PLACENTIA : Gyms Would Hold Bingo Under Plan

High school gymnasiums might be transformed into bustling bingo parlors under a proposal intended to step up fund-raising efforts for school activities.

Placentia Unified School District officials will draw up a policy in the next few weeks that will allow bingo nights each week at the district’s four high schools. Earlier this week, a group of parents at Esperanza High School asked the school board for permission to hold bingo nights to help fund classroom and extracurricular activities such as athletic teams, bands and campus clubs.

Although high schools throughout the county hold bingo nights, the Placentia school board has rejected bingo proposals in the past. This year, schools are being pinched by budget cuts.

“If we weren’t looking at the budget cuts as we are, I probably wouldn’t be as enthusiastic,” Trustee Bill Kielty said.

Supporters say that bingo has brought in as much as $12,000 a night at some schools, relieving booster clubs and parent-teacher associations from relying only on more traditional fund-raising activities such as candy sales and carwashes. One parent pointed out that a school in Diamond Bar used its bingo earnings to pay for a new science lab.

“We see this as a group of parents who really want to help and who are being proactive rather than reactive,” said Ed Nevin, a parent at Esperanza and member of the Aztec Booster Club, which is proposing bingo. It will “get away from the tremendous fund raising that the booster clubs go through.”

Under the plan, bingo nights would be held once a week year-round. Parents would run the games, and a 10-officer board would oversee its operation. Students would be allowed to set up and clean up facilities, although minors would be prohibited from attending or playing bingo games.

Several board members said they were concerned over a proposal to waive a smoking ban at schools that hold the bingo nights, fearing that smoke would damage school property. But parents say they would install “smoke-eaters” and turn on exhaust fans to rid the gym of smoke, as well as lay tarps on the gym floor.

“There are a tremendous amount of people in our community who play bingo because it’s affordable,” said Cathy Graner, a parent at Esperanza. “It’s fun.”

Even so, one parent feared that bingo would send a message of irresponsibility to children. Trustee Quentin Goodman voted against forming a policy, saying he would not support a game of chance as a fund-raising activity.

“It sends the wrong signal not only to our community but to our children,” Goodman said. “I propose that bingo will ultimately be to our detriment and not to our advantage.”

But other trustees said it wasn’t up to the school board to decide the morality of gambling. Trustees are expected to vote whether to approve the policy next month.

“It’s not the gambling that’s wrong,” Trustee Connie Underhill said. “It’s when the people who can’t afford to do so.”