District OKs Starting High School

The Soledad-Agua Dulce Union School District has decided to start its own high school program this fall by creating ninth-grade classes instead of busing students to Palmdale, rejecting advice from county education officials that the little district doesn’t have enough money for such an action.

The 3-2 decision by the district’s school board late Thursday was in line with the wishes of Acton and Agua Dulce residents who voted 3 to 1 last November to have their elementary school district expand into secondary education.

But officials of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, citing the district’s precarious financial condition, had urged a year’s delay and the continued busing of its high school students this fall to Antelope Valley Union High School District campuses in Palmdale.

“I think we need to keep the children here and I believe that is the best solution,” said school board member Laurie Browning. She was joined by board members Joyce Field and Rebecca Small in favoring the plan. Board members Nancy Kelso and Brian Sherwood voted against it.

Now, the Soledad district’s 150 ninth-graders are due to attend its middle school in Acton this fall, but 10th- through 12th-graders will continue to go to the Antelope Valley. The Soledad district does not yet have a high school campus of its own.

The school board’s decision sets the stage for a range of potential upheavals. First, the Soledad district’s teachers, who argued that there was not enough time to properly prepare for ninth-grade classes this fall, are in a contract dispute with the district.

Second, many of the Soledad district’s future ninth-graders, looking forward to the broader athletic, academic and social opportunities that the larger high school district offers, say they want to go there. And many may seek transfers out of the Soledad district’s program.

And county education officials said they expect to decide during the coming week how to respond to the district’s decision. If the county concludes that creating local ninth-grade classes could imperil the district’s finances, the county has the legal authority to intervene and effectively reverse the decision.

The move to a local ninth grade was more popular among Acton and Agua Dulce parents, with many complaining their high school children faced long bus rides to the Antelope Valley district’s campuses in Palmdale, where they were confronted by gang violence and other disruptions.

District estimates show the Soledad district is likely to run a deficit on the expense of educating its high school students next year, whether the ninth grade remains at home or the district pays the larger Antelope Valley district to take them. But county education officials contend that starting the local ninth grade will pose an even greater financial burden.