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Alison Lawyer, Connie Orozco, LaKota Kane and Michelle Schiff rehearse a number with Patrice Young at Imperial Beach School. |
When economic times got tough three years ago, parents, community members and teachers rallied in an effort to save programs like art, music and computer science in the South Bay Union School District.
The low-income district, consisting of a dozen schools located a stone's throw from the Mexican border, has few wealthy residents and no major industry to solicit for contributions.
But that didn't stop community members from forming the South Bay Union School District Education Foundation.
While community foundations in affluent areas may raise hundreds of thousands of dollars with galas, silent auctions and raffles of expensive cars, this foundation is pleased to announce it has $15,000 in the bank.
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Meriah DeJoseph dons one of the costumes for a production on ancient civilizations. |
"We're not like wealthy school districts," says Dana Tomlinson, an Emory Elementary School teacher who serves on the foundation's board of directors. "There is no industry here. We are all very mom-and-pop oriented. In some communities, parents are asked to write $200 checks to their foundations, and they will. Here, we ask for $20, and we're lucky to get it. It's a whole different beast."
Tomlinson, a member of the Southwest Teachers Association, is the "voice of the classroom" on the foundation board. "When folks are sitting around asking what schools need, I can tell them."
Also serving on the board is retired teacher Merrill Wood, a lifetime CTA member.
The foundation is pleased with its success, but would like to do more.
"We want to do big things," says Tomlinson. "We need money for so many things."
Speaking of big things, if you stumbled in on students practicing for a musical production at Imperial Beach School, you'd never know that money for the arts has been eliminated, what with their elaborate costumes and props.
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Kindergarten teachers Patty Day and Young produce musicals to bring curriculum to life at all grade levels. |
Last year, under the direction of kindergarten teachers Patrice Young and Patty Day, the sixth-graders performed Dig It, a play about ancient civilizations. Fifth-graders performed The 13 Colonies. Plans are now in the works for a K-3 production of Bugz.
"It's very important to expose students to the arts, because the arts enhance academics," says Young. "If we lost the arts and had nothing but academics, we would lose our soul here."
Producing musicals that tie in with the curriculum at all grade levels would be impossible without foundation grant money, she says.
"It truly does take a village - or a foundation - to make musicals."
