Not just geography for kids in carnival schools

For the 21 children enrolled in Conklin International Academy, the school year began June 18 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Conklin Shows began its Canadian route. By the time the show rolls into the Big E in West Springfield, Mass., in mid-September, the first semester will be winding down.

The concept of teaching carnival children caught on in the 1990s, inspired by the home-schooling movement and a pioneering school established with Deggeller Attractions in 1985. Conklin, Powers Great American Midways, Kissel Rides & Shows, Midway of Fun and Reithoffer Shows are among the carnivals with mobile classrooms this season. Deggeller Attractions, Amusements of America and Wade Shows, which usually have them, have taken a pass this year.

"Their parents are remarkably busy for the main part of the season, so if there wasn't a school, what would (the kids) be doing with all their time?" asks teacher Linda Brewer, who founded the preschool and K-12 program 10 years ago for kids who travel with Conklin. "I think a lot of (the parents) don't remember, or don't know what they would do, if there wasn't a school."

Conklin classes are in session four-six days a week from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., with mornings devoted to academics and group activities like science lab. Afternoons are split between individual study and a cross-curricular program utilizing music and the arts. The traveling academy has two custom trailers, three teachers and an annual operating cost of about $200,000, making it one of the most ambitious programs of its kind.

What are the challenges and rewards of operating a show school?

"I think what we've done so far is in more of the experimental stages of finding out how we can serve this population best. There's so much further to go," says Brewer, whose industry affiliation began as a teenager working game concessions for a family friend. After earning a master's degree in mathematics from Texas A&M, Brewer taught with Deggeller for 18 months. She also helped Wade Shows, Amusements of America and other carnivals set up their schools.

For Brewer, one measure of the concept's success is that her students consistently score higher on standardized tests than the national average.

"On Deggeller, the ones I had in kindergarten and first grade are almost all in college," she says.

Don Deggeller says he "feels like he won the lottery" since Sally MacNeill, Brewer's college classmate and Deggeller Academy's longtime teacher, married ride superintendent Scott MacNeill. The couple has two preschoolers.

"We have a bunch of small kids on the show now, so we're taking advantage of that to take the year off and refurbish the school trailer, which is close to 15 years old," Deggeller says.

"Our interests were fairly selfish when we were starting out," he continues, recalling that his brother Greg's daughters were 5 or 6 at the time. "Then we saw the ramifications of what it would create for the show. We attracted a much better clientele in our help, since anybody with the show was qualified to put their children in school. The tuition was minimal, about $35 a week. We would even have independents come over and book their concessions just so their children could go to the school. A second benefit was the marketing value of the school, which gave the people of the communities that we went into the sense that we are real people."

Asked why more carnivals haven't started schools, Deggeller says the initial commitment may be more than some shows want to put out. After the startup cost of a trailer with living quarters for the teacher, operating costs average $50,000-$70,000. It depends on what you pay the schoolteacher, Deggeller adds. Salaries range from $25,000-$40,000.

Brewer stresses that a strong commitment from show owners and parents is required to sustain a carnival school. Since the yearly tuition of $2,500 covers only a fraction of the Conklin school's operating costs, fund-raising is a constant. The commissary makes donations to the school in lieu of rent, Brewer says. A portion of the income from show merchandise also goes to the school.

Cynthia King, whose daughter Carlie is a fifth-grader, describes a whirl of raffles, sports tournaments and dinners, from setup barbecues to a $20-per-plate Canadian Thanksgiving dinner that brings in nearly $5,000.

"You try and come up with new ideas and keep it fun, that's the hardest part," says King, who with husband Danny has funnel cakes and manages Jodi Conklin's popcorn concession.

Another challenge faced by show schools is recruiting and retraining teachers every year or two. "It's a tough job to fill, with the lifestyle change and the multilevel school," says Brewer, who proposes a centralized administrative system for the carnival industry's schools. "Teachers work under structures, and there's no structure out there."

"The teacher makes or breaks the school," agrees Pia Dobos, who took on the job of administrator for Amusements of America's Little "A" Academy after the death of her mother, Maddalena Vivona. "If we had a central administration, perhaps we could get involved with young people who just graduated from college and want to do something different with their lives for a year or two."

The Outdoor Amusement Business Assn.'s Mobile Amusement Industry Education Committee is studying ways to provide financial aid for alternative forms of education, says Marc Janas, an OABA director and concession manager with Powers Great American Midways.

"We're trying to figure out a set of criteria that's fair for everybody, whether it's for one child that the parents home-school or a full-fledged school," he says. Awards are expected to range from $350-$1,000 and will be presented at the OABA-Duke Smith Memorial Education Fund Reception in February.

Janas also has good news about Powers Great American Academy, which is in its second season of operation, with nine students, including his sister Karen Tuttle's children and his cousin Tracey Thomas' kids. Their teacher, Candace Olsen, returned for a second season.

"The kids love her," Janas says. p