School Bands March Into Politics

The cash-strapped Canyon High School marching band showed up en masse in Garden Grove on Tuesday afternoon to get out the vote for Republicans--all in the name of new uniforms and new instruments.

The GOP had offered to pay the Anaheim band’s booster organization $50 per kid, more than $4,100, if the musicians would knock on the doors of Republicans and remind them to vote.

Fifty miles away at La Canada High School in Los Angeles County, more than 120 members of the high school band were released from their classes at 12:30 p.m. Oct. 30 and bused to the Burbank Hilton, where they played as George W. Bush entered the room for a fund-raiser. That gig came about at the request of a Republican Party official who was familiar with the band, the principal said.

The actions prompted immediate criticism Wednesday from the attorney for the state Department of Education, who said the schools might have violated several sections of the state Education Code.

“I think it stinks,” said Roger Wolfertz, deputy general counsel for the state agency. “I think it’s partisan politics.”

Administrators for both schools said Wednesday those activities would never happen again.

The state Education Code prohibits schools from allowing students to be solicited for work in any organization not directly under the auspices of school authorities during school time, Wolfertz said.

The code also prohibits the use of school supplies or equipment--including band uniforms, instruments or school copy machines--to urge the support or defeat of a candidate or measure.

The state has no power to enforce the law, however, and Wolfertz said he would not be taking any action in either of the cases, except to inform parents of the law if they call to inquire about it.

Educators at both schools said their intentions were honorable.

“The school district doesn’t provide adequate funds for the band,” said Harold Witten, director of the Canyon High band, which had similarly helped out the GOP two years ago. “If the Democratic Party had called me and offered me enough money, I would be doing it for them too.”

Mike Leininger, principal at La Canada, said he does not plan to allow similar band appearances in the future.

A top official in the Orange Unified School district said Wednesday that such activities would be banned districtwide.

Assistant Supt. Ralph Jameson said he believes the activity was partisan and would have stopped it if he had known about it. But, he said, the band leader “did not complete the appropriate activity request form.”

“I believe he was honestly and innocently trying to help the band raise money,” Jameson said. “But I think this is a partisan activity . . ., and we as a school should not involve ourselves this way.”

Band director Witten said he used a school copying machine and school paper to print a notice telling parents about the fund-raiser, which Wolfertz said qualified as district funds being used to fund partisan activities.

In addition, Wolfertz said, the students’ labors resulted in money given to the band, which is a school organization.

“It’s at least inappropriate,” Wolfertz said. “There’s nothing in the law about a district accepting money from a political party, but here it’s all tied into . . . a political activity.”

County GOP Executive Director Bill Christianson confirmed Tuesday night that the students were part of an overall get-out-the-vote effort, which was paid for through the county party. Before heading out to knock on doors, students gathered at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Garden Grove with other workers and volunteers enlisted to get out the vote. A GOP official oversaw the operation.

Orange County Democratic Party officials also expressed outrage at both the Republican Party and Canyon High School.

“That is grossly inappropriate,” said Jeanne Costales, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party. She said she had received many complaints from Democratic-leaning parents of band members at Canyon High School who objected to the actions. A few also asked whether the Democratic Party would pay them to get out the vote for Democrats.

Costales said that finances prevented her from matching the Republicans offer, but even if she had the money, she said, she wouldn’t pay a high school group to get out the vote. “I think the school has an obligation to protect the kids from that kind of manipulation,” she said.

Witten conceded that he also had received complaints from several band parents who thought the children were being used by Republicans. He characterized the band’s actions as falling in “a gray area.”

But Witten said participation was strictly voluntary, and the band, which hopes to raise more than $50,000 each year for tournaments, instruments, music and costumes, badly needs the money.

Two years ago, the band did the same thing for the local GOP, Witten said. This year, he said, someone from the Republican Party called him and asked whether his band would like to participate again.

Witten agreed that having the band members engage in a partisan activity would be illegal. But he said that the GOP vote effort was nonpartisan, because students were not allowed to tell people whom they should vote for.

Nevertheless, he conceded that students went only to the homes of registered Republicans.

If requested, he will reimburse the school for the cost of the paper he used to print the letter to parents, he said.

“The alternative is to sit home and watch the program disintegrate or push the envelope and become active,” Witten said. “I’m not going to sit here and watch my program disintegrate after I’ve spent the last six year of my life building it up.”

Many parents said they viewed the get-out-the-vote activity as win-win situation for the band students.

Not only did students get money for their band, they also got a civics lesson in how politics works at the grass-roots level, parent Roxanna Hallock said.

Alan Belasco, the band booster’s treasurer, said he is a Democrat but sees no problem with sending his daughter to get out the Republican vote. He said he had even gone along with her two years ago.

“Funding has been curtailed from the school district,” he said. “So everyone has fund-raisers.”

But another parent was incensed.

“I am very grateful that Canyon has such a dedicated, hard-working band director,” said a band member’s father, who asked not to be named to protect his child’s participation. “But it was wrong to pressure students into participating in something that had partisan political overtones.”

Students from La Canada’s band did not receive any money when they played at an event for Bush. And Leininger, La Canada’s principal, said he believed the activity was a good civics lesson for students, regardless of their political persuasion.

Wolfertz disagreed.

“What are they thinking about?” he said. “In our opinion, school districts are not created for the purpose of political activity. They’re created for education.”

Wolfertz pointed out that the students helped out at a partisan political event while wearing school uniforms and carrying instruments that in some cases belonged to the school district--all potential violations of the state Education Code.

The principal did not send a civics class to the rally, he sent a school band, Wolfertz said.

The principal said he had not received any complaints from parents.

“I definitely looked at this as an experience for our kids to get the first-hand experience of being at a rally,” Leininger said. “But once I sat back and looked at it, I thought, ‘Is this particular educational opportunity worth the possible controversy?’ ”