that con­sis­ten­cy — that is what changes outcomes.

This work does not hap­pen in the­o­ry — it hap­pens because of peo­ple. People who show up dai­ly, car­ry the weight of what they see, and con­tin­ue to serve with care, com­mit­ment, and persistence. 

Right now, many of the sup­ports our stu­dents rely on are being held togeth­er by a com­bi­na­tion of lim­it­ed fund­ing, strong rela­tion­ships, com­mu­ni­ty part­ner­ships, and generosity. 

Food pantries are stocked because some­one donat­ed. Clothing clos­ets exist because some­one cared enough to give. Emergency needs are met because some­one chose to step in. But the gap is grow­ing. There are some years when our Family Resource Centers and Youth Service Centers use up their entire bud­gets before the first half of the school year. And the truth is, this is where the com­mu­ni­ty mat­ters most.

If you have ever want­ed to make a direct, mean­ing­ful impact on a student’s life, this is it.

Not abstract. Not some­day. Right now. Because when you sup­port these cen­ters, you are not fund­ing a program.

You are mak­ing sure:

• A child can walk into school with dignity.
• A fam­i­ly has sup­port dur­ing a crisis.
• A stu­dent has a chance to see a future beyond their cur­rent situation.

How to help

Contact your student’s school to find out how to donate direct­ly to their Family Resource or Youth Service Center.

Donations can include:

• Financial con­tri­bu­tions
• Food items
• Clothing
• Hygiene prod­ucts
• Basic house­hold supplies

Every school has a cen­ter. Every cen­ter has needs. Every con­tri­bu­tion matters.

We spend a lot of time talk­ing about how to improve edu­ca­tion. But the truth is, many of our stu­dents do not need bet­ter instruc­tion first. They need few­er bar­ri­ers. And behind every bar­ri­er removed, there is some­one qui­et­ly doing the work. Not per­fect­ly. But con­sis­tent­ly. And now that you see it, you have a choice to be part of it.

A spe­cial thank you to our local FRYSC coör­di­na­tors who are doing this work right here in Clark County and took the time to par­tic­i­pate in this interview:

Ashton Patton, GRC; Rosalinda Gay, Strode Station Elementary; Deena Graham, Clark County Preschool; Kristi Carter, Shearer Elementary; Whitney Snell, RDC & Cardinal Innovation Center; Casey Davis, Baker Intermediate; Brooke Raney, Conkwright Elementary;
Brittney Combs, Justice Elementary.

Your work mat­ters. And our com­mu­ni­ty is stronger because of you.