NO CONTAMINANTS FOUND HART OFFICIALS ARE OPTIMISTIC OVER SCHOOL SITE.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The latest battery of environmental tests on the proposed Golden Valley High School site so far has turned up no contaminants, leaving Hart District officials hopeful that construction could begin by late spring.

Department of Toxic Substance Control officials expected preliminary results from nine additional soil borings by early today and - based on field studies in recent weeks - they predicted tests would come up clean, said DTSC project manager Tedd Yargeau.

The state agency ordered the new tests in late January, after one of 15 preliminary soil probes showed traces of methane gas. The new work plan called for air, soil and soil gas testing for the rocket fuel byproduct perchlorate, explosives residue, volatile organic compounds, methane and hydrogen sulphide. Samples were taken at surface level and deep underground, where the school site would rest after hillside grading.

``As far as I know, there's nothing on the site that's been detected at this point,'' Yargeau said Wednesday. ``The results we receive today will have to be validated . . . but yes, they would say for sure if any contaminants are present.''

Conclusive results are due Feb. 29 in a Preliminary Endangerment Assessment report, a comprehensive analysis which will also factor impacts from other potential hazards including power lines, abandoned oil wells and munitions and aircraft testing grounds, said Yargeau.

Hart District officials said they also are waiting on additional air quality tests, which rain has delayed.

If DTSC officials next week find the property suitable for a school, they could issue a letter of ``no further action'' as early as mid-March, Yargeau said.

``We feel really good right now,'' Hart District Superintendent Bob Lee said. `` We're optimistic - unless something drops right out of the sky now.''

Because the Hart District is working with the City of Santa Clarita on developing the portion of Golden Valley Road to access the school, grading at the high school site would occur by late spring or early summer, about two months after road construction begins, Lee said.

The Hart District now anticipates Golden Valley High School to open in September of 2002, Lee said.

In the wake of Los Angeles Unified School District's disastrous abandoned effort to build the Belmont Learning Center on methane contaminated land, intense scrutiny of the Golden Valley property has delayed the Hart District's plans to build a new high school to help offset a districtwide increase of roughly 1,000 new students in the 2000-2001 school year.

And the postponement - compounded by delays in selecting a final site for the new Rio Norte Junior High School - has given the school board reason to consider scheduling options including night classes, additional classrooms, double sessions and the unpopular multi-track year-round system, in which 25 percent of students are on vacation at all times. The change would be for a limited time, while new facilities are under construction.

``Alternate scheduling options will have to be used (for) a two-year period - minimum,'' Lee said.