Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Gifts of Old Goods Take on a New Life at Schools

Local schools here are benefiting under the idea that one person’s junk is another’s treasure.

Contributions by parents, booster clubs, businesses and people simply looking to clean out their attics are making districts the repositories for items ranging from dilapidated automobiles and kitchen appliances to artwork and musical instruments.

As schools continue to cope with reduced state funds, teachers are incorporating gifts from the public into their curriculum.

“Educators are famous for being scavengers,” said Beverly Silsbee, Castaic Middle School principal. “Some of the things are on the unusual side, but you get creative.”

Silsbee’s school recently received a Kimball Organ, valued at $500, from Richard and Darla Vanderlip. Now stored in the school cafeteria, the organ will eventually be used for a music course.

The Castaic residents decided to donate the organ, owned by Darla’s mother for about 10 years, rather than watch it be used sparingly at home.

“We had thought about it and realized that some school districts have to do without things because of their budget,” Darla Vanderlip said.

Financial concern for schools is a common motivation for donations, according to Troy Bramlett, superintendent of the Saugus Union School District.

“In part, the donations are to make up for losses from the state, to make up for what the state hasn’t been doing,” Bramlett said. “Also, (parents) just want more for their children.”

McMullen’s Landscaping Nursery has given trees to schools in the Castaic Union School District to beautify campuses and, hopefully, spark student interest in plants.

“It’s a good thing to get kids involved in horticulture. They used to teach it in the schools, but they don’t anymore,” nursery co-owner Mark McMullen said. “You put it there and they can watch it grow.”

Commonly donated items include computer equipment and chalkboards for the classrooms, books and magazines for the school library and money for everything from band uniforms to science equipment.

Wooden pallets have been carved up in woodworking classes, dead and dying pickup trucks are dissected and resurrected in auto shop and old stoves live on in home economics courses in the William S. Hart Union High School District.

Donated items are valuable because they are often what a district won’t buy in tough economic times, Bramlett said.

“It is worth a small amount, probably less than one-tenth of 1% of our budget. But it’s probably something, like a piano, that you wouldn’t get anymore,” Bramlett said. “It’s really worth more than the total dollars in your budget.”