ENID — For educators, the start of any new school year means identifying the needs, strengths and weaknesses of a new group of students.

With the return to class at Enid High School this week, teachers and counselors are going beyond identifying students’ academic needs to tackle one of the most basic human necessities: food.

A collaborative effort between the high school, Youth and Family Services of North Central Oklahoma and Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is launching a new student food pantry, and school officials are working to identify students who could benefit from its services.

Shelby Hall, director of development for Youth and Family Services, recognized the need to offer food bank services to high school students last year when she was working at Enid High as a counselor.

“Last year I just had a lot of students who came in who were hungry,” she said.

She said it didn’t take long to make a correlation between the kids who were chronically hungry, and the kids who were getting into trouble and having problems in class.

“From drop-out rates to behavioral issues, it always seemed to boil down to the same kids who weren’t getting enough food at home,” she said.

She began researching possible solutions, and soon launched a coordinated effort with the school district and Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to create the high school food pantry.

Donations from Youth and Family Services, United Way of Enid and Northwest Oklahoma and local donors helped get the food pantry started with shelving and a limited amount of food. The pantry’s main food supply will come from the food bank, with the first shipment slated to arrive in late September.

For now, Hall said the pantry’s coordinators are focused on identifying kids in need and matching them with food pantry services. That work will be accomplished through teachers’ referrals and the work of Youth and Family Services counselors.

Justin Loughman, a Youth and Family Services counselor at the high school, said counselors are well situated to identify which kids need help.

“We’re the eyes and ears around here a lot of times, and that allows us to know what’s going on with the kids,” he said.

But, he said, a lack of proper nutrition may first show up in a child’s poor classroom performance. Then, he said, teachers play a pivotal role in getting kids the help they need.

While daily hunger may be the kids’ most immediate need, it often is an indicator of larger problems at home, Loughman said.

“We’re dealing with a lot of family dynamic issues,” he said, “and a lot of the kids who come to us hungry are coming from broken homes.”

The first step in dealing with the fall-out from problems at home, he said, simply is to make sure the kids have something to eat.

Melissa Baldwin, another Youth and Family Services counselor at Enid High, offered a similar perspective on the problems facing all too many of the school’s students.

“I have a lot of kids that come in and say that they don’t know if they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and might not have food when they get home,” she said.

For a growing number of students, a lack of food outside of school stems from the fact they have completely moved out of their parents’ home and are living on their own.

“I have a lot of students who have moved in with someone else, or who have turned 18 and live on their own,” Baldwin said, “and the food pantry will help them out a lot.”

Joan McIntyre, supervisor of health services for Enid Public Schools, said it is common for the district’s four registered nurses to see students for ailments that can be linked to a lack of proper nutrition at home.

“If a teacher notices that a child isn’t able to focus or has a lot of trouble academically, or just seems hungry all the time, they will refer that student to us,” McIntyre said.

“What we notice,” she said, “is that a lot of children will come in complaining of fatigue or ‘tummy aches’ and the first thing we ask them is if they ate breakfast.”

Often, she said, they answer they haven’t eaten that day for one reason: “there’s no food at home.”

Amber Fitzgerald, Enid Public Schools director of school and community relations, said meeting those kids’ needs requires close cooperation between teachers, parents and counselors.

“Our counselors work to build relationships with the families to find out what kind of services they need,” Fitzgerald said. She said the counselors, working with the school, state agencies and local non-profits, “can usually find a way to make sure their needs are met.”

“But,” she added, “it all starts with us building that relationship with the families.”

The biggest thing families in need can do to make sure their kids are being properly fed during the day, Fitzgerald said, it to make sure they are claiming free or reduced-price school meal benefits.

She provided figures indicating 71.78 percent of students in Enid Public Schools qualify for free or reduced lunch. But, the actual percentage of families who qualify for help “may be much higher,” since some families do not know they are eligible or do not sign up for services.

“The easiest thing to do is just to call a school or talk to any counselor,” she said, “and the process is entirely confidential.”

Fitzgerald said the high school food pantry is expected to have a capacity to provide services for 100 students this year. And, she said, teachers already have begun referring students who need help from the food pantry.

“Now that teachers know its available, they will begin referring students whenever they see a need,” Fitzgerald said.

The high school food pantry is expected to be fully operational by Oct. 7, when a ceremonial ribbon cutting has been scheduled.

Fitzgerald said the community has been generous in helping to get the food pantry started, but more help is needed for its ongoing operations.

“People in our community, and people who have a tie to Enid in some way, have a really big heart for children and it hasn’t taken long for that to show through in their support for the food pantry,” Fitzgerald said.

Anyone interested in supporting the high school food pantry can contact Hall at Youth and Family Services, (580) 233-7220.