LAGUNA HILLS : Drive Saves Library at K-6 School

It was a choice Valencia Elementary School Principal Don Snyder didn’t want to face: Either cut library service and lay off the school librarian, or make severe reductions in the campus science or computer labs.

In the end, thanks to a remarkable turn of events, another option appeared.

On Friday, school and community leaders celebrated a “public-private” partnership that raised more than $11,000 to save the library from closure because of budget cuts.

Money raised through the Friends of the Library partnership is also helping pay the salary of librarian Ann Voltin, who recently joined the school after losing her previous position to cuts at another elementary campus in the Saddleback Valley Unified School District.

“The whole school just got together,” said Melanie Plunkett, the mother of three children who attend school at Valencia. “It was amazing. They just gave. There was no question.”

During an open-house Friday, students toured their new and improved library with excitement, looking at books and watching demonstrations on two new Apple/Macintosh computers with CD-ROM research capabilities.

“It’s pretty small, but it has lots of good books,” said third-grader Nina Mirsafavi. “I like to read.”

Parents and community leaders started their fund-raising drive last fall after learning the school, with 855 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, faced major cuts in either its library, computer or science lab programs.

At the time, the library already had been reduced by previous cuts and was operating out of the school’s multipurpose room, competing for space with performing arts, music and drama, as well as teacher meetings and storage.

Parents weren’t going to sit back and watch the library being cut any further, said Mav Bressette, who along with husband Randal, a Laguna Hills city councilman, helped lead the fund-raising effort. The couple’s son is a second-grader at the school.

“That is when it became critical,” she said. “The parents were going to have to do something.”

Since Laguna Hills is the only city in Orange County without a library of its own, the fund-raising drive took on an even greater importance, Randal Bressette said. “We rely heavily on our school libraries,” he said.

About 400 families, about 75% of the parents at the school, contributed financially and helped organize benefits for the library, such as a book fair.

The library now has a permanent spot of its own in a larger classroom, and the two new research computers.

Meanwhile, fund raising continues for needed books and other materials. About a 100 parents and community volunteers also will help, checking out books, reading to students and assisting with an after-school tutorial program.

Principal Snyder said he realizes his school, which draws many students from the affluent Nellie Gale neighborhood, is fortunate to have parents with the time and resources to accomplish such a feat.

“People really support our school,” he said. “They put their time and money into their beliefs.”