EFFORT: Campaign is aiming to raise $200,000 by May 17 to avoid closure.
Youngsters pick up candy to sell to raise funds for Granada Hills Baptist School in Granada Hills, Ca May 9, 2011. The private school, which opened in 1954, is in danger of closing if it can't increase enrollment or raise $200,000 in a couple weeks. (Andy Holzman/Daily News Staff Photographer)
Hoping for a "miracle," students, parents and teachers of Granada Hills Baptist School have mounted an ambitious campaign to raise $200,000 by next week to keep the campus from closing at the end of this academic year.
Enrollment at the K-6 nonprofit private school operated by Granada Hills Baptist Church has plunged 75 percent over the last six years - from 195 students in 2005-2006 to only 50 this fall.
Last week, Pastor Desmond Hoffmeister issued a letter announcing the school board had made the "difficult and emotional decision" to close the campus after 57 years. At least six classroom teachers and five other staffers stand to lose their jobs.
"I believe what John writes in Rev 3:8 that if God opens a door, no man can shut it; and conversely, if God closes a door, no man can open it," Hoffmeister wrote. "I believe the closure of our school is the end of a beautiful season."
But parents such as Nancy Wright, Lisa Mills and Alex Aguilar refused to give up without a fight, and negotiated with the board for a chance to keep classes going at least one more year.
The board responded that the only way to prevent closure is to sign up an additional 40 students, which would generate enough tuition - $200,000 - to close the gap in the operating budget. If enrollment targets
are not met, the shortfall would have to be made up through donations.The deadline to raise the funds is May17.
"I thought it would be impossible unless God did a miracle for us," said Wright, president of the school's Parent Teacher Foundation and the mother of a third grader and a sixth grader.
But just in the last four days, they have managed to raise $95,983.
That includes $75,000 that will be generated by an additional 15 students that have been recruited through outreach to other parents.
They raised the rest of the money by holding yard sales and bake sales. Aguilar went door-to-door, asking individuals and businesses for help.
Even students took part in the fundraising campaign, breaking open piggy banks, opening lemonade stands, and selling chocolate outside local stores. A fourth-grader even wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Lakers, asking for help.
Mikayla Muniz, a sixth grader, donated $75.
"This money will help save the school even though it is not that much (because) every dollar counts," she wrote in a letter. "All this money I have earned by chores and etc. but you have given me an education so you should have my money to help save the school."
Lisa Mills, the mother of a first-grader, said she is "desperately" helping the school stay open because she has another child whom she hopes will attend kindergarten in the fall.
"Yes, the education is good here, but the school is also building Christian character," Mills said.
Even if the fundraising campaign is successful, the school would still experience uncertainty, said Dale Dullabaun, Jr., business manager for the church and the school.
"Raising the money would indeed be miraculous and spectacular; however, it wouldn't change the underlying numeric demographic," he said, noting the number of school-age children in the community has been declining, and they have the option to go to good public schools.
"We would not want to offer any false hope that there's a substantial likelihood that it (the school) could go on beyond next year, but I don't want to rule it out because, obviously, people of faith don't rule things out," he said.
To help Granada Hills Baptist School, see its website at
www.granadahillsbaptistschool.com or call 818-360-2104.
Autumn Reeser Paige Butcher Ali Campoverdi Miranda Kerr Adrianne Palicki
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