Changing the Equation

Although they live by the ocean, some students at Richard Henry Dana Elementary had never been on a boat, or fished, or snorkeled. Until the new principal arrived this year.

Dave Gerhard, 46, introduced them to all of that by launching an oceanography program at R.H. Dana, a less-privileged school in affluent Capistrano Unified School District.

Gerhard, the former principal of John Malcom Elementary in Laguna Niguel, one of the district’s newest and most coveted schools, voluntarily left to head R.H. Dana, an aging campus serving mainly low-income residents.

He left a wealthy area where the Parent-Teacher Assn. has a $131,000 budget to go to a campus where many students rely on free lunches. Waiting lists continue to grow at the 3-year-old Malcom campus; space has never been a problem at 31-year-old R.H. Dana.

Why, then, did Gerhard make the switch? To do something about those disparities, he said.

“There are things I can share with students at R.H. Dana,” Gerhard said. “This is a challenge. I have always enjoyed change in my professional life.”

And R.H. Dana, along with Gerhard, is experiencing change.

Just one month into his new position, Gerhard has begun to build a paleontology center where students will excavate a donated whale skeleton. Tapping into federal funds and local resources, he has fashioned a $290,000 program in which the students will restore a 45-foot-long whale fossil that is nearly 9 million years old.

Paleontologists and guest lecturers will work with students, who also will take monthly field trips, similar to activities he spearheaded at his previous school.

“He’s a phenomenal man,” said Molly Fields, PTA president at R.H. Dana. “His desire to teach gives our children opportunities they’ve never had before.”

On a recent weekend, Gerhard joined a group of fifth-graders on their two-day ecology field trip to Santa Catalina Island. During the four-hour boat ride, he asked the 30 children how many had ever been on a boat. No hands were raised. Later, while students fished and dissected sea creatures on the island, Gerhard asked how many students had ever gone fishing. Only a couple responded.

“It surprises me that these kids live so close to the beach, but they have never had the opportunity to explore the ocean,” said Gerhard, who owns a boat and has a captain’s license. “Every child has a right to experience these things.”

Days after the trip, fifth-grader Eduardo Lagunas still was chattering about his first sea excursion. “I didn’t ever imagine myself in a boat,” the Dana Point boy said. “I got to see plankton--you know, little animals and plants in the water--crash against the boat.”

Science education must be hands-on, Gerhard said. That’s why the paleontology center will include an excavation box where fossils and artifacts will be buried for children to unearth.

Also, 30 laptop computers have been purchased so students can record their archeological and paleontological findings at the work sites.

R.H. Dana, where 57% of the students are Latino and most are not fluent in English, “is a school that has been endangered by a white flight phenomenon,” Capistrano Unified Supt. James A. Fleming said. “It is perceived as less than average.”

Now, however, some parents have transferred their children to R.H. Dana because of Gerhard.

“Once we knew Gerhard was going to R.H. Dana, we decided to send our two children there,” said Marisa Silverstein.

The following is flattering, Gerhard said, but he protested that the school has much more to offer than he does.

“This school is so rich with cultural diversity, history and resources,” he said. “I’m just here to let the secret out.”