PTA Moves Scholarship Ceremony Out of Casino

PTA leaders at Bell Gardens High School said Thursday that they will refuse to award their 25 scholarships inside the luxurious banquet room of a local casino, not because they think that the gambling house is an inappropriate location, but because school officials are charging honorees $5 to attend.

Instead, the group said it will hold its own senior awards ceremony--handing out nearly $6,000 in book scholarships--inside the more austere confines of the high school library.

“I just feel that the community and parents are used to going to the high school and I just feel that’s the best place to hold our awards,” PTA President Josefina Macias said. “And it should be free of charge.”

On Monday, one school booster demanded that the officials abandon their plans to hold the ceremony honoring the school’s top-flight students in the banquet room at the Bicycle Club, one of the largest casinos in Southern California.

But so far, the request has received a cool response. Top administrators and school board members in Bell Gardens had only praise for the club, which has become the financial lifeline of their community.

The club, in fact, is giving Bell Gardens High School free use of the banquet facilities--complete with buffet and beverages for 300 students. But school officials decided to charge seniors $5 to get into the June 5 ceremony in an effort to raise money for an athletic scholarship.

This is not the first time the school has scheduled events in the casino’s banquet room--the largest, plushest gathering place in Bell Gardens. On Tuesday night, for example, the school honored its top spring athletes there.

Typically, the casino donates $100,000 annually to social services in the city. Last year, it contributed $11 million in taxes and fees to the city government, making up nearly half of Bell Gardens’ budget.

“I think the city views the club as being a nice little money machine that produces a steady and significant stream of income without particularly any problems,” said gambling law expert I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School.

“It would be somewhat hypocritical of them to be criticizing their main source of income.”

Nevertheless, school booster Ted Kastenbaum--who was set to present two students with $150 book scholarships at the awards ceremony--said he was horrified when he found out the location of the event. He said he was especially concerned in the wake of alleged illegal activities at the facility.

On Thursday night, Kastenbaum asked members of the Montebello Unified School District to set up a policy that would prohibit school functions, such as academic awards ceremonies, at the casino and to cancel any events scheduled there.

“We should not forget our ethics and our morals,” he said.

Hector Chacon, president of the school board, asked the superintendent to return with a review about the matter.

A civil complaint filed in April by the state Department of Justice charged that a federally appointed trustee assigned with overseeing the facility had allowed loan-sharking and other illegal activities there.

“This is not an appropriate place to celebrate the achievements of young people,” Kastenbaum said, adding that he plans to give out his scholarships at the PTA’s ceremony. “It’s a gambling den with the stench of hard liquor and tobacco.

“It would be the same as if the Pussycat Theater gave the school the use of its auditorium.”