Advertisement

Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Plans to Open School in Jail on Hold : Education: Officials hope to turn shutdown county facility into a ‘last chance’ campus for expelled students.

Share
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Only a month ago, school officials proudly announced that errant students would be sent to jail--the shutdown Mira Loma county jail, where the visiting area was to be turned into a “last chance” school for expelled students.

But plans for the proposed school are now on hold because of a dispute over how long the Antelope Valley Union High School District will be able to use the facility.

The jail, closed in 1993 because of county budget problems, has been offered rent-free to the district by the Board of Supervisors. But a recent inspection found that an estimated $25,000 would be needed for paint, carpet and other items to convert it into a classroom, according to board member Bill Olenick.

Advertisement

Because the agreement for the district’s use of the jail is for an unspecified length of time, district officials are nervous about spending the money. “We want assurances that we are not going to lay out $25,000 and then not be able to utilize the facility,” Olenick said. “Who knows, they could revitalize it next week.”

Olenick said the proposed “last chance” school might open at a different, less satisfactory location. But first choice is the jail, which he feels would send a message to the wayward students.

“I like the aesthetics of that place,” he said. “There’s lots of office space around town, but it doesn’t have the character of that place.”

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Robert Spierer, supervisor of the northern county’s jail facilities, said the state’s new “three strikes, you’re out” law may increase the county’s inmate population and create a need for the 1,900-inmate capacity jail. But he said the department doesn’t have enough deputies to staff the facility.

“We don’t expect to use it for a while and we may never use it,” he said. “But we don’t know what the impact of the ‘three strikes’ legislation is going to be.”

Olenick said he hopes the “last chance” school will become a permanent district facility. Even if the district could get just a one-year commitment, he said, the investment would be worthwhile.

Advertisement

“A year is good,” he said. “Five years is better, but one is a step in the right direction.”

The school was originally to open in February. Now the school district board is not scheduled to even discuss the project until its Feb. 15 meeting. If board members do go ahead with the Mira Loma site, renovations and repairs would take an additional two months, Olenick said.

Advertisement