CAMARILLO : Group Seeks Funds to Cover Insurance

A community group formed to salvage a band music program in Camarillo’s Pleasant Valley Elementary School District is trying to raise money for liability insurance to cover fund-raisers held on school property.

Parents from the group Save Our Kids’ Music said district officials notified them in December that they need accident insurance.

“It’s a setback,” parent Jana Rains-Austinson said. A concert will be held Sunday to help raise the money.

Supt. Shirley Carpenter said that, shortly after the group was appointed by the school board in September, members were advised that it needs liability insurance, as do other independent fund-raising groups that hold events at district schools.

Save Our Kids’ Music was formed in the wake of budget cuts last year that eliminated the band program. The board allotted $26,000 this school year to pay four part-time teachers to teach fourth- through eighth-grade students.

So far, only two part-time teachers have been hired for the program, which began at district schools last week, parent Annette Okamura said. Two other teachers are being sought.

The group has raised $3,000 at two concerts and has given $2,000 to the district to help pay the teachers, Rains-Austinson said. Parents, however, must concentrate on raising about $2,200 for insurance before they can return to fund-raising for the music program, she said.

For Sunday’s concert, the group has purchased a one-time insurance policy for about $150, Rains-Austinson said.

At the concert, the Electric Flight Dance Co., a children’s troupe, will perform dances from the musical “Cats.” Also, the Ventura Klezmer Band will play Jewish folk music, and the children’s chorus from Dos Caminos Elementary School will sing.

The concert will be held at 3 p.m. at the Camarillo Community Center at Burnley Street and Carmen Drive. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance at Henson’s Music Center stores in Camarillo and Oxnard, or at the door. For information call 388-4712 or 389-1620.