To the Editor:
A local Reston preschool, Lake Anne Nursery and Kindergarten (“LANK”),
annually solicits cash donations from its families, on top the tuition and fees required to attend the preschool. These donations are a part of their “annual giving campaign,” one of their fundraising efforts each year. This year, however, LANK is displaying the names of its families making these cash donations on a large sign outside the preschool.
I ask, is this right? What message is being sent to the kids? What about families who cannot afford to make a donation? LANK sells itself as a “community preschool.” Is this a fundraising tactic a “community preschool” would do?
The sign in question adorns the preschool's carpool line and is in the shape of a train, cutely designed to attract the attention of their preschool students. My own child inquired about it: “What does that train say?...Why are those names on there?...Where is my name?..Is [insert classmate's name] on there?”
I spoke to a LANK administrator and brought up the issue whether this was a fair thing to do to families who cannot afford to make a donation, who may still support the school in their own way: I was told, “we cannot be fair to everybody.” I find this rather unfortunate, since the sign is visible to them, “everybody” includes LANK's own kids.
Anne Gibney
Reston