District to Try Campus Caretakers to Combat Off-Hours Vandalism : Crime: A pilot program is being started at Littlerock High. If successful, five schools may get on-site tenants.

Caretakers may be hired to live on high school campuses in the Antelope Valley as part of an effort to reduce after-hours vandalism plaguing the campuses.

The state Education Code allows for schools to establish a residence on site for security purposes. Although there are districts that have the permanent caretakers, it is a relatively uncommon approach, according to the state Department of Education.

A pilot caretaker program is being established at the Antelope Valley Union High School District’s most remote campus, Littlerock High School, and if it proves successful all five of the district’s regular high schools may have on-site tenants.

Supt. Robert Girolamo said the district fears its campuses, left unattended, would become playgrounds for vandals.

The district’s campuses have suffered increasing incidents of vandalism--ranging from small amounts of graffiti to broken windows to break-ins resulting in thousands of dollars in losses--over the past year. District officials were unable Friday to provide an accounting of the losses, but administrators and principals agreed the destruction has definitely risen.

“It’s escalated a great deal just since the first of the year,” said Jan Medema, the district’s risk management director. She said the district receives damage reports from at least one of the schools almost daily.

Earlier this year, one high school had $18,000 worth of physical education equipment stolen in a single incident.

Officials say the schools, like the communities in which they are located, are experiencing more vandalism for reasons no one has clearly identified. But they also say the loss of after-hours security at the campuses has played a role.

Budget cuts to help overcome a $14-million deficit last year forced the high school district to drop its outside security service, which provided uniformed patrols at the campuses in the evenings and on weekends.

Security was recently resumed at Palmdale High School after a rash of break-ins. Palmdale High School Principal Mikey Bowman said she is anxious for the caretaker program to prove itself so she can institute it at the campus she oversees.

The tight budget has meant that broken windows on the campus are boarded up with wood rather than more expensive glass, according to Bowman.

Bowman, who said her school has suffered thousands of dollars in losses because of vandals, is confident that if there was a full-time presence on the campuses, vandals would be less likely to cause problems.

More than just providing a presence, the school district will ask its caretakers to report to the Sheriff’s Department any illegal or suspicious activity. The campus resident would be prohibited from using or carrying a gun on the site and would also have to abstain from smoking and drinking alcohol while on school grounds.

“I really envision a retired couple living on our campus,” said board President Steve Landaker, who believes the caretakers can provide the same level of service at a lower cost than the uniformed security guards, which cost about $300,000 annually.

Littlerock High School Principal Jeff Foster said he requested that his school be the first to have a caretaker since it is in the most rural area of the district’s campuses. “We’re in a vulnerable position,” he said.

The school also has utility hookups available that could easily accommodate a mobile home for a caretaker without a lot of expense to the district, Foster said.

The eastside high school campus frequently is painted by graffiti vandals or, less often, a window is broken or the school is broken into, Foster said.

“Schools are an inviting target,” district engineer Rich Aitken said. “Kids are familiar with the schools.”

Foster said the residential caretaker allows for a cost-effective approach to crime abatement.

High school district trustees agreed this week to a plan that calls for a caretaker to live rent-free on a school site in exchange for providing surveillance. The resident caretaker would provide the mobile home and the district would pay for utilities.

Aitken said Littlerock High School may have its caretaker in place later this summer. The program’s effectiveness would be tracked for a few months before a final decision is made on adding residents at other campuses.