Santa’s Gifts: Free Christmas Trees for Pupils : Education: More than 200 youngsters are rewarded for their school attendance. It’s ‘like a miracle,’ the mother of one said.

With their parents proudly looking on, 14 of Monte Vista Elementary School’s best students huddled expectantly in the chill of a hazy morning Wednesday.

Some of them fidgeted and stared at the pavement, but their anxiety quickly passed when a Santa Ana Unified

School District truck pulled up bearing Christmas trees and Santa Claus himself. “Congratulations on what you’ve done,” Santa Claus told the shyly grinning youngsters. “I think it’s great.”

The students were among 230 in the Santa Ana school district whose sterling attendance records qualified them for a gift Christmas tree, courtesy of the school district and a local developer. Ernest Gomez, the district’s director of child welfare and attendance, organized the event, and the J.M. Peters Co., a Newport Beach developer, agreed to buy the six- and seven-foot firs and pay for shipping them here.

For many of the students, the gift represents their only chance to have a tree this year, as needy children were particularly singled out for the recognition. School administrators said they notified parents of the award and asked them if they would be offended by receiving such a gift. No parents declined.

“This is like a miracle to us to have this tree, and to have my boy get it,” Maria del Refugio Garza said, hugging her son Bernabe and mugging for a photo with Santa. “My husband is out of work right now, and it’s been very hard.”

Garza broke off to read the card attached to her son’s tree. Noting that it commends his “good school attendance and good citizenship,” she smiled. “My boy is very good,” she said.

After a brief ceremony, Bernabe, a fourth-grader who said he has only missed one school day this year, asked his mother if he should return to class. “Of course,” she said. “You go straight back.”

Garza then picked up her son’s tree and, declining offers of help, carried it several blocks to the family apartment.

Behind her, a group of high school students who served as Santa’s elves for the day’s deliveries, took a chain saw to the base of several conifers so they would stand up straight.

For Monte Vista Elementary, a bustling school of more than 1,200 pupils, the trees helped supplement a program that is always desperate for creative ways to reward good citizenship and attendance, as well as academic performance. Monte Vista has exploded with growth in recent years, and temporary facilities along the school’s perimeter house many students who have just arrived from foreign countries and need special English instruction.

Wednesday, the school hummed with activity and the halls echoed with Spanish phrases as students jostled for places in the line to meet Santa Claus. While one Santa presented trees in the parking lot, a second held court in the multipurpose room.

“ Este Santa es bilingue ,” the jolly old gentleman informed the children. “On Christmas, when I come to your house, you better leave me a cookie or a taco or a tamale or something.”

Principal Don Tibbetts happily looked over the scene and credited the corporate Christmas sponsors with helping to make the holiday special for many of his underprivileged students.

“A lot of these kids are really in need,” he said. “All of the kids have written letters to Santa Claus, and some are asking for things like shoes or clothes or even a Christmas tree.”

Indeed, a few of the youngsters Wednesday said this year would be their first Christmas with a real tree.

“It will be nice, I think. I don’t know yet,” said Juan Flores, a fourth-grader.

Alfredo Solano Palamares, who said his sister Susana has not missed a day of school so far this year, added that she has put her diligence to work, straining to learn English while settling into her new home. Susana arrived from Cuernavaca, Mexico, about three months ago, he said.

“She’s trying to learn English, and it’s hard when you are new,” he added. “I am very proud of her.”

Their mother, standing nearby, nodded politely but did not understand her son’s English.

For all the ethnic diversity and linguistic confusion, however, the youngsters at Monte Vista have quickly adopted some American customs. Asked what they wanted for Christmas, most said they wanted basketballs or bikes or Barbie dolls.

But by far the most popular response was “Nintendo,” a video game system.

“It’s great,” said Jesus Gonzalez, a wide-eyed third-grader who arrived in the United State six months ago from Cuernavaca. “My friends play it, and it’s so real.”