The West Sedona School Parent Teacher Association is looking for additional members, volunteers and sponsors in preparation for its largest annual fundraiser, the Wildcat Carnival, which will take place at the school, located at 70 Posse Ground Road, on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

“About 3,000 people come, and we’re partnering with businesses for some sponsorships, and we hope that you’ll consider supporting us,” WSS second-grader Pepper Marschall said. “If we weren’t able to do it, we’d be disappointed because all of the kids look forward to it every single year.” 

Last year’s carnival featured Mexican food, traditional carnival games, inflatable games, a silent auction and a pumpkin carving contest. The event typically raises around $30,000. 

Proceeds from the carnival in previous years have paid for hand-washing stations, new playground equipment, water bottle filling stations, student and family events and educational programming at WSS. 

“We try to support resources for classrooms, and one of the ways we do that is by doing gift cards that the teachers can use to buy classroom supplies, and that the money for that comes from the carnival,” PTA Secretary Garin Marschall said. “We usually do it after the carnival, and that has to do with cash flow.” 

“We need more members to be able to do more events, so we’re trying to encourage and recruit new members, teachers, parents, to join the PTA and help us out,” Garin Marschall said. “ We [would] like every single parent to be a member. We have most of the teachers, and then a handful of parents … We’re just getting started; the new board for the PTA [started] in July. We have a new president this year, Laura Molina, so we’re sort of getting our feet under us with regard to membership drive, the carnival.” 

For more information about sponsorship opportunities for the Wildcat Carnival and the WSS PTA, visit WestSedonaPTA.com. 

WSS is classified as a Title I School because of the high number of low-income students who attend the school. The Sedona-Oak Creek School District announced in July that nearly 50% of the 722 students enrolled as of April 1 were qualified for state match programs such as Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

“We really wanted to try and finish the playground,” former PTA president Basil Maher said in a previous interview. “But we never did make enough money in the Carnival to make that happen.” 

The condition of the playground at WSS was one of the issues raised most often by residents during the district’s summer 2023 survey as part of its superintendent search process. 

“We are trying to get good, modern, inclusive playground equipment onto the school’s back play area, which will take funding,” PTA member Erika Christensen said. “If any individuals or organizations are interested in partnering with us and to make that happen, we’d welcome their participation.” 

“Yeah, the playground that we’re on now, the second [through] fifth playground, is honestly kind of boring,” Pepper Marschall said. “All there is a sand pit, like a volleyball thing, a basketball court and nothing. Oh, yeah, and two soccer nets.” 

New WSS Principal Alisa Stieg said that staff have been discussing repurposing playground equipment from the former Big Park Community School for use at WSS, but doing so may turn out to be cost-prohibitive. No action will be taken until the district settles on a long-term plan for the BPCS property. 

The SOCSD Governing Board is scheduled to have a special board meeting on Monday, Sept. 23, at 5 p.m. at the BPCS auditorium to discuss the potential sale of the property, which will first require voters to approve a resolution on the November ballot allowing the district to sell the school to a private party. Governing Board President Randy Hawley said that no potential buyers have come forward so far. 

“Some of our toys and games have been very loved last year,” Stieg said. “So some of those things need to be replaced, refurbished. So they’re trying to collaborate. So their reach is very broad. PTA have their fingers in just a little bit of everything.” 

Superintendent Tom Swaninger said that the district is currently working with facility planning firm SitelogIQ to do a needs assessment of capital investments at Sedona Red Rock High School that he expected would be completed by October, and that playground equipment at WSS is likely to be included in a similar assessment of that campus in the future.