The Davis Joint Unified School System (DJUSD) and Da Vinci

The DJUSD school system has served the community well, and the community has reciprocated with high levels of support and involvement. It is testament to community values that for the past 20 years, residents have overwhelmingly approved additional parcel taxes for the benefit of the school district. Davis parents expect to be offered choices in how their children are educated, and the district actively honors that value. While Davis Senior High School is the only traditional comprehensive high school in Davis, the district also provides an accredited continuation high school and a K-12 independent study school.

About seven years ago, when enrollment projections indicated that Davis High School would grow beyond its capacity – but not enough to make a second traditional high school viable – our superintendent began investigating options for magnet schools to provide additional educational choices and to keep Davis Senior High a manageable size. Four years in the making, Leonardo Da Vinci High School was the product of that vision.
With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as well as the federal Smaller Learning Communities grants provided the start-up money, active planning beginning in October 2003. Our school opened for the 2004-2005 school year. After five successful school years at our original campus, the Da Vinci community expanded to become the Da Vinci Charter Academy encompassing grades 7 through 12.

Da Vinci High School is now located at 1400 East Eighth Street with more than 300 students enrolled in grades 10-12 and has seen the successful graduation of six senior classes (see our Statistics and Post-Graduation Destination webpages for details).