Santa Clarita Schools

A second education "summit" to address classroom crowding in the Santa Clarita Valley came to an abrupt halt Wednesday, leaving school officials and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich accusing each other of lacking leadership. By the time the meeting was over--roughly 15 minutes after it began--Antonovich, school officials and developers were frustrated and angry. "You guys have the problem. I'm just trying to resolve it," Antonovich told builders and school officials.

The William S. Hart Union High School District will hold a community meeting inviting comments and suggestions on the district's proposed strategic plan. At the meeting, to be held March 1 at Arroyo Seco Junior High School, participants will be asked to evaluate the district's value statements, mission statement and proposed direction for the remainder of the decade. The draft of the strategic plan was drawn up by teachers, administrators and parents in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Hazardous chemicals will be removed from science laboratories at high schools in the Santa Clarita Valley in the next few weeks in a "clean sweep" prompted by a wave of new state regulations, school officials said. Until now, no up-to-date inventory has been kept of hazardous chemicals in the school system. "I don't even know what there is, whether all that stuff is just three little bottles or there's lots of it," said James Bown, director of support services for the William S.

Somewhere out there, somone--and you know who you are--is sporting the bottom halves of the school uniforms that were supposed to have adorned the La Mesa Junior High School student body. But it has been nearly a month now since the black, white and teal uniforms were hijacked from their delivery truck--and that's only one of the reasons the Santa Clarita school has been forced to put its new mandatory uniform policy on indefinite hold.

A school administrator representing five districts in the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley offered Wednesday to drop plans to tax developers to pay for new schools if the two sides can agree on an alternate plan before Tuesday's election. But a developers' representative rejected a proposal that builders agree to foot the entire bill for new schools--an amount that could total $200 million over 20 years--and accept whatever state funds become available as reimbursement.

Two organizations representing developers filed suit Tuesday seeking to overturn a June 2 election in which Santa Clarita Valley voters approved steep taxes on new housing to pay for schools. The civil suit, brought by the California Building Industry Assn. and the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California, asks the court to invalidate the election results and to allow Los Angeles County to issue building permits without payment of the taxes while the matter is in litigation.

Most incumbents failed to win reelection to school boards in the Santa Clarita Valley, reflecting dissatisfaction with the status quo, candidates said Wednesday. Voters elected only one incumbent to the Newhall School District and two to the community college district. The result is that newcomers will occupy 10 of the 13 school board seats up for grabs Tuesday. "People were just basically looking for change," said Supt. Hamilton C. Smyth of William S. Hart High School District.

Highland Elementary School in Santa Clarita has been named one of 221 "distinguished" schools nationwide, the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday. Highland, with 650 students, was one of 16 schools from California selected for the honor. "Everybody's pretty sky-high right now," Randy Snyder, a teacher at the school, said. Snyder said he received a congratulatory phone call from state officials at 10:15 a.m. Friday. "At 10:16 I told the teachers," he said.

Santa Clarita Valley high school trustees, discouraged by a poll that showed voters would support only a limited tax increase to build schools, have decided to wait at least a year before asking the public to pass a bond measure for badly needed new schools. "It did not seem to me that it would be in our best interest to look at a bond issue right now," Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District, said Wednesday.

Faced with overcrowded schools, William S. Hart Union High School District in the booming Santa Clarita Valley will ask the state for $44 million to build a junior and senior high school. The board unanimously voted Wednesday to seek funds for a 1,200-student junior high and an 1,800-student high school. Sites for the schools have not been chosen.