On April 27, Marie Curie Elementary School’s fifth-year principal Chris Juarez ran for his life.
He ran in the Big Sur International Marathon on the Central California coast. He did it to help raise money to compensate for budget cuts to the San Diego Unified School District that are likely to close the school’s library this fall.
Curie Elementary received its budget allocation in March and it didn’t look good. Juarez explained that overall an $80 million reduction was required and it would directly affect the school.
As of May 2, through various fund-raising efforts and donations, the effort had helped raise $18,000. At press time the amount is more than $24,000.
“We are at over $24,000,” Juarez explained. “The exact figures are difficult due to donations or employers matching grants that were pledged but not yet received.”
Juarez is optimistic and excited because it looks like the fund-raising cause will be successful.
“We will meet our goal,” Juarez said. “We had several big lifts recently, including $2,300 from our PTA [Parent Teachers Association] and an anonymous donor that was made in honor of Michael Fineman, the Curie parent killed at Extraordinary Desserts last year.”
In addition to the run, a Souplantation fund-raiser for the library helped add to the current total.
“There were several matching employer grants also,” Juarez said. “The goal became $25,000, and I have no doubt we will raise the last few hundred dollars and be able to keep the library open next year.”
Juarez hoped to be able to let parents know that the library would be kept open before school let out for the summer.
“We were going to determine what other efforts were needed following the run,” Juarez said. “Since this fund-raising effort went so well, I think we’ll all be happy to take the summer off from fund-raising.”
Juarez made the Big Sur Marathon run solo. No parents, no students and not even family or friends were with him.
“It was a completely solo trip,” Juarez added. “I sent e-mail updates several times during the run weekend to the Curie family e-mail list ” two described the days leading to the run and one detailing the race itself.”
Juarez said the communication was very well received.
“In the last update I sent, I announced that a kindergartner named Tyler guessed the closest to my actual finishing time,” Juarez said. “In reward, Tyler gets to take the principal’s keys and open the library on the first day of school next year.”
In addition, Juarez presented Tyler with a Big Sur Marathon pin that the race director had given to Juarez when he learned that the Big Sur run was his first.
“I couldn’t help but smile the next morning when I opened the car door for Tyler in the traffic circle and he wasn’t quite ready to get out yet,” Juarez said. “He was still trying to put the pin on his jacket.”
Juarez said that without a doubt, the biggest help to the fund-raising effort to keep the library has been parental support.
“It is the biggest reason the fund-raiser has been so successful,” Juarez added.
As for marathon running. Juarez admits that this effort has led him to catch the marathon bug.
“I’m not sure how long, though,” Juarez said. “I signed up for the San Francisco Marathon on August 3 and have entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon in the fall. No fund-raising, just running.”
Juarez’ goal is to run both of those races and finish in under four hours, he said.
“Libraries touch a chord with people,” Juarez added. “I heard from many in our community, people of all ages, who shared stories about what libraries meant to them. I never expected any single fund-raiser to be so successful, but people have come out of the woodwork to ensure that students have access to libraries.”
Juarez also said that it validated the choice the powers that be made as a school community: to keep the library as its number one goal.
“It reminded us of the responsibility we have, that no matter what financial storms might be swirling around our district or our state, some things just need to be considered non-negotiable for our students,” Juarez said.
For information, call Curie Elementary, (858) 453-4184.