VENTURA : Winning Teacher Strikes Up the Band for School

A visit to Ventura’s Saticoy Elementary School by the Buena High School marching band Friday could have repercussions in years to come, Principal Nancy Bradford said.

The 120-member band and color guard, which played at the school courtesy of a mother who won the performance in a fund-raising raffle, delighted the school’s 620 students, Bradford said.

“I think you’ll find more students from this particular group enrolling in band in the middle schools,” she said.

Many students were not aware that marching band involved more than music, Bradford said. They enjoyed the spectacle of the band’s choreography and the color guard’s flags, she said.

The marching band’s parent booster club devised the January raffle to raise money to pay for trips and equipment repairs not covered by the Ventura School District, Buena Booster Lynn Mays said.

The group cleared the event with the Ventura County district attorney’s office, which said the raffle would not be considered gambling because the prize had no monetary value, she said.

The winning ticket won the recipient a free one-hour performance anywhere in Ventura, Mays said. “It was for anything--an anniversary, wedding, birthday or family picnic,” she said.

The winner, Buena math teacher Tasnim Sharif, decided to share her booty with the children at her youngsters’ school, Mays said.

“The kids got to see what it was like to be in high school, and it’s something to look forward to,” Mays said.