TEMECULA: On-campus promotion could be curbed
Trustees discuss limiting fliers
By RANI GUPTA - Staff Writer | ∞
TEMECULA ---- Students soon could be taking home fewer fliers for local sports clubs and activities under a policy being considered by school board members.
Temecula Valley Unified School District trustees Tuesday discussed a proposed policy meant to curb the amount of fliers stuffed in students' backpacks. District officials said elementary and middle schools are being flooded with requests to distribute fliers for activities such as Little League, Boy and Girl Scouts, and charity 5K runs.
Though the fliers are printed by outside organizations, Superintendent Carol Leighty said they require too much time of district employees to distribute and clean up the fliers left behind on school ground.
"And while the intent for these fundraisers is all well and good, they're not school related," she said.
Leighty added that many organizations offering classes such as judo and karate that require fees believe the district should pitch those products to its more than 28,000 students.
"I don't want to turn our schools into commercial ventures," she said.
Trustee Bob Brown said important school announcements may be getting lost in the shuffle when too many papers are sent home.
The proposed policy would allow pamphlets to be sent home only if they are put out by parent-teacher organizations, district-approved booster clubs or parent support groups, or by the city's Community Services Department.
Information about other organizations or events, if approved by Leighty, would be linked to the district's Web site.
Board members, however, worried the policy might be too restrictive. Trustee Vincent O'Neal said families without Internet access would lose information to programs that provide valuable services to students, especially in light of the district's recent decision to cut elementary music and gym teachers.
"You're losing a segment when you put it on a Web site, and that may not be a segment you want to lose," O'Neal said.
Leighty said district officials will look for a way to make the materials available to families without computers before the policy is discussed at a future meeting.
District officials are also working on a policy to address prominent advertisements, such as those on the campus of Chaparral High School, which are typically arranged by booster clubs.
Brown said the signs are tacky looking, but administrators acknowledged they help pay for programs the district cannot afford.
Deputy Superintendent Tim Ritter gave a presentation on student involvement in co-curricular activities such as band, cheer and drama. Much like student athletes, Ritter noted, students involved in these clubs have higher grades and are less likely to be suspended than students who are not involved.
Ritter said parents fund about three-quarters of the cost of these clubs, compared to about 54 percent of the cost of sports. He said that while the advertisements are an eyesore, they help to pay for needed activities.
"There's a balance there we're going to have to strive for," Ritter said.
Contact staff writer Rani Gupta at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or rgupta@californian.com.
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c wrote on Oct 8, 2008 7:32 AM:Temecula used to have great schools, but all the new comers (you know that ones that purchased the houses they can't afford) are finding the littlest things to complain about. these activists make me ill.
D wrote on Oct 8, 2008 8:02 AM:As a new family to the area, we found these flyers very helpful finding extra-circular activites for our children. The papers go directly into student backpacks in weekly envelops that parent helpers stuff. Please keep them coming.
Amazed wrote on Oct 8, 2008 8:17 AM:I often find interest in things that come home with my daughter from school. Don't be the people who decide what I should get, let me decide what I want for my child after being given the choice.
S wrote on Oct 8, 2008 8:29 AM:"I don't want to turn our schools into commercial ventures," Leighty said. Yet our 5th graders are pressured by the schools into attending Astrocamp every year at a cost of hundreds of dollars to the parents. The school offers "art camp," "chess club" and "mad science" ON CAMPUS after school ALL at a cost to parents, and "sold" to our children as though they are "after-school activities." And they are worried about FLIERS?
R U OK wrote on Oct 8, 2008 9:30 AM:Schools don't "pressure" to send kids to Astro Camp. It's an opportunity for a great experience. You don't HAVE to send your kids to camp. They can stay behind. If you don't want your kid to go, then don't send him/her. Your kid misses out on you trying to prove a point.
Mom2boys wrote on Oct 8, 2008 11:46 AM:If it weren't for the flyers, I would not have found some low cost very useful activities for my kids to attend. I am also a volunteer in the classroom, and I am the one who puts the flyers in the folders for the teachers...not taking time out of their schedule to teach.
S wrote on Oct 8, 2008 12:39 PM:To RU OK,
You missed my point. Having VOLUNTEERS put flyers into envelopes is less of a "commercial venture" than activities such as Young Rembrandts and Astrocamp which are announced at school and "sold" to the children. Yes, you can choose not to do these activities but there is a lot of talk around school about who is going and who is not and ask any parent who has kept their kid out of Astrocamp if they were not pressured to send them. I am in no way saying these activities are bad - I think they are wonderful activities and nice that parents have opportunities to send their children to these things since with all the budget cuts there is less and less available from the schools. It is a way for the schools to provide more for those that can afford them. I just find it IRONIC that they would think that FLYERS are a commercial venture when for the most part if you get a flyer about Karate or little league or cheer, the children don't seem to even notice they are there unless they are already interested in that activity, and there is not a lot of talk around campus about choosing or not choosing a particular activity. So, in a nutshell, I was not bashing Astrocamp, I was just pointing out the flaw in logic to assume that FLYERS are bad! I think they should stay. As should all the pay-if-you-can activities the schools provide.
Pauba Valley Parent wrote on Oct 8, 2008 12:44 PM:Temecula still has great schools. Sometimes the flyers get a bit out of hand, though, and occasionally I've seen what appear to be business ads in the mix. How about limiting them to non-profit organizations only?
more languages wrote on Oct 8, 2008 2:33 PM:i would like the flyers to be written in spanish also. Not everyone is as fluent and it would be a big help. I like the flyers.
Gloria wrote on Oct 8, 2008 4:24 PM:The flyers are made by the organizations selling them and not the schools. When I moved to this country it was a big help to force myself to learn English.
French Valley Mom wrote on Oct 9, 2008 7:03 AM:It is because of the flyers that I found a great cub scout pack for my son, that he gets to learn about teams and sportmanship with his soccer team, and because he is a budding scientist, he can't WAIT to start Mad Science, and because of Chess Masters he has a love for Chess.
I look forward to receiving the flyers and I pick and choose what he attends. THere was a couple of years that we couldn't do many things. All in all, I hope that they continue to provide this information to us.
Thanks Temecula Valley School District and French Valley Elementary for doing a great job!
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