Saugus Union Elementary School District

Charles A. Helmers, who rose from student teacher to superintendent during a 17-year career with the Saugus Union Elementary School District, has died of lung cancer. He was 41. Last November, Helmers looked on tearfully as district trustees named a new school in his honor. The Charles A. Helmers Elementary School is scheduled to open in 1990. Helmers, who died last Wednesday, announced that he had inoperable lung cancer more than two years ago. He had not worked for about a year.

In response to consecutive weekends of extensive vandalism on two campuses, the Saugus Union Elementary School District will hire a security firm to randomly patrol its 10 schools. When making the decision earlier this week, Supt. Troy Bramlett said it would temporarily remedy the sudden looting of schools in the area until a more permanent security arrangement could be made for the campuses. "We just feel that we can no longer ignore it," Bramlett said.

In response to consecutive weekends of extensive vandalism on two campuses, the Saugus Union Elementary School District will hire a security firm to randomly patrol its 10 schools. When making the decision earlier this week, Supt. Troy Bramlett said it would temporarily remedy the sudden looting of schools in the area until a more permanent security arrangement could be made for the campuses. "We just feel that we can no longer ignore it," Bramlett said.

Charles A. Helmers, who rose from student teacher to superintendent during a 17-year career with the Saugus Union Elementary School District, has died of lung cancer. He was 41. Last November, Helmers looked on tearfully as district trustees named a new school in his honor. The Charles A. Helmers Elementary School is scheduled to open in 1990. Helmers, who died last Wednesday, announced that he had inoperable lung cancer more than two years ago. He had not worked for about a year.

Christopher F. Wilson, a school official from San Diego County, has been named superintendent of the fast-growing Saugus Union Elementary School District. Wilson replaces Charles A. Helmers, a well-known and popular superintendent who died of lung cancer in March. Wilson, whose four-year contract begins July 1, was assistant superintendent of the Escondido Union School District. Trustees of the 5,100-student Saugus district announced his appointment Wednesday night. A. Stanley Corey, a retired superintendent of Irvine Unified School District, served as interim superintendent in Saugus after Helmers' illness forced him to take a leave of absence a year ago. The nine-school Saugus district will open two new schools in the fall.

After six weeks of deadlocked negotiations, teachers and administrators in the Saugus Union Elementary School District have reached a tentative contract accord, the president of the teachers' union said today. Jo Ann Pryor, president of the 214-member Saugus Teachers Assn., said union and district negotiators hammered out an agreement late Thursday night.

Teachers and administrators negotiating a new contract in the Saugus Union Elementary School District resolved some of their differences Friday but remained at an impasse over the teachers' request for a 12% raise this year. Supt. Chris Wilson said the two sides agreed on an improved fringe benefits package, but still will seek the help of an outside mediator to resolve the salary dispute. The two sides were at an impasse Thursday night after four days of fruitless negotiating sessions.

The number of crimes reported at two Santa Clarita Valley school districts rose sharply last year, but most of the incidents involved minor vandalism or verbal threats by students against other students, school officials said. The William S. Hart Union High School District recorded 450 crimes in the 1988-89 school year, a 74% increase over 259 reported the year before.

Teachers and administrators in the Saugus Union Elementary School District said Friday that they have drafted a tentative agreement to end their contract dispute. The agreement, reached late Thursday with the aid of a state mediator, apparently ends a tense six weeks in the fast-growing Santa Clarita Valley school district. Teachers staged several protests during the talks.

The Santa Clarita City Council will join two school districts in a fight to block development in the Santa Clarita Valley until funding is found to build new schools. Council members, saying they are frustrated by continuing development outside the city, decided Tuesday night to support the William S. Hart Union High School District and the Saugus Union Elementary School District in a lawsuit against Los Angeles County.

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.