Click to Enlarge
Eric Robins, 16, a junior at Bitney College Prep High School, spearheaded an initiative among his classmates to donate $2,000 to the school to help it stay open.
The Union photo/Soumitro Sen
|
Click to Enlarge
Charlie Martin (left) and Brent Phillips, both juniors at Bitney College Prep High School, study at the library on campus. The juniors have donated $2,000 to the school to help it stay open.
|
Today's Feature Candidates
|
Students step in to help school in cash crunch
12:01 a.m. PT Apr 14, 2008
BY SOUMITRO SEN
Staff Writer
Eric Robins, a junior at Bitney College Prep High School, could have enjoyed a week-long trip to Disneyland or Santa Cruz or Mendocino next year before graduation with the rest of his classmates.
But instead, Robins and other juniors at the small charter school on Ridge Road in Grass Valley donated $2,000 from the money they had raised for their senior trip to keep their school open another year.
The young donors are now urging their fellow students as well as the community to match their contribution.
Schools across California are plagued with the problem of dwindling student numbers, as young families seek more affordable housing markets beyond the state. The financial situation has worsened since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed in January to cut $4 billion statewide from education next year to deal with a projected budget deficit of $14.5 billion.
Bitney College Prep has shared in the statewide trend of declining enrollment, but impending state budget cuts have aggravated the financial situation. The school received $70,000 less from the state this year than expected because of fewer students, Principal Marshall Goldberg said.
"I knew the school was in trouble financially and the juniors had a good amount of money stored up from fundraisers over the past three years," said Robins, president of the junior class. "So I figured we should donate some money to make sure we actually have a school to go to next year.
"For the past few months, the charter council wasn't sure if we would stay open or not because we don't have enough students to meet the costs," Robins, 16, said.
The charter council is the governing body of a charter school. It consists of a school administrator, teachers, parents, a community member and a student, said Bruce Herring, academic dean of Bitney College Prep.
The money which the juniors' donated primarily came from the annual fundraiser talent show that have been hosting for the past three years at Banner Grange Hall in Grass Valley, Robins said.
Bitney College prep has frozen teachers' salaries, reduced buying additional instructional materials and tightened expenditures to navigate through the crisis, Goldberg said.
The school has about 80 students, five full-time teachers and seven part-time instructors, Goldberg said. The school relocated south of Nevada Union High School's main campus last summer from its former location on McCourtney Road.
To contact Soumitro Sen, e-mail ssen@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
|
