Small Steps Add Up for Classrooms

Children and teachers from the Los Alamitos Unified School District jogged and walked along an airstrip at the Armed Forces Reserve Center on Saturday to raise money for computers, digital cameras and school supplies.

Their Walk for Technology fund-raiser was only a facet of the successful Los Alamitos 10K/5K Run over the weekend. Olympic athletes ran with military personnel while families, with their children in tow, tried to pace themselves alongside city officials who had traded their work clothes for sweats.

The net proceeds from the run benefits the U.S. National Water Polo Training Center’s 50-meter pool, but for each child and staffer who signed up on a separate form at their schools, the city will give the district a $2 rebate to use as needed at each school.

The district can thank parent and running enthusiast Jade Sackett, who four years ago came up with the idea.

“This was a nice way to get involved in an existing event,” she said. Her son and husband are also runners and have strong ties to that community.

So she approached City Hall and the school’s district offices. Recreation and Community Services Director Mark Wagner, race coordinator Bill Calkins and Elaine Hamada, curriculum director at the district office mulled over the idea for a while before they gave their thumbs up. Then Sackett got to work.

For two weeks before the race, Sackett visited each of the 10 schools in the district and collected the registration forms and money. In her car, she tallied the number of children and staff that participated in the race and the amount the city would owe to each school. The money eventually filters down to the schools through the district.

At first, it was a slow start, Sackett said.

“One school got $4 one year and bought a ream of paper,” she said.

Now, each school in the district has the run advertised on its marquee, and the event is an annual one that is looked forward to. The school with the most runners is presented with a plaque at a school board meeting.

The district averages about $500 for the run. This year, $236 was collected. Hopkinson Elementary School had the most participants, with 29, Sackett said.

“It’s really kind of taken off nicely,” Sackett said. “As time goes by, more and more people are aware of it. As long as the city’s willing, I can do the work.”

“The real credit goes to the race director and Jade,” said Wagner. He said the event “provides a meaningful celebration for the kids in the community to come together and as part of celebrating together, this is a healthy event.”

On her wish list for next year is that the city will consider letting parents who participate also be entitled to the rebate and help raise money for their child’s school.

Ana Cholo-Tipton can be reached at (714) 966-5890.