Jenks parents pitch in with million dollar donation

BY KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
5/16/12 at 7:17 AM

JENKS - A group of Jenks parents gave $1.1 million of their own money Tuesday to Jenks Public Schools so the district can hire more teachers and reduce class sizes.

This was the first donation in an ongoing campaign to raise private funds to hire teachers and then retain them, said Danny Christner, who owns John Christner Trucking and leads the donor effort.

Jenks has increasingly struggled with burgeoning class sizes as students continue to move into the city and state aid continues to shrink.

Christner said as the situation worsened, he and other parents decided to do something.

"A lot of parents' initial response to these problems is to pull their children out of public schools and put them in private schools. I appreciate what private schools provide, but this district is worth investing in," he said.

Christner made the announcement Tuesday morning at Jenks West Elementary School. His three children attend school in the district.

Other donors include Tad and Tiffany Fifer, Casey and Holly Lamb, Bob and Christy Latham, Steve and Julie Jelley, Andy and Lisa Johnson, Brian and Shelley Lewis, Mark and Kim McGinty, Bobby and Karena Miller, Todd and Leslie Tharp, Scott and Jennifer Vietch, and numerous anonymous donors.

Christner said the donors are so committed to the Jenks school system and public education that they were undeterred by any hurdles that had to be cleared to donate the money, he said.

"It's a commitment these people feel," Christner said.

Jenks Superintendent Kirby Lehman said he was astonished by the donation.

"I am thankful for this on two levels. One is the actual donation and two is I am appreciative of the fact that this is a positive statement about public education being made here today," he said.

Lehman estimated the initial donation would allow the district to hire 24 new teachers. The district will work on determining where those teachers will go, which grades they will teach and how long they will be retained.

Christner said the parents' goal is to reduce average teacher-to-student ratios to 20-to-1 for elementary grades and 25-to-1 for seventh and eighth grades by 2013. The fund is called the 20-by-15 campaign because it may take until 2015 to reach the goal, said Marlo Duffy, executive director of the Jenks Public School Foundation.

Currently, the district has a 28-to-1 ratio, meaning there is one teacher for every 28 children on average. That ratio is the highest in the region, school officials say.

The Center for Public Education has published numerous studies showing smaller class sizes, particularly in lower grades, were found to significantly increase students' achievement in reading and math.

Smaller classes allow teachers more time to work with kids individually and provide remediation.

"One of the looming concerns has always been class sizes, especially in the last two or three years," said Anne McCoy, a Jenks school board member for eight years.

"I am so thankful that the community is coming together for the kids," she said.

The Jenks Public Schools Foundation, an independent nonprofit corporation that invests in district programs, will manage the fundraising campaign by accepting new private donations and distributing the dollars to the school district.

"We want to send the message to legislators that, although we know they're working with a smaller pie, not to give up on public education funding," Christner said.

He said while Jenks is often seen as an affluent community, it is more diverse than that. More than a third of its students live at or below the poverty level, he said.

"We want every child to have access to a quality education," Christner said.

Jenks average elementary class sizes

Grade	Students
K	26.2
1	24.5
2	25.5
3	25.9
4	28.4
5	29.4

Source: Jenks Public Schools

To help

To donate to the 20 by 15 campaign, go to tulsaworld.com/20x15 or call 918-299-4463

Kim Archer 918-581-8315
kim.archer@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

Caleb Suchy (center) works on some classwork as Lilly Drescher (left) studies nearby and teacher Emily Burger (background right) instructs other students at Jenks Southeast Elementary School on Tuesday. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World

Danny Christner holds a painting representing an ideal class size at Jenks Southeast Elementary School on Tuesday. The painting includes 20 handprints symbolizing the desired number of students in a class. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World

Cameron Bahls (center) heads for his bus after a day of class at Jenks Southeast Elementary School on Tuesday. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World