Grant helps San Bruno school music hum

Scott Souza, the high school’s music director, said the $188,000 his school received will go far in fine-tuning the effort to strike up the band’s status and hopefully restore its glory from yesteryear.

“This is providing me the opportunity to really put out there what I feel is necessary for these students to grow as musicians and as people,” said Souza.

For Souza, who took over leadership of the school band program last year, growth is an ongoing focus as he has seen enrollment already double, with another influx of students expected in coming years.

With more students, comes the need for more instruments and marching uniforms, which are about 25 years old, and Souza said such priorities will be addressed with the first round of spending from the grant money.

The San Bruno Community Foundation is charged with allocating the nearly $70 million dedicated to improving organizations and initiatives benefiting residents paid by Pacific Gas and Electric following the 2010 explosion.

The grant to schools is one of the more notable foundation initiatives launched recently, alongside a scholarship program for students plus an effort to build a new community center.

Elementary district Superintendent Stella Kemp also expressed in an email her appreciation for such a gracious gift.

“We are thankful for the SBCF’s dedication to supporting community projects, such as this, paid from the San Bruno 2010 PG&E disaster restitution funds,” she said. “The positive benefit of this grant on our children’s education and on our community who supports our youth by taking pride in their accomplishments, will honor those who lost lives and property in that tragic event.”

While he looks forward to acquiring new items to make the band sing, Souza said the money will also help address baseline issues such as transportation.

He said taking the band to another school site to perform can be very expensive, often in the range of hundreds of dollars per trip, so easing the travel cost will lift a considerable burden.

The money will also remove some of the band’s reliance on fundraising to afford its operational costs, added Souza, lifting a bit of pressure on the program’s boosters who help it run.

The funds will be spent not only to improve the program’s current instrument inventory and operations, but help it build sustainability so it is less reliant on future donations, said Souza.

To that end, the foundation has helped finance a grant writer dedicated to tracking down funding for revitalizing the music programs which were once so highly regarded that the high school band played at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, said Souza.

“That’s what they are doing to ensure the sustainability of this gift can continue,” said Souza.

The rest of the grant money — about $312,000 — is being distributed evenly across the five elementary campuses and one middle school in the San Bruno Park Elementary School District to establish the grant’s enduring legacy too.

“If they put money into elementary programs, that goes into middle school, that goes into high school and they have got a sustainable program,” said Souza.

Such an effort drove the foundation’s interest in making the sizable donation, according to a press release.

“We know that music education boosts academic achievement and has an array of educational benefits for the participating students. Moreover, music is an integral part of community building. Community benefits of the initiative will include fostering the cultural arts through community performances, bolstering a sense of pride in accomplished student musical groups, and strengthening our local public schools to help attract families to San Bruno and increase their interest in sending their children to San Bruno schools,” Emily Roberts, a member of the community foundation board, said in a prepared statement.

Souza said the donation to Capuchino High School is magnitudes greater than the shoestring $6,000 budget he had operated under last year and the grant may mean even more to the elementary school district.

San Bruno Park Elementary School District officials have been forced to examine a variety of cuts to supplementary programs in recent years due to a limited budget, and music classes have been a victim.

To fill the void, the foundation paid $203,000 to San Carlos-based education program Music for Minors, plus additional support from school PTAs, to lead lessons through each elementary school.

Parkside Intermediate School, the district’s only middle school, will receive $107,000 to beef up the music program that serves 40 percent of the school’s students.

Kemp said the money will go far to achieving the foundation’s goal of improving student opportunities.

“The district is delighted beyond words for San Bruno Community Foundation’s strategic grant to fund music education in San Bruno public schools,” she said.

Souza agreed, and said he believes the initiative will help hone San Bruno’s next generation of burgeoning talent.

“Through this department we are able to teach them more than music,” he said. “We can give them a lot more than that. We can help them build life skills.”

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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