Not Just Apples : Southland Teachers Reap Varied Gifts of Thanks at End of School Year

Hit with the sudden flash that only five shopping days remained until the end of school, Kimberly Kelly canceled a beach outing this past Sunday in favor of a frenzied dash to the Topanga Plaza mall.

In a yearly ritual that goes unnoticed--except by the parents and teachers of young children--harried parents have been rushing around in anticipation of the final day of school, looking for the perfect way to show their gratitude to underpaid and overworked teachers.

When the school bell rings today, signaling the final round of school closings for the summer, it will cap two weeks during which parents and pupils across the county have showered teachers with parties and gifts, in some cases stacking up a mountain of presents to rival the gift table at a wedding reception.

“Now, more than when we were kids . . . the teachers are really, really involved in every aspect of your child’s life and, as a parent, you really feel grateful,” said Kelly, an administrative aide at NBC in Burbank, whose children attend Castlebay Lane School in Northridge. “My idea about teachers’ gifts is to . . . make them feel a little pampered.”

To accomplish that goal, Kelly shelled out $125 on special soaps, body gels, bath oils and chocolate truffles, which she presented this week to the six teachers and aides who look after her two daughters--Casey, a kindergartner, and Megan, a fourth-grader.

Teachers say the gifts they receive range from the lavish--$200 certificates to Bullock’s or Nordstrom--to trinkets such as pencils from Tijuana personalized with a teacher’s name; from homemade plates of tamelitos to mass-produced pins, coffee mugs and refrigerator magnets emblazoned with “World’s Best Teacher” or “I (heart) love My Teacher.”

Some parents use the occasion to teach their children the joy of saying thanks, allowing them to select or make, wrap and deliver gifts. Other parents try their own hand at being creative or, in the case of many working parents, dash through a mall at the end of the day.

For all the parents, the gifts serve to demonstrate the value they place on the educational transaction, and the joy and pride they feel, especially in the early grades, as they watch their children begin to read, write, calculate and learn about the world.

And teachers say it may be a cliche, but it’s true that the sentiment behind the gifts is more important than what they are or how much they cost.

“It really is the message that makes me feel good,” said Rachel White, a fourth-grade teacher at Aldama School in Highland Park. “It means that the parents have noticed throughout the year that I’ve been working . . . hard, and it also says to me that they must feel that their child has progressed.”

The parents in Rose Marie Gonzalez’s first-grade class at El Sereno School this week threw a noontime party in her honor, bringing in salads, sodas, two yard-wide pizzas and a homemade, sweet Mexican pudding made with milk.

“I think it’s important to show thanks to teachers, because we motivate them to keep working hard for others in the future,” said Patricia Arredondo, whose son, Hugo, is in Gonzalez’s class.

Arredondo, who is president of the parents’ group for Gonzalez’s class and a school volunteer, said she will give the teacher a wooden picture frame made by her father. Other parents said they will bring her flowers, porcelain figurines or other gifts.

Many will be stretching tight family budgets for gift-giving, but feel it is important to thank her for allowing them to be a partner in their child’s education.

“There’s a lot of communication between Mrs. Gonzalez and the parents,” said Berta Munoz, the mother of Carlos. “We can talk to her if we see there is a problem with our kids . . . and she suggests ways for us to help.”

In some schools, particularly private schools or those in affluent communities, the process goes far beyond tokens of appreciation and becomes almost an obligation. And there is even a hint of competition as parents worry about how their gifts will stack up against others. Teachers have received slinky cocktail dresses, designer scarves and bejeweled brooches. Gift certificates to bookstores are popular, as are plants and bouquets. But many parents resort to items made especially for teachers.

Karen Gilbert, owner of the Whimsical Wares gift store in Granada Hills, said her shop stocks up on teacher-specific gifts each year when June rolls around. Parents spend an average of $5 to $10 for a key chain, T-shirt, coffee mug or other gift. By last week, her supply was all but exhausted. “We’ve had a big run,” she said.

When teachers in the affluent San Marino school district go to conferences, colleagues from other districts invariably ask them about their year-end gifts.

Nancy Allen, a first-grade teacher at Valentine School in San Marino, tells them about her Gucci purse and the blank gift certificate for two meals at Pasadena’s expensive Parkway Grill. But her gifts have not always been elegant: There was, for example, the plastic French horn that, when the keys were pressed, sprayed an air freshener of indeterminate aroma.

And she consoles her counterparts with the fact that while the San Marino parents are generous, the salaries paid to teachers there are not, and the pressure put on teachers to help students excel is enormous. “For [parents] to show appreciation in this way is really special,” she said.

To reduce the pressure to find the perfect gift, some parents collect donations for a class gift instead.

Debbie Mindle, a first-grade teacher at Chaparral School in the affluent Las Virgenes school district, said she received a $175 certificate to Nordstrom from her class this year. And one family made a generous donation in her honor to a pediatric AIDS foundation.

In Kristen Niemann’s combination kindergarten/first-grade class, parent Miriam Baran solicited her peers to pay for a $200 certificate for merchandise at a fancy clothing store, which surprised the first-year teacher.

“I cried, I was so grateful,” Niemann said.

For many teachers, it is just as meaningful, if not more, to get a hug, a letter, or a thank you from a parent.

“One of the parents cried when talking about what I had done for their child,” said Mindle, who just completed her first year on the job.

And she said it was a note from a parent that she received earlier in the year that she’ll remember the longest.

Mindle teaches her young students about famous musicians, such as Beethoven and Mozart, and famous artists, such as Van Gogh and Monet.

When one of Mindle’s students was visiting an art museum with her family, she stunned her parents by explaining without prompting the salient features of a Monet painting. The parents were impressed and wrote a thank-you note to Mindle.

“I have that letter saved in a special file of things,” she said. “It shows me I have touched them . . . and that feeling is something that money won’t buy.”