HART DECIDES SCHOOL ISSUE CASTAIC RESIDENTS DECRY BOARD RULING.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS 

Staff Writer

After weeks of often heated discussion, the Hart high school board has put to rest the issue of overcrowding at West Ranch High School, opting to send incoming Castaic-area freshmen classes to two other high schools.

The decision came late Wednesday night as William S. Hart Union High School District board members defied the wishes of many Castaic-area families and voted 4-1 for the plan.

The deal means that starting this fall, and for the next two years, incoming Castaic-area freshmen will attend Valencia High School.

In 2009, Castaic-area freshmen will attend West Ranch High School. Incoming students at both schools will remain there until graduation.

But the decision was immediately blasted by residents.

"We just got hosed," Castaic resident Flo Lawrence said. "We are more than half of the West Ranch family and it seems like now we are being pushed out.

"I just wish the board could have found a way to spend the money, buy the portables, adjust the programs and basically handle the growing population to keep these communities intact."

The board defended its decision as a necessary move to alleviate overcrowding at West Ranch High School with minimal cost to the district.

"Our primary goal is to provide the best education opportunities to our children. But another part to that is doing it in a fiscally responsible way," said Hart board member Dennis King.

King was the first to push the motion forward. He was backed by Steven Sturgeon and Patricia Hanrion.

"I have been spinning, conflicted, nauseous, trying to look for a solution that doesn't impact student learning," board President Hanrion said.

Officials hope the plan will give them breathing room to develop a permanent solution to crowding at West Ranch High by 2010, when Castaic High School is scheduled to open.

Board member Gloria Mercado Fortine cast the lone dissenting vote.

"The board and the district made a commitment with Castaic families and the agreement was, beginning in the 2007-08 school year, all Castaic students would go to West Ranch," Mercado Fortine said.

"The Hart district's trust level with the community is not high, and when (we) do these types of things we only make it worse."

Mercado Fortine said she was upset with having to make such an important decision so close to the start of the new school year.

"Those portables should have been started since staff noticed there was a problem," she said. "Why is it all of a sudden a crisis? We cannot keep operating this school district in a crisis mode."

Robin Pohl, the mother of West Ranch students in the 10th and 11th grades, was one of several Stevenson Ranch parents pleased with the board's decision.

"Parking is already crazy and we still have one more class to go," Pohl said.

Despite Wednesday's ruling, freshmen students who have older siblings at West Ranch High will still be allowed to enroll at the high school.

Transfers will be allowed for Castaic-area students at schools that have capacity -- including Hart and Golden Valley high schools.

Still, many Castaic residents felt disenfranchised.

Castaic resident Lana Rossi said that 20 years ago, when she moved to the Castaic area, she graduated from Saugus High, the second home school given to Castaic-area students after attending Hart High School.

Since then, Castaic teens have also attended Valencia and West Ranch.

"Why is it always Castaic kids that get shuffled around?" Rossi said. "There is no continuity for my children."

Before Wednesday's meeting, parent groups from Castaic and Stevenson Ranch furiously called and e-mailed the district in hopes of influencing the board.

While some disagreed on whether students should be transferred, no parents wanted it to be their child.

Students also voiced dissatisfaction with the decision.

West Ranch's student body president, Sean Herron, a junior, had asked the district to find a way to keep all West Ranch students together.

In its decision, the board rejected a plan that would have sent West Ranch High School students across the street to neighboring Rancho Pico Junior High School for some classes.

Hart Superintendent Jaime Castellanos told the board that using the two high schools would be better.

"It would provide the best educational opportunity at no cost," Castellanos said.

Added Sturgeon: "I don't believe high schoolers belong on the same campus as junior high students."

The decision culminates a lengthy debate sparked after enrollment projections showed 3-year-old West Ranch High School -- which serves students from Castaic, Westridge, Stevenson Ranch and a corner of Newhall -- would exceed its 2,600-student enrollment, reaching an estimated 3,205 students in 2010.

Drained after the past month of debate, Lawrence and other parents said they felt it was time to put the issue to rest.

Despite being disappointed in the school district and the board's handling of the matter, Lawrence said future organizing should include all parents in the western region of Santa Clarita.

He said the best outcome of the entire ordeal was the political awakening of all the communities involved.

"It's over," Lawrence said.

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