School district ponders how to spend $40,000 poetry bequest
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Elizabeth Williamson wanted the children of Camarillo to enjoy poetry as much as she did.

So the Camarillo woman, who died in 2005 at the age of 92, left a bequest of $40,000 to the Pleasant Valley School District to help expose local students to creative writing and poetry.

To that end, a local parent is working to bring the Reflections Program, a nationwide arts program started in the late 1960s by the National PTA, to each of the district's 14 schools.

Currently, the district only spends about $300 a year on the program, which is available on 10 district campuses.

Marsha Hively, president of the PTA Council, told the school board last month that she wants to form a committee of parents and teachers to decide how best to spend the grant money so that all of the students have the opportunity for poetic and creative expression.

"We think that was her (Williamson's) original intention," Hively said in an interview last week.

The Reflections Program is open to students from preschool to 12th grade. Students submit their works of art in literature, music, photography, drawing, painting or collage based on an annual theme chosen by the National PTA.

The entries are judged locally and can advance to the state and national level for further recognition.

The program helps students learn to analyze their thoughts and feelings and get a fresh perspective on life around them, according to the PTA website.

Pam Franz, Williamson's friend and trustee of her estate, said Williamson would have wanted all the children to benefit from her grant.

Franz said Williamson was a lifelong lover of the arts whose poetry was published in Canada. "She gave . . . to causes she thought were very worthwhile," Franz said.

Williamson also gave $10,000 to one of the district's academic programs.

Anyone interested in further information about the committee should call Marsha Hively at (805) 390-3817.