From Vanguard News October 2, 1991
To the Editor:
The Antelope Valley Union High School District [A.V.U.H.S.D.] is beginning to become concerned about the progress that the Acton/Agua Dulce High School Formation Committee is making in its efforts to unify the Soledad-Agua Dulce Union School District.
Unification of the district would mean the establishment of a local high school for our children.
A.V.U.H.S.D.'s superintendent, Kenneth Brummel, has voiced his oppositions to the [unification] plan, claiming that it will stifle the education of both Acton/Agua Dulce students, as well as students remaining in his own district. In reality, he may be concerned about the impact that it will have on the Antelope Valley's own master plan for unification, which would form several kindergarten-through-12th- grade districts, for that rapidly growing urban area.
Brummel may also fear the Soledad unification effort will impact his plans to establish year-round sessions at Highland High School. With the slump in new home sales causing a slowing of the construction of three large housing tracts on Palmdale's west side, the A.V. district needs Acton/Agua Dulce students to qualify for state incentives, which the year-round schedule provides. Un
ly, there is no guarantee that it won't be advantageous to send our children to Littlerock High School, when the housing market breaks out of its slump.
While A.V.U.H.S.D. voices concern over the future education of their rural neighbors to the south, we suspect their real concern is how it will be able to afford to build more schools, in the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster, if they lose the valuable Acton/Agua Dulce tax base. A.V.U.H.S.D. school board president, Wilde Andrejcik, has estimated that more than $1.4 million in state funds are annually provided to the district by Acton/Agua Dulce taxpayers.
Unification of the Soledad-Agua Dulce school district is a pivotal move in protecting the unique rural lifestyle of the area. The unification plan of the Acton/Agua Dulce High School Formation Committee has been five years in the making. The effort has the support of the thousands of residents who signed their names to a petition that could put the issue on the ballot in June of 1992. A site has been donated for the proposed high school and the state has agreed that the parcel is in an appropriate location and of reasonable size.
The Los Angeles Board of Education will be holding a hearing in October to allow residents of the affected districts to voice their opinions and concerns.
Nancy Smith Acton/Agua High School Formation Committee
Pub Note - No rational person in the Acton-Aqua Dulce schools can oppose a locally controlled high school. We have had a locally controlled elementary school (1-8) since the 1880's. The hometown schools were first built by donations to serve the children of residents. In the early days in rural areas high schools were optional.
The Antelope Valley High School District needs our money and our students to support their urban education systems. Our schools provide a higher caliber of students, raising the grade averages in their districts. We have considerably more tax base per student and because of our larger homes and lower average child-per-home ratio, our state mandated fees far more than for the urban A.V. district.
The scary thing is that the Antelope Valley wants to unify our K-8 schools with some Palmdale schools, which would kill our own school district (just as L.A. screwed up its schools).
Let's bring this problem to the Acton Town Council to add a broader support for the project. We would also like to hear from the incumbent members and candidates for the Soledad-Agua Dulce School Board on the question of unification.
Unification Index
Acton Agua Dulce School District
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