PARENTS: DO NOT RELOCATE OUR KIDS W. RANCH HIGH CROWDING CITED.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS  Staff Writer

CASTAIC -- More than 50 parents and school administrators met Wednesday morning at Castaic Middle School with one message -- leave our kids at West Ranch High.

During a PTA meeting, they voiced their concerns with the Hart Union High School District's options to deal with overcrowding at West Ranch. One option is to send Castaic students 35 miles for the round trip to Golden Valley High School every day.

Other proposals include placing 22 portables on the West Ranch campus at a cost of $4 million and dividing Castaic-area students between West Ranch and Golden Valley.

The problem is that a high school planned in Castaic won't open until 2010, at best.

``Our kids are not pingpong balls,'' said Jim Gibson, superintendent of the Castaic Union School District. ``They have already attended Hart, Valencia, Saugus and West Ranch. The next move we are going to make is to Castaic High School.''

Castaic children go to Castaic district schools through eighth grade, then transfer to the Hart district for high school.

Parents plan to send e-mails to school board members and letters to legislators to ensure that their children stay at West Ranch until Castaic High opens.

Students at Castaic Middle School are circulating a petition and have gathered more than 200 signatures, a teacher said at Wednesday's meeting.

An active parent on the West Ranch campus and the mother of three teens, Pilar Scott-Walker offered to pay for fliers to be dispersed in the Castaic community.

``It is going to be too late if we wait to say something next August,'' Scott-Walker said.

Castaic district officials said the Hart board has not made any decisions. Officials from both districts plan to meet to discuss the issue.

But for many parents, the plans were enough to get them fuming.

``We are angry in Castaic with the incompetent (Hart) board,'' said Paul Morgan, father of both a seventh- and an eighth-grader at Castaic Middle School.

The Hart board addressed the possibility of moving Castaic students to Golden Valley after district projections showed West Ranch enrollment topping off at about 4,000 by 2010.

Several options were discussed during a Hart board meeting Jan.24, but no decision was made. The issue is expected to come back to the board at its Wednesday meeting.

``We are seeking a plan that disrupts the fewest number of students, creates the least disruption to the educational program and is the best use of district resources,'' district spokeswoman Pat Willett said.

Willett said she has been screening phone calls from angry parents this week. She urged them to be patient.

``The rumors are flying, and most of them assume that a decision has been made and that it's going to hurt their kids. The bottom line is that no decisions have been made, and everything is going to be looked at very carefully.''

Castaic High School is scheduled to open in 2010 on the NorthLake site of a 4,000-home SunCal development.

connie.llanos(at)dailynews.com

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