Beehive Elementary has participated in Take Your Family to School Week in the past, but always on a shoe-string budget.

This year, the Kearns school, 5655 S. 5220 West, has some money to play with during the National PTA-sponsored week, Feb. 13-19, when parents, grandparents, step-parents, aunts, uncles and even cousins-twice-removed are encouraged to spend time at school. Anyone who wants to support a youngster's education is welcome.

Beehive was one of 32 schools nationwide and the only one from Utah to win a grant from National PTA for $1,897 (in honor of the year the PTA was established).

The school will use the money to fund several events throughout the week, including a visit from Heather Anderson, Miss Utah USA 2007, who will encourage students to avoid drugs. Mad Science will give a fun and educational presentation, and there will also be a game-show night in which families will participate in a competition similar to "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?" Parents are invited to receive free lunch throughout the week in the cafeteria, and Utah author Frank L. Cole, who wrote the "Hashbrown Winters" books, will stop by to autograph his work. Beehive bought 150 of his books.

These are just a few of the planned events meant to make parents feel comfortable and welcome in the hallways and classrooms of Beehive, and perhaps even inspire them to volunteer there in the future.

"I'm hopeful that this Take Your Family to School Week will be another shot in the arm," said Beehive principal Pauline Longberg. "We really do mean it when we say to parents, 'We need you in our building.' "

Longberg said Beehive can use as many volunteers as it can get. This year, three aides were laid off because the money was needed elsewhere.

"It's only three people," Longberg said, "but it's three people who were here all day, every day, and they did an incredible service."

Longberg asked parents to fill the void, and many have stepped up, she said. Volunteer numbers for October, November and December more than doubled from the previous year.

"Amazing things happen out of dire need," Longberg said.

Beehive PTA president Julie Fleming applied for the Take Your Family to School Week grant twice before and was happy to succeed this year.

"I guess the third time's the charm," Fleming said. "You lose faith that you're actually going to get one, but we were very pleased to do so."

Longberg is thrilled to have a gung-ho PTA president leading the charge, writing grant proposals and donating her time to the school.

"We have a fabulous PTA president," she said. "She single-handedly put this together and I'm really impressed."

Said Fleming: "If parents and teachers are communicating, great things happen in the school."

ndicou@sltrib.com