Petition Sparks New Debate over Hasley Schools — The West Ranch Beacon

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DID YOU KNOW that 1,600 Castaic students are currently enrolled this fall at Hart District schools throughout our valley? Did you know that 893 of these Castaic students attend West Ranch HS? Just check out the traffic pictured on Valencia Blvd. in West Ranch. Did you know that the Castaic High School project is now delayed beyond 2014, by which time nearly 2,000 Castaic students will commute to our high schools according to recent district projections? Did you know that Castaic would likely have a high school today if not for fierce opposition from a small group of Hasley Canyon residents?

In 2002, when the Hart District recommended its first choice of a viable site for the high school in Hasley/Sloan Canyon, an outcry from a very small but well organized group of Hasley residents was enough to stop the project.

In fact, aided by legal representation, these same folks have successfully fought off several school projects: first an elementary school, then the high school, and now a small private school with fewer than 40 students—Monticello Preparatory School.

The group’s anti-school stance, however, is not shared among most residents in Hasley Canyon and Castaic, who desperately want a high school in the Castaic area. And ask parents who deal with the schoolhouse rush up and down
Valencia Boulevard how they feel about our overcrowded schools.

But forget the common good. Forget fair play.

Despite the overwhelming desire of the many, we find ourselves today in a situation that favors the few. Communities such as Westridge and Valencia are saddled with the responsibility of educating Castaic youth and the burden of extra traffic, pollution, and noise, which the Hasley organizers blocked from their own neighborhood.

“Enough!” say parents of Monticello students after Los Angeles County recently reneged on its approval of the school opening to appease the small band of vocal residents.

Monticello parents are now reopening the school controversy by gathering signatures on a petition. The petition is clear: “Tell the L.A. County Supervisors that we do not want a small group of loud constituents running roughshod over our community.” Hundreds of Santa Clarita residents from neighborhoods across the valley are signing it. Petitioners have mobilized in front of grocery stores and neighborhood streets. Supporters can access the online version of the petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/hasleyschool/index.html.

Submitted by Lynnea Clark

Comments

4 · as published

October 7, 2008 - Daily Brief at SCVTalk.com
October 7, 2008 - Daily Brief at SCVTalk.com Says: October 7th, 2008 at 8:23 am [...] I have to admire how aggressive the people who want to build a private school in Hasley Canyon are. They’re now tying the debate about their school into the lack of a high school in Castaic, and blaming it all on “anti-school” Hasley Canyon homeowners. WRB [...]
mike
mike Says: October 7th, 2008 at 8:46 am This is absurd. It is one thing to support a Castaic High School, yet another to support a fly-by-night private school that wants to set up shop in a house and substantially add traffic to what might be the most dangerous stretch of road in the valley. Don’t believe me? Take a drive out there, carefully) and count the many roadside memorials in the mile leading up to the school. Is the school willing to pay for the widening of the road? It doesn’t sound like it. These people didn’t even have the courtesy to let their neighbors know what they were doing. They removed trees on an adjacent property, telling the property owner that he tree was diseased, but in fact the removal was necessary for the project to proceed as envisioned. They didn’t even tell the land owner that they were setting up a school. This is a cyncial tie-in and a school of this scope will have a negligible impact on school overcrowding. As far as I can tell, the entire community out there is opposed to this project, not just a few loud NIMBYs. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the prior location for the school wasn’t actually defeated, but the district shifted its attention to the Northlake property, which on paper, was far more attractive.
Skarphedinn
Skarphedinn Says: October 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am Many Hasley Canyon residents favor Monticello Prep School and have signed the petition. One resident, who does not have children at the school, stated in a written communication, “This is a different situation than the High School. [Monticello] is a good fit for the canyon. It will enhance our neighborhood.” Regarding the high school debate, the reason the district shifted its attention to the Northlake property was indeed because of the outcry of the same very small group of locals. As reported in the Signal, the Santa Clarita Valley Facilities Foundation purchased the controversial Hasley/Sloan Canyon site with the intent of building a high school for Castaic students. “However, after boisterous opposition from a handful of residents living in the vicinity, the idea was scrapped and the William S. Hart Union High School District looked to the NorthLake territory as the future site for the Castaic high school.” “Foundation Turns to Outside Help for Hasley Development,” Signal, May 30, 2007 http://oldsite.the-signal.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=48736&format=html
I. Quint
I. Quint Says: October 9th, 2008 at 2:43 pm I would like to correct two statements made in Mike’s response to the article. First, the tree that was removed from the property was done so at the behest of the Forestry Department. It was entirely hollow and ready to collapse. The Forestry Department deemed the tree a hazard and mandated its removal. Second, the reason the Hart District decided to focus on the Northlake site for the high school had nothing to do with Northlake being a more “attractive” property. The fact is that uproar among local residents is what caused the district to abandon its consideration of the Hasley/Sloan site. This claim is supported in a statement from Hart District Superintendent Jaime Castellanos: “The community needs to understand that the Hasley/Sloan property, those 70 acres that our facilities foundation owns, that was originally the site for the high school … but there was a lot of outcry from that surrounding Castaic community against the site. They came to our board meetings and said they wanted it moved. And then we also had, I believe, Millie Brown, who was a representative of Supervisor Antonovich’s office, that also attended a board meeting and read a statement from the supervisor’s office, asking us to be good neighbors and look for another site. … So, to say a school could have been built by now – probably so. . . there was a site purchased and ready to go, but because of pressure from the community around Castaic where the school was going to be built and a request from the supervisor’s office to move it, it was moved elsewhere.” “How Long Does Castaic Have To Wait: Jaime Castellanos Q&A,” The Signal, September 27, 2007.