The PTA’s fishy reward

Michael Miller

The stingray, as it scuttled around a tank with three tiny sharks,

probably was unaware that it had a name. One side of its body

featured a tag with the serial number 105F and a number for the Back

Bay Science Center. The institute put the label on for research

purposes: If anyone catches the fish in the future, he or she can

call the Back Bay number and report where it was caught, and how

large it has grown.

“This one just swam into my net,” Frank Boice said about the

tagged stingray.

Boice, a senior volunteer for the Department of Fish and Game, was

busy tending the Back Bay Sharkmobile at Newport Elementary School,

where classes of third- through sixth-graders were filing through to

look at a truckload of sea creatures.

Newport Elementary won the Sharkmobile visit as a reward for its

PTA membership drive this year. For two days -- the first in

February, the second on Tuesday -- volunteers brought the truck to

give students a close look at sharks, crabs, mussels, sea cucumbers

and a table full of fish bones.

Students learned some interesting facts about marine life. For one

thing, scientists label and track them. For another, a starfish is

not actually called a starfish -- it’s a sea star, since there’s

nothing remotely fishlike about it. And lastly, a number of ocean

species, including abalone and sea otters, are on the endangered

species list.

“This year we wanted to do something that was experiential and

educational for the kids,” said Leslie Mais, a kindergarten parent

who helped with the PTA membership drive. Mais and Julee Johnson, the

program organizers, wanted to reward the student body after it

enlisted a record number of parents.

At the beginning of the school year, teachers sent students home

with fliers to sign their parents up for the PTA, with a $10

membership fee per person. PTA funds support assemblies, student

award programs and other school events.

Every year, Newport Elementary rewards students for participating

in the PTA drive; past events have included pizza lunches and ice

cream socials. However, when Mais saw fliers for the Sharkmobile at

the Newport Beach Public Library, she decided to take the celebration

up a notch.

So as a payback for their efforts this year, Newport Elementary

students got to see real, live sharks -- albeit not of the “Jaws”

variety. The water tank on the Sharkmobile featured a horn shark, a

swell shark and a grey smooth-hound shark, none of them longer than

two feet.

“My understanding is that the horn shark will give you some pain

if those stingers get you, and of course a stingray can hurt,” Boice

said. “But no, they’re not dangerous.”

Scary or not, the Sharkmobile exhibit was a hit with students.

“One little boy, a kindergartener, told us the Sharkmobile was his

favorite day of the year,” Johnson said. “He sent us a little note

with a collage.”

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].