The David School is a

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. Overview The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...

private

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for underprivileged and struggling students in

David, Kentucky David is an unincorporated community and coal town in Floyd County, Kentucky, United States along County Route 404. Located in the Appalachian Mountains, it lies approximately southeast of Lexington. The town was named for David L. Francis, p ...

, a rural village in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

in the United States.

History

The school was started in the 1970s by Danny Greene, originally from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, who moved to David as a college

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

and was moved by the rampant poverty and illiteracy there. Kentucky's

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

conducted an investigation, beginning in 2011, into Greene's alleged mismanagement. Upon presentation of the evidence, in May 2012, Floyd County Circuit Judge, Johnny Ray Harris, assigned a new school board. The ruling also banned Greene and Sister Emma Kriz, the former principal, from any further school involvement. The school's campus was built largely with volunteer labor and many of the workers at the David School are technically long-term volunteers rather than employees and are provided with a small stipend and housing.

Country Boys

The David School was featured in the classic six-hour documentary series Country Boys which was broadcast in Frontline on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

network in 2006. Filmmaker David Sutherland spent 3 years at the David School chronicling the lives of two at-risk adolescents, Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson, following their lives as they grapple with and overcome daunting emotional and physical obstacles related to their unique family lives and the economic situation of this region.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:David School Private high schools in Kentucky Schools in Floyd County, Kentucky Educational institutions established in 1974 1974 establishments in Kentucky