Guest Opinion
A mural at Eliot Arts Magnet Academy (Photo – Jennifer Hall Lee)
I am the Chair of the Eliot Arts Annual Fund for Eliot Arts Magnet Academy, a Pasadena Unified School District junior high school. My child now attends a PUSD high school, but I volunteered to continue my role as the Annual Fund Chair for Eliot. I believe that all of us have a role to play in our public schools.
By Jennifer Hall Lee
The annual fund committee raises money throughout the year to help Eliot pay for teacher salaries, supplies, programs, technology and more–all of which keeps Eliot an arts magnet school. Annual funds, once the staple of private schools, are now necessary for many public schools. Pasadena Unified doesn’t receive money from a parcel tax and California ranks very low in per-pupil spending. Let me explain that by referring to the words of Pasadena School Board Member Pat Cahalan as he explains the funding disparity well: “Wisconsin funds public education at about $2,000 more per student. If California funded PUSD at that rate, the district would have over $30 million more every year.”
Eliot is a Title 1 school, which means that our student body is over 50% socio-economically disadvantaged. Moreover, we have to deal with reality: low statewide spending on students, no parcel tax, and misperceptions about PUSD. When the annual fund committee meets to discuss fundraising ideas, we have to deal with those three realities. They are in the room with us, underscoring our ideas as we decide which events to hold and what monies we can reasonably expect to raise. It’s difficult, but also joyful.
During the first year of the Eliot annual fund, we reached the goal of $50k; believe me, it was a huge lift. It took 12 months, but we succeeded, and I have to say this: we couldn’t have done it without everyone, including community members who had no children in Eliot but who participated, reached out to us, donated, and encouraged us. We are so grateful.
In today’s political climate we need everyone’s generosity and interest in our school to help us succeed. Children need to know that everyone in their community cares about them.
I will never forget when members of annual fund and PTSA pitched in one day to clean the art deco handrail inside of the main lobby in Eliot. We scrubbed utilizing small pieces of tinfoil that we dipped in water (which we carried in buckets). Students passed us in the hall as we cleaned, and I was amazed at how many of them thanked us for our work. In today’s parlance, that was “a moment.”
And perhaps that’s why I stay volunteering at Eliot even though my daughter has moved on to high school. I care about the students at Eliot and I believe in them.
Our problems these days seem insurmountable. It’s hard to imagine we can solve them all. When we succeed in our goals on the Eliot annual fund committee, it’s clear that it really does take a village.
Jennifer Hall Lee loves being a PUSD parent, She volunteers as Chair of the Altadena Town Council Education Committee.
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