2 SCHOOLS HARD HIT BY VANDALISM.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer

Two Santa Clarita Valley campuses were hit over the weekend by vandals who caused at least $8,000 in damage to Saugus and Canyon high schools, officials said Monday.

Graffiti vandals sprayed gang and other slogans on exterior walls at Saugus High School, while in an apparent unrelated incident vandals broke into three classroom buildings at Canyon High School.

It is believed that both attacks took place Saturday, and in Canyon's case it was the latest in a series of theft and vandalism incidents that has cost at least $35,000 since last year, said Principal Mike Allmandinger.

"We have been hit real hard since last year," said Allmandinger. "I have a gut feeling (this last one) was by students . . . but we don't know. There were TVs they could have taken that were not."

At least six windows and three doors were broken down, and the contents of a fire extinguisher were emptied in two science classrooms. Damage was estimated at a minimum of $3,000, Allmandinger said.

The Saugus campus might have suffered even more damage. Administrators there placed the damage conservatively at $5,000.

None of the graffiti was visible Monday as students returned from their two-week-long holiday break. Principal Cheryl Brown said several employees were on campus Sunday making sure it was cleaned up.

"The idea is not to allow them (the vandals) the luxury of our students have to see it or be around it," she said. "To me it's nothing more than an animal marking its territory."

Allmandinger said the attacks should give some urgency to district discussions about security improvements on school campuses, including hiring guards, video surveillance and installing alarms.

"If they (vandals) know there are alarms and guards they are not going to come even near this place," he said. "The board has talked about it, but it just has not happened yet."

A report submitted to the district showed that last year the Canyon campus suffered at least eight thefts and acts of vandalism that cost $25,000, he said. Earlier this school year $10,000 in student activities money was stolen from an office.

There have been fewer incidents at Saugus, at least since February 1992 when a series of vandalism and break-ins caused some $15,000 in damage, Brown said. In many of the cases no one was ever caught, officials said.

The district is self-insured so money for repairs comes out of its own funds.

Paula Olivares, a Hart district board member, said she expects campus security will be among the top issues discussed by the board at its next meeting.

"We have extensively talked about the possibility of having someone (on campuses) all night," she said. "There have been a number of different ideas, but it's not something we like to talk about widely, because it points out our liabilities."

Olivares said, however, some security improvements have been made, especially where the district has installed new computer hardware.

A reward of $100 has been offered for information leading to the arrests of those involved in the Canyon attack, while administrators at Saugus are hoping some information will come forth voluntarily.

"It's upsetting. We go here," said Tanya Quesenberry, an 18-year-old senior at Canyon High. "I am sure some student did it. There are people here who just don't care about their education."