Between the Lines -- Byron de Arakal

I recall my grade-school days playing out during an era when public

schools were flush with cash and when the planet seemed to be inhabited

by far fewer loons and creeps.

So save for the occasional times when I’d canvass the neighborhood

peddling magazine subscriptions -- lured by the temptation of earning

some cheesy trinket -- I can’t say that I spent any time looting the

community for extra pennies to deposit in school coffers.

But on the rare occasions when I did, it was never in fear that a

boogeyman might nab me. And I don’t recall hawking wares under the

pressure to hit a quota in exchange for some recognition. I wish it were

the same for my kids. I wish it were true for the kids whose education is

entrusted to you. It’s not. Which is why the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District needs to put a lid on school money drives involving student

solicitations.

By now you know -- as do the parents of every child in Mesa Verde --

that the boogeyman may indeed have struck. A 12-year-old, vulnerable and

innocent and trusting, was allegedly victimized in the most repulsive and

contemptible way by -- if the charges are proved -- a cretin of the first

order.

She was strolling in her neighborhood, knocking on doors, simply

asking folks to buy candy as part of her school-sponsored fund-raising

program. But when she happened upon the Costa Mesa home of 71-year-old

James Harper, read the charges, he allegedly molested her. He now

occupies a cell at the Orange County Jail, charged with kidnapping and

molestation.

The scarring tragedy that has befallen this poor youngster dwarfs --

indeed, renders insignificant -- the tempest that’s been rattling my

household in recent weeks. My two youngest have been slipping in and out

of crying spells and stress sessions over the last fortnight for fear

they’d fail to nail down 70 bucks worth of sponsorships for their

school’s jog-a-thon today. That would mean, they informed me, missing out

on a medal. So they scoured the neighborhood -- the very block canvassed

by the 12-year-old girl just days later -- asking folks to cough up a few

bucks that would help pay the salary of the school’s science teacher.

In the vortex of these episodes, my blood quietly simmered with the

realization that our schools have been increasingly molding our children

into little hucksters, pint-sized Willy Lomans, miniature venture

capitalists.

This school year alone, one or more of my kids have been asked to

peddle gift wrap and cookie dough and frozen pizzas. They’ve been

encouraged to hawk candy to cover the tab for science camp or a band

competition. They’ve been promised a gleaming medal for rounding up

sponsors and running themselves ragged around a track, all in the name of

raising money. It’s an obscene trend, really.

And the obscenity is made all the more acute now with the headline

that broke Tuesday, with the news account of a young Newport-Mesa student

allegedly falling prey to the sexual schemes of a reprobate. Which raises

the question: Would she be safe and unharmed today had she not been

vending candy on her school’s behalf?

As the trustees of our children’s education and the guardians of their

safety and health during school-related activities, it should strike you

as nothing less than unconscionable to continue sanctioning fund-raisers

that rely on student solicitors trundling door-to-door.

And it should offend you to continue dangling baubles and medallions

in front of these kids, tempting them with cash in exchange for sales. No

program or teacher or amount of money is worth exposing our children to

the risk of lurking predators all too willing to violate their bodies or

rob them of the money they carry.

It is enough, as well, that they shoulder the weight of staying on top

of their studies and of fulfilling their household responsibilities even

as they struggle to enjoy some measure of their youth. They don’t need

the added burden that the fate of one of their teachers rests on their

closing skills.

If we must bridge funding gaps in our schools, and it’s clear that’s

still the reality, then the district should be more robust in its

encouragement of and assistance in the establishment of individual school

foundations to which parents, businesses and individuals can make

tax-deductible donations.

I can only protect my kids. And that’s why their sales careers are

over. But you have the power, indeed the obligation, to safeguard every

child who attends a Newport-Mesa school.

Teach our kids to learn, not sell.

* Byron de Arakal is a freelance writer and communications consultant

who lives in Costa Mesa. His column appears Wednesday. Readers can reach

him with news tips and comments via e-mail at o7 byronwriter@msn.comf7

. Visit his Web site ato7 www.byronwriter.comf7 .