Board Briefs

The Davis School District Board of Education unanimously approved the bid for the construction of a new Teen Residential Center in Layton City to Northridge Construction. The community project with Davis County and the Davis Education Foundation will create an overnight facility in Layton for students that need a place to stay.

The cost of the $3.69 million dollar facility will be fully covered by donations with no district funds being used to complete the project. Construction is expected to be completed in 2024.

For more information visit the Davis Education Foundation website and check out the Frequently Asked Questions document by clicking on the image below.

The Davis School District Board of Education listened to a presentation from Layton City representatives about the Layton City East Gate Economic Development Area (EDA). This area includes 80 acres of undeveloped land East of Hill Air Force Base.

The current Community Redevelopment Agreement (CRA) with Layton City is 15 years and ends in 2025.

The proposal from the city is to extend the agreement between the school district and Layton City.

Layton City Manager Alex Jensen shared information with the board about the nearly 80-acre development. Although not the timeline they had originally planned for, the city now intends to move forward to utilize the property for a development project that would "provide for family-sustaining jobs related to aerospace," according to Jensen.

"To the credit of Layton City Councils through the years, they have always held their ground and held onto that vision of what this could be and the impact it can provide to the community," Jensen said.

Property in the current EDA is also currently home to Kihomac and Janicki, which are two notable developments which are both prominent aerospace contractors.

Jensen also reported that the city currently has a very large Fortune 500 aerospace contractor with a strong presence in Utah that is interested in development of the area. This development will include several buildings on nearly 55 acres of property that is managed by JL Ventures.

"The possibilities are well beyond what we had imagined," stated Jensen in explaining the future prospects of this development project.

The board briefly discussed the short term and long-term impacts of the district decision to support the extended EDA proposal and will vote on the proposal in an upcoming board meeting.

Board members had the opportunity to learn about two great events that were planned collaboratively between Davis School District and Hill Air Force Base.

The first event highlighted by Assistant Superintendent John Zurbuchen was the Purple Star School Back to School Night held at the Hill Aerospace Museum for all families of Purple Star Schools in Davis School District.

The second event that was presented to the board was the 9/11 Remembrance Assembly that was held at North Layton Junior High School.

Zurbuchen introduced four key people who were instrumental in creating the events and have been intentional in their efforts to increase the collaboration between Hill Air Force Base and Davis School District.

Those were Director of Responsive Services Casey Layton, Military Family Advocate Francesca Suarez, Education Director for Hill Aerospace Museum Raelynn Embleton and United States Air Force 75th Mission Group Commander Col. Khalim A. Taha who is the School Engagement Lead in Hill Air Force Base's Project One.

"Project One's mission is to increase mission readiness by creating, fostering, fortifying, sustaining and enduring inclusive on and off base communities, in which airmen and their families can comfortably thrive during their service at Hill," Col. Taha said.

The board heard a presentation from the Communication Department about its mission and ongoing efforts in district communications. Along with introducing the members of the department and their roles, Director Chris Willliams also shared the department name change from Community Relations to the Communication Department to better reflect the purpose of the team.

The Communication Department team members are:

Chris Williams - Director of Communications and Operations

Cassie Smith - External Communication Specialist

Terri Hall - Internal Communication Specialist

Tom Laughlin - Digital Media Specialist

Amy Sather - Communication Specialist

The presentation included information about the department's mission, a focus on internal and external communications, a review of all tools the team uses to share news and information with the intended audience and the importance of analytics to measure effectiveness.