Placentia : Service Rule for Students Proposed

Valencia High School social studies teacher Wendell Bainter has proposed that the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District make community service a graduation requirement.

Bainter addressed the Board of Education last week, asking that the district consider including community service in the social studies curriculum.

“Community service is a stated component of the curriculum, but we give only lip service to it,” Bainter said, adding that volunteering service to the community teaches students the value of citizenship and instills community pride.

“I don’t know how you get all the students to experience community service without making it mandatory,” he said.

As part of his U.S. government class, Bainter offers students extra credit for attending City Council and school board meetings, as well as witnessing Municipal Court trials and participating in political campaigns and attending debates. About one-third of the students do so.

The school board took no action on the proposal, though administrators voiced concerns about whether such a schoolwide program could be successful.

Sharon McHolland, assistant superintendent for instructional services, said the district has studied the possibility of making community service a requirement for several years.

“We’re concerned that there might not be enough places where students can get the hours in a timely manner,” McHolland said.

In an interview, Steve Pischel, recreation superintendent for the city of Placentia, said his department, which helps coordinate teen-age volunteers for the city, would be able to find opportunities for many students if given enough notice.

“I think (requiring community service) is a good idea,” Pischel said. “We’d be happy to put together a program if the district approached us.”

Valencia Principal Joseph Quartucci said that while he supports the concept of a community service requirement, he lacks the staff to take on the task of deciding what qualifies as community service along with monitoring student service.

“I have two counselors to evaluate 400 transcripts to decide who gets a diploma,” Quartucci said. Requiring community service “is worth doing--but I just don’t have the people.”

Bainter said his experience shows that such experiences enhance classroom instruction.

“It gives students a new perspective on what social studies is about,” he said. “Interactive learning is important. What they learn in the classroom needs to be modeled, and what better way then to model it themselves.”

In September, Laguna Beach Unified School District became the first district in Orange County to require high school students to perform community service to graduate. Beginning this school year, seniors will need 10 hours of community service to receive their diploma.

Juniors and underclass students are also required to perform 10 hours of community service each year so that by the 1995-96 school years, seniors will be required to perform a total of 40 hours of service over their high school years in order to graduate.