School Board Rejects Plan for Bingo Games : Education: Members object to holding the games in the high school cafeteria because of cigarette smoke.

A bid to raise thousands of dollars for financially strapped Culver City schools by holding bingo games in the high school cafeteria has been scuttled by the school board because of concerns about an unpopular vice that would accompany the games--cigarette smoking.

In a 3-2 vote that followed a spirited debate, the board of the Culver City Unified School District decided Tuesday to reject a proposal to hold the games in the high school cafeteria. The board also rejected an alternate site, the smaller cafeteria at the closed El Marino Elementary School.

“I don’t think we need (smoke residue) on the cafeteria walls,” said board member Julie Cerra. “It would smell. And I think the message is the wrong one to send to students--that smoking is OK.”

The Culver City Booster Club hoped to raise $50,000 a year for athletic and music programs that were scaled back or cut altogether this year as a result of the district’s budget crisis.

Bingo supporters expressed frustration at the decision.

“We were trying to benefit the students,” said booster club member John Davidson. “The board has turned their back on these students, and for very moralistic reasons. . . . They’re really cutting their own throats.”

Bingo advocates said other districts run successful bingo operations in high school cafeterias, such as the Saturday night bingo games at Santa Monica High School.

The games raise $50,000 a year for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said Santa Monica bingo organizer Harlan Dorin. Most of it is spent on uniforms, instruments and furniture for the school’s band and orchestra, he said. The rest supports other music programs in the district.

“Without bingo,” he said, “our music programs would not have survived. So we’re lucky.”

Dorin said three fans were installed in the ceiling to ventilate the cafeteria in Santa Monica, and a no-smoking section is maintained. There is no lingering odor of cigarettes, he added.

The Culver City Boosters said they were unsuccessful in their search for another site. The Culver City Armory is used as a homeless shelter during bad weather, which could disrupt the steady schedule needed for the games to thrive, Davidson said. A large bingo parlor near the Fox Hills Mall would be too costly to rent.

The booster club hopes a bingo supporter will be elected to the school board in November. The two seats up for grabs are held by bingo opponents.

“We’re in a crisis right now financially,” said board member James Quirarte, who supports the games. “I feel this is an alternative. It’s a new source of revenue that we’ve never tapped before.”

But the opposition was unwavering.

“We need to set examples for our students,” said school board member Linda Price. “Maybe I’m too idealistic, but I would feel like I’m selling out.”