SCHOOLS / ARTS PROGRAMS : Outstretched Hands : Parents need not plead in vain. Though they may not know it, creative programs are within their reach.

A few weeks ago, my family and I traveled to Mexico to spend a much-needed week of rest in a small, rented beach house. Luxury we didn’t expect. But neither were we prepared for such poverty.

Every morning, within minutes after we laid out our towels, a stream of children in crumpled clothes would approach us, holding out baskets of brightly colored wristbands, hair decorations or silver rings.

“Quieres?� they asked. Do you want?

In the beginning, I simply could not bear their tiny, forlorn faces or their soft, high-pitched voices.

And so I bought something from each of them, pulling out of my wallet a few American coins they would put slowly, as if with studied detachment, into their tiny pockets.

But then, on the third day, something changed. A little girl no older than 5 stood by my towel and held out a basket for my inspection. This time I shook my head.

“No tengo dinero,� I said. I don’t have money.

The truth was, I didn’t have any money with me on the beach that day, and it would have required extra effort for me to get it. But I also had reached a saturation point. With so many outstretched hands, I realized I simply could not satisfy everyone. Besides, I reflected, I had other expenses to think of.

Last week, that kind of attitude came back to haunt me. And more than once I remembered the sight of the little girl’s lowered head as she walked away.

It was back-to-school night at my children’s elementary school in Simi Valley, and the principal was introducing teachers to a packed auditorium. Afterward, he explained the goals of the school for the year. The main one, he said, was more science.

At the end of his talk, parents were directed to their children’s classrooms, where they would meet with teachers and find out what would be taught.

As they filed out the doors, I approached the principal. He had talked about math and science and reading, but offered nothing about the arts.

Were there going to be any? I asked him.

He glanced at the clock awkwardly. Suddenly, I felt like the little girl on the beach holding out a basket and asking, “Quieres?�

I heard the clock tick.

“Well, we really are focusing this year on science,� he said, smiling. “That’s what we’re focusing on.�

I knew he wanted me to go away. I could feel him willing me to go away. But I also knew I wasn’t selling something that wasn’t needed, something that would just mean there wouldn’t be as much money for other, truly important things.

I was asking him about art. About children expressing their innermost feelings without words. About kids learning enough about their own drawings to later go to a museum and say “Ahhh!� to a Van Gogh painting, understanding the magic in the artist’s fingertips.

I also was talking about music. About the language of the Mozarts and Beethovens and Puccinis of the world--and perhaps even of some of those kids.

But the principal probably only saw another outstretched hand. He shook his head slightly.

“Well, I guess we’re just going to have to see,� he said, smiling.

No tengo dinero.

I don’t fault him for this. I know it is not his doing. And probably, if teachers weren’t so worried about how many pieces of paper each pupil uses each day, the arts would seem more within their grasp.

But that doesn’t mean the arts aren’t within their grasp right now. It’s just that a lot of people may not know it.

Up in the Ojai Valley, where the public schools are faced with the same budget crunch as the ones in Simi Valley, parents, teachers and community members got together last year and proved that the arts aren’t dependent on the graciousness of Gov. Pete Wilson. They got involved with the all-volunteer, nonprofit Ojai Festivals Community Outreach (OFCO) program.

In addition to such scheduled concerts as an Afro-Brazilian group and a touring ensemble based at the Santa Inez Chumash Reservation (which will tie in with fourth-graders’ study of California Indians), OFCO also will offer the public schools a touring “music van,� which has all the instruments of an orchestra.

The concerts are all free, thanks to funding obtained through grants and donations.

OFCO also has enlisted the help of the Ventura County Symphony’s wonderful “Music in the Schools� program. Ensemble groups go to any school in the county, and they include a woodwind quintet, a string quartet, a mixed ensemble, a percussion ensemble or a brass ensemble.

And how much do they cost? Just $200 for two school concerts. A bake sale away.

With that kind of price, the blame for the absence of music and creative arts in the schools can’t be put on lack of affordability. Instead, principals, teachers and parents need to ask themselves some important questions.

Are the arts important anymore? Do enough people still care about teaching children to see and hear beauty?

“Quieres?�