U.S. secretary of education thanks Del Norte donors

Rumianos receive surprise phone call

Baird Rumiano got an unexpected call last week from someone he didn’t know.

It was Arne Duncan, the U.S. secretary of education, calling from Washington, D.C., to thank Baird and Jane Rumiano for their $10,000 donation to Del Norte County Unified School District for vocational education programs.

“I didn’t know who the hell this guy was,” Baird Rumiano said, laughing. Once he realized who was calling him he thought “it was pretty cool. We shot the breeze.”

The Rumianos’ donation will go toward a $450,000 match the school district must come up with to secure a $3 million federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grant.

The school district was one of a handful across the nation that got an i3 grant. The grant money will help the school district use student data from test scores and assessments to inform instruction.

Rumiano getting a phone call from one of the top people in President Obama’s administration is as “amazing as Crescent City getting an i3 grant,” said Superintendent Don Olson.

The Rumianos’ donation will be used to supplement vocational education programs in Del Norte schools, which include carpentry, metal working, car mechanics and health care, Olson said.

In those technical career classes, language arts and math skills are being reinforced with students as they learn to take measurements or write notes while they work with their hands, Olson said.

The Rumianos wanted to put their money toward programs that will help students get jobs out of high school, Baird Rumiano said. Those jobs exist and are needed in Del Norte, but there aren’t enough qualified people to fill them, he said.

“We firmly believe in vocational education,” Rumiano said. “It’s important for the young people of Del Norte County to have options.”

Not all students want to go to college, but they need the training and skills to get a good job, he said. It’s also hard to find a qualified person to do plumbing or electrical work, he used as examples.

“What could I do to help?” Rumiano thought. “If it continues to be successful, I might donate more.”

He hopes that others will support vocational education as there are locals excited to do more in area schools — it could “snowball into something bigger,” he said.

As for that phone call from Arne Duncan, “I thought it was awesome,” Rumiano said. “That’s the way they should all act, and  appreciate what common folk are doing out here.”

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