Last month, Belmont Shore gym Iconix Fitness posted an Instagram video promoting an Earth Day 5K meant to fundraise for the science department at Fremont Elementary. Standing outside the school on Fourth Street, a promoter in white coveralls held an overflowing Coca-Cola liter and asked the viewer to donate. The video directed people to a webpage for the Fremont Save our Schools Endowment Fund.
Yet according to the school, that money may never make it to them.
In an email to parents three days later, Fremont Elementary Principal Chris Lounsbery said, “to our knowledge,” the school has not received “any direct funds” from the endowment in his five-year tenure. He said that the fund is not affiliated with the school, its local PTA or Long Beach Unified’s fundraising wing, the Long Beach Education Foundation.
“I want to be clear,” Lounsbery wrote. “This fundraiser and non-profit are not affiliated with Fremont or LBUSD. It is likely proceeds may not even go to Fremont Elementary School.”
Soon, people were commenting on the fundraiser video, asking questions about where the money was going. Some people even walked into Iconix Fitness in Belmont Shore looking for answers, according to gym owner Kurt Schneiter.
There’s been a misunderstanding, according to Schneiter — one he said resulted in unfair accusations that he and his business were up to something untoward.
“It was very heart-wrenching,” Schneiter said.
Schneiter said he’s now rebuffing claims that the longtime endowment fund he controls isn’t benefiting school children.
Three of Schneiter’s daughters attended Fremont when they were younger. He created the fund in 2006 to raise money for the school’s science program, to be used to benefit students and a longtime science teacher.
The nonprofit fund has raised money through jog-a-thons and poker nights, as well as private donations and his own regular contributions, according to Schneiter.
The fund is administered by the Long Beach Community Foundation, with the intent of benefiting Fremont, Marcelle Epley, the organization’s CEO, confirmed.
“The donor has supported Fremont Elementary School with grant funding since 2009 through a donor-advised fund established with the Long Beach Community Foundation (LBCF),” she said.
But, there’s been a pause in recent years.
Schneiter said the school’s former science teacher, Laura Malloy, used to request money each year, and the funds would be sent to the school’s PTA for educational purchases.
“We’re talking about rockets, Mr. Bones [classroom aides], computers for the teacher,” Schneiter said. “We’ve paid for a chessboard out on the playground.”
Malloy left the school in 2020 for health reasons. The school also changed principals that year. The administrators and teachers there now haven’t requested any money in years, according to Schneiter.
“You would think that this would be an exciting thing for the school to have at their disposal,” he said. “It’s just funny that I have to go out of my way to try to make sure that they know to ask for more money. You would think from all the years of us doing this, it would be a known entity.”
According to a statement provided by Schneiter, the fund as of December 2024 has accumulated $346,000. A $1,000 check was last sent to the school’s PTA group in May 2022, but was never cashed.
Schneiter said he has tried several times to speak with the principal and the district about the fund and Lounsbery’s email.
The principal declined to comment further to the Long Beach Post, deferring questions to the district’s legal counsel. According to the LBUSD, the matter is still under investigation.
“We do not have additional information to share beyond what has already been provided,” said district spokesperson Elvia Cano.
Despite a gap in fundraising during the pandemic, Schneiter says he continues to put money into the fund, including $50,000 so far raised this year. His goal is to raise $1.5 million in the next 10 years, so that it can provide support in interest alone, in perpetuity.
“The intent I’ve always had is to help that little school out,” he said. “I want to make sure that they have the best education possible.”