“What are you going to do?” Clayton Valley High School principal Gary Swanson asks about the tight financial situation faced by all the Mt. Diablo Unified schools.

“We’ve lost two office staff. We’re making do the best we can,” he added. “People need to understand that things might take a bit longer than usual.”

That was the general consensus of administrators one month after the start of a school year in which high school athletics are based only on the promise of parent funding through individual fees as well as massive fundraising through the United Mt. Diablo Athletic Association.

In addition, CVHS has 70 more students than last year with all classes operating at the legal limit. “Getting a schedule change for your child this year is next to impossible,” said Swanson, whose hands are tied by the budget crisis.

Reliant on parent donations.

Likewise, Mt. Diablo Elementary principal Bob Dodson looks on his school’s class-size increases as a necessary response to a difficult situation. “We lost our 20-1,” he said of the student-teacher ratio. “Classes have up to 31 students instead of 20.”

Dodson thinks the crisis situation has made kids more resilient, even though it’s difficult for staff as more bodies demand individualized instruction.

“We lost a custodian and a vice principal,” he added. “Our classrooms get cleaned every other night now.”

Dodson is thankful for the parent body that fundraises for the school, bringing in $130,000 this year – including paying for instructional assistants and a nice chunk of money for classroom supplies. “Teachers got $1,000 per classroom,” he noted.

Time to get creative.

Diablo View Middle School principal Patti Bannister considers the school year off to an optimistically strong start. “We have a healthy enrollment,” she reported of the student body count close to 700. “We’ve even had a welcome back picnic.”

Of course, there are budget cuts. The librarian is now down to two days a week instead of five.

However, parent involvement always impresses her. The Parent Faculty Club is encouraging parents to support the school with a dollar a day donation to offset some of the cuts. “We use the money to improve our technology,” Bannister said.

The school has purchased Elmo document cameras that allow teachers to use a digital projector to display a textbook far more effectively than with the standard overhead projector. “Some of our classroom televisions are on their last legs, too,” she added.

Another benefit this year came from a Wells Fargo Adopt-A-School grant of $1,000. And then there is the Garden Club’s project, which has supplied the school with fresh vegetables for salads while teaching students a valuable skill.

Seeing the financial picture as in flux, Bannister is optimistic while always expecting that things could get worse. “That’s where you’ve got to get creative, out of the box. You have to support the programs we have,” she said. “Attitude is the only thing you can control,” Swanson said. “We’re doing the best we can.”

If all 1,900 parents supported the dollar a day goal at CV, he added, programs such as the librarians could be restored.

Sports in dire need.

While the athletic foundation has lofty goals, concerns are prevalent that a lack of parent fees are leaving the program short of the needed funds. Whether this results in sports programs cut short earlier in the year is unknown, although it’s a distinct possibility raised by board members who know that the money is just not there to fill the void.

“We have to collect the gate revenue,” Swanson said, noting that those fees are equally important.

There is a 5K fundraising run for the athletic foundation at 9 a.m. Oct. 18. at Newhall Park. Swanson hopes that every parent will push their child to participate.

“They need to be involved,” he said. “When you go through the tough times you find out, like in the Great Depression, that people worked together to make things better.”

To sign up for the 5K Run/Walk, visit unitedmtdiabloathletics.org.