The business of learning: Community support grows in local schools

Terry Webster

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2002 | 10:01 a.m.

First graders at Fitzgerald Elementary School in North Las Vegas are learning the difference between a seven of hearts and a two of spades.

Students in teacher Rachelle Enk's class divide a deck of cards from a local casino by colors -- red or black -- and then play a game of "war."

Although the appearance of playing cards may raise some eyebrows, Enk said the games aren't tools to promote gambling. Rather, they are intended to help students understand numbers and their values.

"If one student draws a nine and the other one has a seven, the student with the higher card gets to keep both," she explained.

The hands-on lesson comes with extra help from Katie Wright, a school volunteer and restaurant server at Santa Fe Station.

Casino employees from departments ranging from the gaming tables to accounting have an almost daily presence at the school, reading to students and helping with basic mathematics lessons. Some departments have adopted individual classrooms.

Corporations, PTAs and public education foundations had been called upon to provide the luxuries -- not the basics -- for schools. But as local economies tighten and school officials continue to sound alarms about a lack of funding, the role of community support in schools is growing here and across the nation.

Cookie sales and field trips to the zoo are now passe', according to the National Parent Teacher Association in Washington. Now parents, businesses and other groups are asked to fund everything from teachers and books to outdoor athletic tracks.

Years ago, PTAs paid for items such as a window air conditioner or a stage curtain for the school auditorium. Now it's common to see parent groups buying roomfuls of computers, basic curriculum tools or art and music materials, said Shirley Igo, president of the national PTA.

"I've seen isolated cases where PTAs were asked to fund an art teacher and an athletic track," she said.

PTAs are discouraged from providing those kinds of things, she said, because some neighborhoods have more fund-raising power than others.

"Even though nobody sets out to do it, it does create inequities," Igo said.

For an at-risk school such as Fitzgerald, any additional help gives students an edge they may otherwise not receive.

For four consecutive years, the school was on the state's list of schools that need improvement, a designation based on low test scores. The Nevada Department of Education uses scores from the TerraNova exam to annually rate school performance.

Assistant Principal Mario Quinonez said there are many reasons for Fitzgerald's improvement.

The state last year required all staffers at Fitzgerald to either transfer to another school or reapply for their jobs. The move, say officials, is one of the strongest the state has ever made to improve a school's performance. The reconstituted staff began working this fall.

Other significant changes came by improving classroom discipline, providing free after school tutoring and a new system of tracking student performance in math and reading.

"The real credit goes to the teachers in the classroom," Quinonez said.

The growing expectation for businesses to help schools is amplified in Nevada, because of Clark County's changing demographics, rapid growth and transient population.

"All of those factors create a great strain on school districts," said Barbara Clark, Nevada PTA president. "Parent organizations are now being asked to buy paper, pens or library books. It seems to be happening more and more."

The Clark County Public Education Foundation, which provides programs ranging from scholarships to teacher training, also is recognizing the need for more basics in the district.

Teachers have frequently complained of dipping into their own pockets to spend upward of $1,000 a year for classroom supplies.

Judi Steele, executive director, said the foundation wants to set up a center stocked with supplies that businesses would otherwise discard, but teachers will find useful.

The idea, which also involves donated warehouse space to store the supplies, has caught on throughout the country. Clark County's version would include a training center so teachers can share ideas about how to use the supplies.

A similar concept is used by the Washoe County School District in Reno.

"We actually stole the idea from a school and business partnership in Boston," said Steve Mulvenon, a spokesman for the district.

Washoe's public education foundation has a large warehouse filled with old business letterhead that can be used as scrap paper and ballpoint pens with misprinted company names, for example.

"The creativity of the teachers is amazing," Mulvenon said.

Take, for example, the plastic wheel coverings used in packing exercise bicycles. The plastic semi-circles were fashioned into clocks by teachers who used them to help teach first and second graders how to tell time.

Teachers use small shopping carts to stock up on all of the supplies they need -- for free. The district even has a van that goes around to businesses to pick up supplies.

But it isn't just PTAs and education foundations that offer more support for schools. More than 60 of the district's 266 schools receive help from businesses through the Focus school project by "adopting" at risk schools.

"We like to do things that make the kids feel better," said Lisa Morrison, supervisor for training and coordinator of the Focus project for Nevada Title Co. That means anything from having employees read to the students at Ira J. Earl Elementary School on company time to providing gifts and food baskets at Christmas.

Often, business involvement with a school extends beyond the education realm.

Terry Wright, chief executive officer of Nevada Title, said his firm has even bought toothpaste and toothbrushes for families who can't afford the items.

Businesses such as Station Casinos and the Greenspun Corp., also have adopted schools in the district.

One of the biggest contributors to schools, Station Casinos partners with nine high needs schools, offering, among other things, $10,000 in funding for each school each year. The business also gives $5,000 a year to 43 additional schools in the Clark County School District.

Still, there are those who say school partnerships are not the ultimate answer.

"The PTAs play a big role in going before school districts, the state Legislature, as well as Congress, trying to increase basic funding," said Clark. "But we are essentially just a drop in the bucket. You are talking about thousands of dollars versus millions. No matter how hard we try, districts are still going to need the big money. And that isn't going to come from parent organizations, businesses or education foundations."

Meanwhile, school officials continue to trumpet the call for more funding. A recent study by Education Week, a national magazine, ranked Nevada near the bottom of the nation for education spending.

"I can cut here and cut there until there literally isn't anything left," said Clark County School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia. "Pretty soon, we just won't be able to sustain it anymore. Maybe we need to get to that point for people to wake up."

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