An Investment That’s Making the Grade : Corporate School ‘Adoptions’ Prove Valuable, as Highlighted in Tale of Two Campuses

San Fernando High School and Roscoe Elementary School are similar in some respects. Both are in the east San Fernando Valley, have large Latino populations and many students with limited English skills. Each has parents who, struggling to make ends meet, can offer little help to their children’s schools.

But the difference we wish to highlight involves the presence of sustained outside support, or the lack thereof. A number of schools, for instance, have been adopted, in a manner of speaking, by businesses or groups or wealthy individuals. Yet many others, such as Roscoe Elementary in Sun Valley, are still orphans. Recent events at both describe the situation well.

For years, San Fernando High enjoyed the generous support of ARA Services/ARATEX SERVICES Inc. of Burbank. The firm supplied thousands of dollars worth of support annually in scholarships, field trips and the like. But hard financial times are forcing ARA to greatly reduce its connection with the school.

Fortunately, San Fernando High already has Litton Guidance and Control Systems of Woodland Hills to take up the slack. On a recent night, for example, Litton representatives were passing out $500 college scholarships to San Fernando High students Filemon Rodriguez, 18; Jesus Torres, 18, and Marie Elizabeth Kelly, 17. The selection criteria for the scholarships came from Litton’s Hispanic Employees Assn.

Litton’s help is vital to these three ambitious, college-bound seniors, according to Harold B. Soo Hoo, college and scholarship adviser at San Fernando High. Rodriguez’s annual family income, for example, is only about $5,300 a year. He hopes to obtain a mechanical engineering degree from Cal State Northridge.

Litton has also donated computers, software and other equipment.

Roscoe Elementary is in another situation entirely. It has no formal adoption agreement with any entity. Worse yet, just days after San Fernando High students were enjoying more of Litton’s attention, Roscoe was being decimated by burglary.

Last weekend, all of Roscoe’s computers, television sets, facsimile machine and even its nurse’s office wheelchair was stolen. The thieves also broke several windows and doors and further vandalized the school by smearing paint in several classrooms.

“We were devastated. Everyone was totally depressed,” Roscoe Assistant Principal Sue Cherry said.

Litton’s relationship with San Fernando demonstrates the value of school adoptions. Roscoe Elementary’s plights shows that there are still schools that are in need of the same kind of help. If you are an official of a company that wants to help a local school, Roscoe Elementary would be a worthy choice.