IRVINE : Schools Get Help From Parents in Fund Crisis

Parents in the Irvine Unified School District, faced with multimillion-dollar cuts to local schools, are responding by opening up their wallets, donating cash and supplies.

A group of Korean American parents presented school district officials with a check for $17,030 at a board meeting Tuesday night and plan to donate another $10,000 next week. They have also pledged $5,000 worth of baseballs to the district’s three high schools.

Schools throughout the district are receiving donations of pencils, paper and cash fromparents.

“Every single school has gotten donations of some kind,” said Irvine Teachers Assn. President Steve Garretson. The teachers union placed an ad in the Irvine World News last month asking for gifts of all kinds. “The parents are very supportive. They want answers to the hard questions, but they’re very supportive of the teachers in the classroom.”

A Chinese American parent group is also planning to donate money to local schools, according to Garretson. Most of the donations are intended to provide teachers with equipment and supplies for the classroom, not for school district budget-balancing, Garretsonsaid.

At Vista Verde Elementary School, parents Hal and Suzanne LeFevre invited school staff to help at their store, the Great Harvest Bread Co., on Sunday, March 5, with all proceeds going to the school. At Lakeside Middle School, parents donated science supplies and about $700 in cash. Fifth-grade parents at Northwood Elementary School have bought paper, pencils and glue for teachers and donated about $150 in cash.

“Many of the parents are willing to share the pain,” said Sherrie Lah, who helped coordinate the fund-raising drive with the Bethel Korean Church. “We hope this will be anexample.”