City schools fall short on fundraising efforts
January 7, 2010
Every morning and afternoon, students like Ashley Clay help to lift open the heavy wooden shutters that cover the counter at A&D Dizzle’s, the small school store at International Finance Career High School in the Franklin High School building.
Soon after, her classmates line up to spend a few dollars on chips or drinks or, sometimes, a notebook.
The shop is one of a comparatively small number of self-supporting student activities at the Rochester School District’s high schools. While students at suburban schools raise staggering amounts of money for everything from whale watching to performing arts, Rochester School District fundraisers are typically more modest undertakings.
At some city schools, fundraising for activities is so meager that it calls into question whether principals are working hard enough to encourage students’ interests, board member Van White said.
"I think it’s kind of shameful that our kids are not being encouraged to do more," White said.
White said he was "discouraged" by the district’s quarterly report on student activity funds.
Student activities at Internati onal Finance at Franklin raised $2,742 last year, according to the reports. Combined, all three high schools on the Franklin campus raised $17,545 last school year.
The ski club alone at Brighton High School raised almost $25,000 during the same period.
"There’s some stuff going on, as far as pizza sales and other fundraising activities," said Dan Drmacich, principal at School Without Walls. "When you go out to the suburbs, you see a greater emphasis on fundraising activity. There’s more money out there."
The Franklin campus and Brighton have a comparable number of students, but the demographics are very different.
Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard, responding to White at a recent school board meeting, said schools in areas of high poverty will always struggle with fundraising.
"It’s always difficult, being a former principal from a very poor school, to raise a lot of money when your parents don’t always have the capacity to provide," Brizard said. He pointed to programs that don’t appear on the activity reports but help the schools raise outside money, such as the PENCIL program that pairs schools with supportive local businesses.
"Quite often, though, poverty is used as an excuse," White said. "This suggests to me that students, themselves, are not being encouraged to conduct activities which will further their education and further their own physical activity."
But while city students can’t always raise significant money for activities, other benefits – work ethic, money management – still come from smaller-scale programs.
At A&D Dizzle’s, student volunteers, some of whom receive academic credit, and two business teachers handle everything from ordering and stock ing products to manning the counter. The proceeds at the end of the year go to projects and activities at the school.
"The kids really enjoy it. It’s a close community – we usually don’t have any trouble finding volunteers," said Alisa Blanco, a Franklin Finance business teacher. "They’re actually pretty self-sufficient. All of it together gives them a great real-world experience."
Darlene Johanson, also a business teacher, said she and Blanco decided to take over the store because the previous incarnation was never open.
Senior Asia Peterson said she likes working at the store. Plus, by checking inventory and working the counter, she earned a needed credit toward graduation.
Gaining such experience is something White said needs to happen more in city high schools. While a few schools have broad, successful offerings – notably School of the Arts, where fundraising for activities totaled more than $175,000 last year – many have almost none. There’s little activity at schools at Franklin, or Edison, White said.
"I see no reason why there’s not more activity being generated … at a finance school," White said.
At School Without Walls, which generated less than $5,000 in fundraising last year, Drmacich said that while the efforts might not always raise huge sums of money, that makes successes harder earned.
His school’s robotics club, he said, has been a success despite raising far less money than a similar club in Greece.
"There might be more of a learning experience," Drmacich said. "The degree to which kids take ownership becomes a key factor."