Volunteer Requirement Draws Mixed Reactions : Education: Simi Valley school officials are split over a proposal that would make students perform community service to graduate.

A proposal being considered by the Simi Valley School District that would require high school students to perform volunteer community service before graduation has drawn mixed reactions from students, teachers and school officials.

The school board at its meeting last week agreed to form a task force of educators, students and business and community leaders to work out details of how such a program could be implemented.

If approved, students would be given credit for time donated to a hospital, convalescent home, the Rancho Simi Park and Recreation District or other agencies that provide services for the needy, such as the elderly and the homeless.

There are only a few school districts in California that have a community service requirement for graduation, state Department of Education officials said.

One of these is the South Pasadena Unified School District. For the past three years the district has required students to complete 45 hours of community service before graduation, said Les Adelson, the district’s director of instructional services.

Activities range from working in a senior citizens’ center to being an aide in a political campaign, Adelson said. In addition to boosting their self-esteem, the experience also has helped some students in their pursuit of a career, he added.

“We’re real pleased with it,” Adelson said of the program. “It really is an opportunity for students to experience the value of being part of a community. The students enjoy it as well as the organizations that use their services.”

Linda Forsyth, a consultant with the state Department of Education, said the department is sponsoring a study of ways to incorporate and promote more community service programs at school districts statewide. The study will be included in a report on educational reform due out in October.

Although Simi Valley school board members agree on the value of making community service a part of the district’s high school curriculum, they are split over whether it should be done through an elective or a required course.

School board members Carla Kurachi and Diane Collins said they favor a mandatory program because some students might be too shy or uninformed to get involved.

“Part of our responsibility is to make students socially responsible,” Kurachi said. “The way I see us attaining this goal is for students to do some type of community service work. We’re not going to ask them to do anything that’s unreasonable.”

Kurachi suggested that students complete a total of 40 hours of community service over a four-year period, beginning in the ninth grade and continuing through their senior year.

But board member Doug Crosse said students should have the freedom to choose if they want to participate.

“I don’t think you can force volunteerism and have it be effective,” he said.

The community would be better served if students were simply encouraged to pick up a few extra credits by volunteering their time at a hospital or coaching youth athletics, for example, he said.

Although board members Ken Ashton and Judy Barry have not taken a position, they appear to be leaning toward a mandatory program. The board is scheduled to discuss the issue again next week.

“I just feel people can’t appreciate the community they live in until they serve it,” Ashton said. “But it’s still in the discussion stage. I want to hear what the students have to say.”

Simi Valley High School student Carol Andino said she prefers a voluntary program. The 17-year-old said her homework and her job at a fast-food restaurant, where she works four hours a day, five or six days a week, leave her with little time for anything else.

“Some of us have to work, and we don’t have time to help, even though we would like to,” she said.

Bonnie Nicholson, a 10th-grader at the school, said she also does not want the extra responsibility. She said homework, household chores and after-school piano lessons are enough to keep her busy.

“I don’t have a lot of extra time,” she said.

But Jennifer Dunbar, president of her 11th-grade class, said 10 hours of community service a year is not much to ask.

“If it’s that minimal, I would definitely go toward a mandatory program,” she said. “I think it builds character in an individual if they become involved in community service because then they are thinking of others and not just themselves.”

Jennifer said she is now enrolled in a leadership class at Simi Valley High that requires students to participate in some social-service activity. The class is available to students as an elective.

As part of the course, Jennifer said, she and two other classmates have been meeting with students at Township Elementary School to discuss the dangers of drug use, peer pressure and other issues of concern to students.

Jennifer said she is also her school’s coordinator for the March of Dimes’ walkathon to be held in Simi Valley on April 17. She is responsible for recruiting students to participate in the 10-mile walk to raise money for the handicapped. So far, she said, she has signed up 75 people.

“I think there are a lot of students out there who want to help, but they don’t know how to go about it,” the 16-year-old said. She said a program such as the one being considered by the school board will help direct students who want to get involved in community service.

Teachers and school administrators note that there are already classes, such as Jennifer’s, that require students to help out in the community.

Another example is the ninth-grade health class at Thousand Oaks High School.

Students enrolled in the class, which is a graduation requirement, are assigned a semester project that requires up to 10 hours of service, said Jennie Lyle, chairwoman of the school’s health department.

Lyle said some of the activities include tutoring younger students, visiting the elderly or working in a church or hospital.

“This is a wonderful experience for the kids,” she said. “A lot of students feel strongly about the environment, about the homeless. This gives them an opportunity to take action in those areas.”

Lyle said she has had only one complaint from a parent in the five years that the community service assignment has been in place. It had to do with the time it took for her child to complete the assignment.

Lyle said students must find the time.

“If I gave students 10 hours of homework, they would find a way to do it,” she said.

Still, Lyle said, she would favor a voluntary program rather than a mandatory one.

“The word ‘mandatory’ sticks in my throat,” she said. “I think it’s real important to give options.”

She said she believes that if students can be made to understand how they will benefit from such a program, they will participate.

Correspondent Kirsten Lee Swartz contributed to this story.