AREA SCHOOLS NOMINATED FOR BIG HONOR : 4 CAMPUSES TO VIE FOR BLUE RIBBON.

Byline: Mary Schubert and Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writers

There are 5,048 public elementary schools in California. On Monday, four in the Santa Clarita Valley were nominated for national honors by state Superintendent Delaine Eastin.

Wiley Canyon Elementary, in the Newhall School District, and Bouquet Canyon, Emblem and Skyblue Mesa elementary schools in the Saugus Union School District are among 46 California nominees as 1997 National Blue Ribbon Schools.

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley will announce the winners of the National Blue Ribbon honor June 2. The federal government recognizes outstanding elementary, middle and high schools in alternate years.

Jay Caulfield, principal at Emblem, said the Saugus school district had reason to be proud of its showing. ``What's amazing is three (schools) from our district were selected. We only have 11 schools, so we've got to be doing something right,'' Caulfield said.

Good schools are built of several strong components, he said. ``We have great kids and supportive parents, a good solid community backing, and an outstanding staff,'' the principal said.

Wiley Canyon Principal Larry Heath gave credit to his faculty.

``If you think about this, you're only as good as your teaching force,'' Heath said. ``They are really at the core of this success. You have teachers who come early, stay late, come on the weekends. They demand from every child, every day, the best.''

Janet Wiese, principal at Skyblue Mesa, said her school's application to the National Blue Ribbon committee emphasized the ``sense of community'' at the 30-year-old school, where about 585 students are enrolled in kindergarten through sixth grade.

``From the crossing guard to the custodian to the teachers, there is a tremendous amount of community support,'' she said. ``It's a true neighborhood community school.''

At Bouquet Canyon, a huge sign on a bulletin board announced the distinction of being nominated one of the state's - and perhaps the nation's - best schools.

``It's really an honor to be selected as one of the representatives of our state,'' said Principal Evie Gustafson.

She credited Bouquet Canyon parents for volunteering in the library, computer lab and classrooms, raising money and bringing the extras to school.

A series of assemblies that enliven classroom lessons were financed by the PTA, she said. Children were introduced to music and drama and witnessed real-life applications of science.

``The parents are teaching a sense of value to the students by their volunteer work in supporting what's going on in the classroom,'' Gustafson said. ``That's a valuable lesson in and of itself.''

Teachers and staff at Emblem are ``innovative'' and open to suggestions from parents about how to improve their child's education, said Caulfield, who has been principal for 13 years.

Emblem, with a kindergarten-to-sixth-grade enrollment of 880, received the statewide equivalent of the National Blue Ribbon honor - it was named a California Distinguished School, Caulfield said.

And last weekend in San Jose, the California School Board Association bestowed its Golden Bell Award to Emblem - one of about 30 schools across California so recognized, Caulfield said.

Emblem's recognition is noteworthy in that, with 18 portable classroom buildings on campus - and four more on the way - it is one of the district's most crowded schools, the principal said.

Teamwork is the key to the school's success, Caulfield said.

Among the features that make Wiley Canyon School stand out is a reading intervention program instituted because the Newhall campus saw a troubling literacy problem, particularly among the 30 percent of its students whose families are transient, Heath said.

At Skyblue Mesa, parents are encouraged to volunteer in their child's classroom or speak at career day, for instance, Wiese said. ``We welcome parents. We want them to be a part of their children's education,'' she said.

The school holds an annual Grandparents Day and offers parent workshops on subjects like attention deficit disorder, Wiese added.

Skyblue Mesa was recognized as a California Distinguished School in 1995 and 1987, she added.