CINCINNATI — David McColl’s daughter finally feels like she belongs — and it’s all because of her school.
"She’s so happy. She used to say, 'I'm bored,'" McColl said. "Now, she loves school. She's excited to go to school."
His daughter is a third grader at Spencer Center for Gifted and Exceptional Students. One of the draws to Spencer is its diversity. McColl said students from all across the city go there.
"It's designed for kids who have excellent aptitudes in certain courses," he said. "Some of them have some exceptional abilities as well, so maybe dyslexia, or other issues, but it's a wonderful community school."
It's a 3-12 grade school. It was founded in 2017 and only has a few hundred students, which means funds are limited.
Parent Teacher Student Organization President Angie Wilson said when Cincinnati Public Schools started to talk about budget cuts and consolidations, she knew they had to do more — especially because Spencer was one of the schools CPS was considering splitting up.
"When we heard about some of the things that are going on, we just really decided to buckle down and try to do as much fundraising as we could this year to try and get ahead, so that our students don’t go without as these cuts start to take effect," Wilson said.
So they came up with a solution and planned their first-ever fundraising event.
"We've set a goal of $5,000 this year. We felt that was an attainable goal," Wilson said. "We have about 324 students at the school, so that averages out to just $16 a kid."
The fundraiser runs through March 16. New items will be added almost daily to the online auction or people can just donate. The money raised will pay for field trips and school activities, as well as help teachers with their classroom needs.
"[The school board needs] to get the message that the parents are involved, we are active, we are engaged," McColl said. "So not only do we want to help transform Spencer, help it evolve into whatever it’s going to become, but we’re also helping the kids go to events."
McColl said he would be heartbroken if Spencer was not around.
"We want her to fit in somewhere," he said. "She doesn’t necessarily fit in at all the other schools that we looked at, so if Spencer were to go away I don't know what we would do."
Rachel James and Todd Juengling feel the same way. They have an eighth grader at Spencer.
"She kind of struggled in a traditional school. She was in a Montessori school before and that didn’t really work for her, but like Spencer has been the perfect fit for her," Juengling said.
James said it's crucial to get the community involved because they don’t have a big network.
"There isn’t an alumni group like at Walnut with all this money coming in because the school has only been around for seven years," she said.
Their daughter toured another school, but their daughter didn’t like how big it was. At Spencer, the class sizes are smaller and the education is catered to each student’s needs.
"There might be a kid that is brilliant in math, you know a fourth grader, doing seventh-grade math, and they will make sure that kid gets the education they need. That same child may not be as great at English, and they will cater to what the child needs as well," Wilson said.
Wilson plans to make this an annual fundraising event.
