COUNTY REVIVES SCHOOL PLAN; RESIDENTS HAVE OPPOSED SITE FOR TEEN PROBATIONERS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles County education officials are taking another look at temporarily putting a school for teen-age probationers at a west-side location that caused an uproar with neighbors when it was suggested last summer.

Having trouble in finding another location, Los Angeles County Office of Education officials say they are considering using temporarily a church building at Avenue P-8 and 10th Street West until they find a permanent site to teach local teens furloughed from juvenile camps.

``The plan is to use that for a short time and educate them and give them somewhere to continue learning and help turn them around,'' said Sophia Waugh, a member of the county Board of Education and a former Antelope Valley Union High School District trustee.

County officials have scheduled a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the proposed school site at Faith Community Church to explain their plans to neighbors. Officials from the county office's juvenile court and community schools division will discuss their plans, Waugh said.

Scheduled to attend are Larry Springer, director of the juvenile court and community schools unit, and representatives from Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's office, Waugh said.

``We want buy-in from the community,'' Waugh said.

Sheldon Epstein, a nearby resident and Palmdale School District board member, said he has not been notified of the meeting yet but said it concerned him. County officials previously had assured residents they would not use that site to school teen-agers furloughed from juvenile camps.

``I would have a concern with that. What does `temporary' mean? I don't think the community would appreciate that,'' Epstein said.

The county began looking for other sites after residents in a west Palmdale neighborhood protested.

The school would serve students who are residents of Palmdale and who have been convicted of offenses such as car theft, burglary, drug charges and gang-related incidents.

The Palmdale School District board voted to oppose the proposed location, which is a half-mile from Juniper Intermediate School and two miles from Summerwind and Palmdale Learning Plaza schools.

Palmdale school officials also offered to take over a six-year lease on the church site and use it instead for a Head Start preschool. They said they would help the county find another location for the school.

Waugh said the county looked at a site located across 10th Street East from the district office, but said it cannot be used because it falls under an Air Force Plant 42 flight path.

Waugh said the county needs a school in Palmdale because the campus the county operates in Lancaster is filled to capacity. The county students are not ``felons and crooks,'' and would not pose a hazard to schools and homes, Waugh said.

``They are kids who made a wrong turn. Some may go back, but that percentage is small. The majority do turn their lives around. We see some who go to college,'' Waugh said.

She added, ``These kids are not on the street. They are brought there, they eat there, and leave on the bus to where they live. They are not walking on the street. If parents bring them, they bring them to the school, and there is a probation officer waiting for them. They are fencing the whole place so they could not wander outside anyway.''

Margo Minecki, spokesperson with the county education office, said officials at this point are evaluating what the alternatives are and has not decided to put the school at the 10th Street West building.

``There is a meeting at Faith Community Church to give the community an update,'' Minecki said.

Since April 1997, the county has run another community school at Division Street and Avenue K-8 in Lancaster, serving between 50 to 60 youths. About 40 percent of the enrollment are teen-agers from Palmdale.