Board of Guadalupe Schools diverse group

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Board members of the Guadalupe School get a demonstration on teaching English as a second language from teacher Kate Diggins (left). Using pantomime and props she helped board members Spencer Hoole, Zina Lembke, Greg Summerhays and Deborah Haslam learn words in Polish on their meeting on Wednesday, November 18,2009 photo:Paul Fraughton/ The Salt Lake Tribune

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Perhaps it's a bit unusual for a school board to learn Polish during one of its regular meetings. But that's what the members of the Guadalupe Schools did recently.

In fact, four members got up in front of the others in a classroom on the west side of Salt Lake City and held up various objects having to do with keeping warm in the winter as teacher Kate Diggins said the name in Polish.

The lesson served as a demonstration of how the schools can teach English to someone who has no prior experience with the language and served to help members identify with the people Guadalupe serves, said Executive Director Victoria Mori.

"One of the goals I have is to say to the board, 'You always should be asking and looking as to what we are doing with the people we are serving,'" said Mori. "So, how are the children? How are those programs going? How are they learning?"

Teaching English to recent immigrants is one of many services offered by Guadalupe Schools, which occupies an old Catholic school at 340 S. Goshen St. The schools also run preschool programs and a charter school for first through third grades aimed at bringing the knowledge and skill levels of disadvantaged children up to the norm for their age groups.

The board recently expanded to 30 members, many from professions and companies that lend needed skills to the school, among them legal, accounting and education.

"We have a membership committee that tries to keep the

Perhaps the biggest role of the board is fundraising. The school receives some state and federal funds, but needs to raise just under $1 million a year to keep all its programs going.

"We are a fundraising board," said Board President Walt Romney Jr., an attorney. "We're always looking for the money because we run a very, very tight ship as far as our expenses."

In expanding its membership, the board is preparing for a major fundraising campaign to construct a building. The board wants to purchase land on the city's west side, then start collecting money for a new facility that would allow Guadalupe Schools to serve more people.

Beyond fundraising and keeping the programs going, the board also tries to meet other needs.

At a recent meeting, board member Susie Kirkland gave a report on the schools' upcoming Christmas Store, an event in which families whose children participate in the schools programs can buy donated presents with script they receive from the schools.

"Rather that just donating toys, we set up the entire school like a store," Kirkland said.

She and others made a plea for donations of toys, clothes, food and money for the event, set for Dec. 19.

The board also approved a successor to Lamb, whose tenure on the board is up because of a new rule limiting the time a member can serve. He has been on board for about 18 years.

Lamb admits that he became a member because a mentor told him serving on a nonprofit board would further his aspiration to enter the ranks of management, but he has he stayed on and on and on.

"It's been good for me personally to give back," he said.

Lamb tells how during his time on the board the school expanded through a program that sends teachers into homes, where they show parents how to stimulate a child's intellectual development with reading and other activities. That program, the preschool classes and the charter school have made a difference, he said, with notable development advances that improve students' chances for success.

Lamb speaks with obvious pride about children in the program who defied the odds and graduated from high school. One former student went to an Ivy League college on a scholarship.

So when he leaves the board Lamb's not giving up his connection to the schools. He will serve on the board of the Guadalupe charter school as chairman.

"I'll stay involved," he said.

tharvey@sltrib.com