MEASURE'S PASSING WOULD MEAN FUNDS FOR NEW SCHOOLS : CAMPAIGN TO SAVE LIVES.

Would you be willing to forgo a few fast food-meals with your family in order to improve your child's education and school experience? The Santa Clarita Valley has an opportunity to make a huge difference in the well-being of its children. Measure A is a bond that would provide the local matching funds required by the state, so that the William S. Hart Union High School District could begin construction on desperately needed junior high and high schools, as well as provide funds for correcting the embarrassingly shabby conditions that exist at our local schools.

I feel that Measure A is not getting the exposure it needs. As the parent of three children in all three levels of education in our valley, I am concerned about the future of our schools.

As I commute to my office, I pass several billboards boasting of the beauty of the Santa Clarita Valley and encouraging people to consider moving here. The quality of life, and more specifically, the quality of education are cited as reasons to be considered. I absolutely agree that the Santa Clarita Valley is a great place to call home. It has so much to offer, and I love it. Yet without the passage of Measure A, the quality of education, the most basic of needs in a family-based community, cannot measure up to what our children deserve.

Community response overwhelmingly indicates that families want to stay at the school with which they have a relationship. The school district, on the other hand, is in the Catch-22 situation of having too many students and not enough room. If we do not support Measure A, the school district will have no choice but to restructure the boundaries and to implement changes such as multitrack and split-shift schedules for our students. The very nature of this would alter the balance of the junior high and high school experience.

In addition to the very real problem of overcrowding, the frustrations experienced by our teachers and administrations need to be addressed. Very creative attempts are constantly being made to use every possible available space. Teachers shift in and out of classrooms as space permits, taxing even the most organized teacher's abilities. Our teachers and administrators are taking on more and more with less support.

Renovations of our aging schools need to be addressed. Repairs such as correcting unsafe flooring, antiquated plumbing and heating and air conditioning, as well as upgrading electrical wiring and labs are desperately needed. All of the schools were built to accommodate far fewer students than they house. This increased usage has taken its toll on our campuses. These are not frivolous beautifications, but the very basic of functional repairs - repairs for which there is no funding available. We have ``distinguished'' schools that are falling apart.

If developers market the quality of our school district, there is another consideration to be made. The quality of our schools, as well as the reputation of the quality of our schools, has value to all residents of the Santa Clarita Valley. Whether or not taxpaying citizens of the Santa Clarita Valley have children who attend the Hart district schools, all residents are vicariously affected by the quality, or perceived quality, of the schools in our community. The market value of all homes in our valley has a stake in Measure A.

Human nature is such that we often don't pay attention to that which doesn't affect us. Words such as tax, bond and increase, tend to make people look the other way. In the blink of an eye, however, elementary school students are high school students. For the good of all children in our community, we must unite in the passage of Measure A in the upcoming election. Please take the time to educate yourself on this matter and to vote on Nov. 2. It would be shortsighted not to support this bond. Our children deserve it.

- Barbara De Rousseau

Santa Clarita 

This year more than 180,000 women in the United States will learn for the first time that they have breast cancer, a condition that will result in more than 40,000 deaths. In fact, breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer for American women; however, early detection and prompt treatment can significantly reduce the suffering and deaths caused by this disease.

In responding to this important public health issue, I am joining with mayors across the country to promote National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and to observe the third Friday in October as National Mammography Day. We are calling upon all in our communities - employers, physicians, churches, clubs and other organizations - to encourage women of all ages to obtain information about screening and mammography and to seek appropriate services. Our efforts are part of the Mayors' Campaign Against Breast Cancer (of which I am a member) that the U.S. Conference of Mayors is conducting under a five-year cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year the Mayors Campaign is suggesting that cities support the program by:

emphasizing access to mammography for city employees,

encouraging city employees over 40 to get mammograms

and asking city employees to serve as ambassadors for mammography outreach in their social circles and the community at large.

Because women comprise 49 percent of employees in the U.S., the workplace provides an optimum environment for increasing breast cancer awareness and screening. It is critical that all other employees in our city join with me and similarly involve their employees in National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, one of our nation's most important public health initiatives.

- Jo Anne Darcy

Mayor, Santa Clarita