EX-SAUGUS COACH ACCEPTS VALENCIA HIGH ADMINISTRATIVE POST.

Byline: Daily News

SANTA CLARITA - Valencia High School is getting some new blood in Ron Hilton, long-time athletics coach and teacher at Saugus High.

``It's going to be purple running in the veins,'' Hilton joked Monday, referring to Valencia's colors: purple and gold.

Hilton was appointed assistant principal at Valencia by the William S. Hart Union High School District board last week. He replaces Bob Vincent, who will head West Ranch High when it opens in 2004.

Three other teachers also were promoted to assistant principal - part of an ongoing administration shuffle as the district prepares to open a new junior high in August. All appointments are effective today.

Hart High School social studies teacher Mark Crawford will remain at the campus as assistant principal. He replaces Jill Shenberger, who was recently promoted principal of Academy of the Canyons and Learning Post, two alternative campuses.

La Mesa Junior High librarian Patricia McHorney will succeed Rhondi Mitchell Durand - who is heading to Arroyo Seco Junior High - as her school's assistant principal.

Michele Krantz, who teaches Saugus High School's television production/video program, will return as assistant principal at Sierra Vista Junior High, where she was a teacher and student government adviser for three years.

The four were chosen from a pool of more than 80 candidates, said Mike von Buelow, assistant superintendent of personnel.

``They distinguished themselves with their enthusiasm, solid preparation and character,'' he said. ``We are excited about having them join our administrative team.''

Hilton joined the Hart district in 1977 as a teacher at Saugus High, where he plotted the automotive technology curriculum. He served as athletic director at the school, where he coached softball for 18 years and football for six years.

Among his achievements in athletics, he has been named Coach of the Year by the California Interscholastic Federation and the Los Angeles Times, and to the Saugus High Athletic Hall of Fame.

Hilton made the switch to administration partly as a way to get more involved with students.

``With teaching, the ones in your class are the only ones we have contact with. With coaching, it's the ones on the team,'' he said. ``With administration, I'll get to see more of the students every day.''

Asked whether he would miss coaching athletics, Hilton joked: ``I might not miss it when it's 115 out and it's hot.

``I'm going to miss interacting with the kids. But I'll get that on campus, and I'll see them in matches.''

Hart High's Crawford joined the school in 1998, where he taught social studies and coached junior varsity baseball. He has also managed an Alternative Day Program on campus.

McHorney taught English at Hart High for seven years before she became librarian at La Mesa Junior High in 1995. She had a stint as interim assistant principal at La Mesa in spring 2002.

Krantz joined the district in 1998, serving as teacher and associate student body director at Sierra Vista Junior High. She moved to Saugus High in 2001, where she has taught social studies and created the school's television/video production program.

She also has been an active grant writer, generating some $13,000 in grants for Saugus' video curriculum.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) HILTON

(2 -- color) CRAWFORD

(3 -- color) MCHORNEY

(4 -- color) KRANTZ