At what point do you as a parent and a tax payer say enough is enough? At what point do you stand up and say; “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” as Peter Finch did in the movie Network. Honestly, at what point do you actually take the time to go to a community meeting and truly get involved?

I would hope that it would be when the safety and well being of your children is at stake because that time has come. The Hart School Board has screwed around with building a Castaic High School for nearly a decade and is currently looking at sites that have some serious concerns.

Now, you may be wondering why a parent from West Ranch is concerned about a new high school in Castaic. It is quite simple; the West Ranch High School is currently overcrowded and creating traffic difficulties in West Ranch because there is no high school in Castaic. That is neither fair to the students or parents from Castaic and West Ranch.

We, the taxpayers in the Hart School District, dutifully approved a $190 Million dollar bond issue under Measure V for a Castaic High School in 2001. Then in 2008 voters were urged to approve another $300 Million under bond Measure SA. Those funds were supposed to be used in part to get a new high school built in Castaic.

That’s a total of $490 Million; nearly half a BILLION dollars. Realize too, that there is state education funds added on top of that dollar amount. Yet, Castaic still doesn’t have a high school and about $45 Million dollars is apparently unaccounted for from Measure V!

The Hart School Board is now looking at the Hasley-Sloan property again! This was a site that was rejected already and yet the school district is looking at it again. This after it failed in an attempt to site the proposed new high school on the Sterling-Gateway property in the Valencia Commerce Center; an industrial complex!

Last fall the Hart School District looked at three separate sites; Sterling-Gateway, Hasley-Sloan, and the Romero Canyon properties. So let’s just quickly review these properties:

• The Sterling-Gateway property:

1. The Hart School Board selected this property even though the District knew of a deed restriction that prohibits a school from being built at that location.
2. If the deed restriction for a school was lifted or relaxed there would most likely be litigation which could delay the proposed school for years.
3. It is located in an industrial area which begs the questions; what types of chemicals are being used in the vicinity of that proposed site; how much of those chemicals are stored in the area; what are the health concerns of placing a school in an industrial center?

Would you want your child at this site?

• The Hasley-Sloan property:

1. This property was examined previously and rejected!
2. There have been questions raised as to whether there are soil “liquefaction” issues with this site. “Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake shaking and have been responsible for tremendous amounts of damage in historical earthquakes around the world.” The State Geology Map clearly shows Liquefaction/collapsible soils for this site.
3. It currently only has one entry point which will require an access bridge to built and a number of experts have apparently claimed it is cost prohibitive to create a second entry which is required for a school site
4. A flood control channel must be built which will require permits from the L.A. County Flood Control, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the California Department of Fish and Game. All of which could take as long as 5 years to get those permits.
5. There is apparently no water or sanitation “will serve” letters on this property and no tentative track map.
6. And there is a plant called the Beavertail Cactus which appears to be on the endangered species watch list and will require some kind of mitigation.
7. It has apparently been owned by the Facilities Foundation since 2003.

Would you want your child at this site?

• The Romero Canyon Property:

1. The site has an initial approval as a high school site from the state Dept. of Education;
2. The parcel is in the path of future development (meaning homes are currently not there, but will be);
3. The parcel is large enough to house a high school as well as other administrative buildings;
4. The high school will finish the community’s road circulation plans; and
5. Most of the permits have been approved or are ready to pull making the Romero Canyon site the one location that can come on line the quickest for this under served community.
6. The property owner is willing to grade the site.

It does not take a PhD. to discern rather quickly which property makes sense to select of these three. And yet, according to news reports, the Hart District is spending public funds on traffic studies and other reports for sites that have serious financial and safety issues which may ultimately preclude them from being viable.

It appears that the Hart School Board does not seem to be able to be that agile in its decision making process.

But wait, there is more!

There is the Santa Clarita Valley Facilities Foundation that is part of this process. According to the foundations 2008 Annual Report: “The Santa Clarita Valley Facilities Foundation is a non-profit public benefit corporation founded to provide assistance to the William S. Hart Union High School District in locating, acquiring and developing new school sites.”

“Founded to provide assistance to the William S. Hart Union High School District in locating, acquiring and developing new school sites?”

The Facilities Foundation Board is not elected so who are they accountable to? Are there any conflicts of interest that the public should be aware of with the board members and the mission of the foundation? Shouldn’t school site selection be handled by the elected Hart School Board and not by a third party?

Even more concerning is that Santa Clarita Valley Facilities Foundation actually purchases parcels of land for school sites and then sells them to the school district. They have apparently owned the Hasley-Sloan property since 2003 which is being pushed hard to be the site of a new Castaic HS.

It just seems odd to have a middleman buying a piece of property for a school site then selling it to the school district. Why wouldn’t the school district just buy the property for the school site? It does not make sense unless someone is making money on the deal!!

So let’s just stop here for a moment and look at it this way. The Sterling-Gateway and Hasley Sloan properties have an awful lot of baggage attached to them and it could be upwards of 5 or 6 years before there is any movement on those properties. Let’s not forget that there is the danger of possible “liquefaction” at the Hasley-Sloan site and the Sterling-Gateway property is in an industrial complex which might have health and safety concerns.

The Romero Canyon site appears to be the most viable site of the three and the one that could actually see construction begin the quickest. That would mean that a Castaic High School could be built and opened within the 5 years it would take the other sites to even get permitted!

Let me ask you again; do you care about your children? Because based on the shenanigans with the Hart District School Board over getting a Castaic High School built it is becoming very evident that they don’t care about the safety and well being of our children.

Nearly 10 years, close to a half billion dollars and still no Castaic High School; it’s shameful. At what point do parents and taxpayers say enough is enough?

Dave Bossert-Commentary

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.