‘Summit’ on Santa Clarita Schools Disintegrates

A second education “summit” to address classroom crowding in the Santa Clarita Valley came to an abrupt halt Wednesday, leaving school officials and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich accusing each other of lacking leadership.

By the time the meeting was over--roughly 15 minutes after it began--Antonovich, school officials and developers were frustrated and angry.

“You guys have the problem. I’m just trying to resolve it,” Antonovich told builders and school officials.

“We had better things to do this morning,” said Pat Willett, a trustee of the Newhall School District.

Wednesday’s gathering was a follow-up to a Feb. 8 meeting, organized by Antonovich, that included school superintendents, developers and state education officials. The aim, Antonovich said, was to air possible solutions to classroom crowding in the fast-growing valley.

School districts and developers in the Santa Clarita Valley--and across the state--have been at odds for months over how much developers should pay to build schools. The crisis has prompted a variety of bills in the Legislature that would raise money for school construction.

At the Feb. 8 meeting, Antonovich asked the developers and school officials to meet and decide which bills they--and the county--should support. A united front of builders, school districts and county officials would carry more weight in Sacramento, he said.

But when Antonovich asked the builders and school officials for the results of their meeting Wednesday, they looked back at him in confusion.

“If it happened, Mike, it was a well-kept secret,” said Scott Brown, superintendent of the Castaic Union School District.

“I don’t think there was a meeting,” said Gary Cusumano, chief operating officer of the Newhall Land & Farming Co., the area’s largest developer.

Builders and school officials said they had not understood Antonovich’s request. Each side had considered the legislative issues separately, but not together. Antonovich, obviously baffled by the news, chastised the builders and school districts.

“I’m disappointed that the two groups did not get together,” he said. The two sides were supposed to devise a funding strategy the county could support, Antonovich said.

“I was hoping that the leadership would come from here,” he said, referring to the superintendents, trustees and developers who had gathered in a meeting room at the county Hall of Administration.

The developers and school officials agreed to meet next Wednesday and present Antonovich with a list of recommendations next Friday.

But school officials also said the meetings were a waste of time because Antonovich, rather than trying to solve the school crowding crisis at the county level, was trying to direct all efforts towards Sacramento.

“If what we’re supposed to do is go meet with developers and solve our problems, we don’t need him,” said Newhall School District Superintendent J. Michael McGrath. The county contributes to school crowding by approving developments and should move to solve the problem, he said.

“He’s abdicating the responsibility the county should take,” McGrath said.

For more than a year, the five Santa Clarita Valley school districts have unsuccessfully lobbied the Board of Supervisors to reject developments which they insist will overburden their school systems. The supervisors say state law prevents them from denying development proposals just because they might adversely affect schools.

As Antonovich left the meeting room, he was challenged by Willett, who said he--not the school districts--was showing a lack of leadership.

“I’m concerned about the productivity of coming down here to be told ‘Solve your problems,’ ” Willett said.

Antonovich said he was trying to help the schools and added that state law clearly makes schools a state, and not local, responsibility.