COUNTDOWN TO SCHOOL; DISTRICT RECRUITS TEACHERS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

More than 120 new teachers will join the Hart High School District this fall, filling vacancies created by booming enrollment and marking the single largest recruiting drive in district history.

So far, 104 new teachers have been hired this year, accounting for about 12 percent of the William S. Hart Union High School District's faculty for the 1999-2000 school year.

While an additional 20 teaching vacancies remain at the junior and senior high school levels, Superintendent Robert C. Lee said applicants continue to be interviewed and will be placed right up until the first day of school.

``It's been a success overall,'' Lee said.

Assistant Superintendent Mike von Buelow noted that nearly as many teachers were hired last year, which means that more than 20 percent of the faculty remains within the two-year probationary period for new hires.

``It's amazing,'' he said, ``It changes the whole complexion of things rather quickly.''

This year's needs were driven primarily by a jump in junior high school students.

``Growth was the biggest factor,'' Lee said. ``The sixth-graders coming in (to seventh grade) are larger than the outgoing seniors. Plus you have new people moving into the area.''

School officials project enrollment to rise from 15,000 to 16,000 this fall, the result of the ongoing development boom in the Santa Clarita Valley as well as new families moving into the area.

Now estimated at 147,000, the city's population rose 50 percent since 1990 and 9.9 percent in 1998, city officials say.

But population growth isn't unusual in Southern California, and Hart District officials found Santa Clarita schools in stiff competition with other area districts trying to hire quality teachers.

``Our district doesn't get as much money from the government as some other districts, so we couldn't offer such things as signing bonuses, moving expenses and some other fringe benefits,'' Lee said.

Instead, Hart District recruiters offered competitive salaries, starting at $32,000 for teachers with no experience.

Lee and von Buelow concurred that the city's low crime rate, prime location and high levels of parental participation also piqued the interest of many new hires.

``Our reputation here was probably the biggest factor,'' Lee said.

In fact, word-of-mouth about the Hart District convinced Kim Patterson to move to Santa Clarita from Massachusetts, to teach 10th-grade history at Canyon High School.

``Although I was going to school all the way in Massachusetts, I spoke to several principals where I grew up, in Fresno, and all of them suggested the Hart District,'' said Patterson, a first-year teacher who will also be advising the school's cheerleading squad.

``And then I went on the Internet and checked all the SAT scores and could see it was a really good district.''

Patterson said she really likes Santa Clarita. Like Fresno, ``it's not too big and not too small,'' she said - though other job candidates were turned off by the area's comparatively high cost of living.

Ten applicants rejected offers of employment, school officials said.

In the end, administrators pulled the majority of new teachers from all over California and 25 certified teachers from other states, including Ohio, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Recruiters went on numerous trips throughout the year, attended job fairs at universities and colleges in Northern and Southern California, posted positions through college placement offices and utilized a number of Internet employment Web sites.

The district also advertised in trade journals for specialized teachers, von Buelow said.

``The hardest areas to fill are in special education, math, physical science and the specialty areas, like band,'' von Buelow said, noting that those specialties account for many of the vacancies.

Although facing a teacher shortage, the district tries to maintain its minimum standards, von Buelow said.

Teaching credentials for full-time and substitute teachers must include a bachelor's degree, certification through the California Basic Education Skills Test program and credentials specific to the area of specialization.

The district will apply for emergency credentials to the state only when a teacher with all necessary credentials cannot be found, von Buelow said.

``We had one applicant who applied to teach a basic high school science course and didn't have that one credential, but had a Ph.D in physics and taught in California at the college level,'' said von Buelow, noting one example.

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PHOTO (Color) Kim Patterson, left, is a new teacher and cheerleading adviser at Canyon High. Patterson practices with Jessie Smith, atop the human scaffold, and others.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer