The meeting began with a special recognition of Doris Fossen of Sierra Vista Junior High School as American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences California Teacher of the Year.

Update On Castaic High School

Hart District Superintendent Vicki Engbrecht referred to Castaic High School as the district’s, “biggest project.”

Project Manager for Romero Canyon LLC, Randy Wrage, spoke on the current progress that is underway at the Castaic High School site.

An access road to the Castaic High School site is in place and has allowed Romero Canyon LLC to conduct site grading.

“Instead of people talking about Castaic High School, Castaic High School is being built,” Wrage said. “Things happen quite quickly at this point.”

So far, approximately 150 acres have been graded and 7.7 million cubic yards of dirt has been removed.

When the project is completed, the site will contain several basins or ponds that will collect water run-off so residents who live below the site will not be affected by flooding in the event of heavy rains.

In the next four to five weeks, the ponds will be prepared to collect water run-off during the construction process, according to Wrage.

Wrage said the site currently drains “pretty well.”

Review Of Threat Assessment Teams And Protocol

Fire and earthquake drills have allowed schools to prepare their students, faculty and staff in the event of an emergency.

Hart District Director of Student Services, Kathy Hunter, spoke about the implementation of drills that would prepare schools to properly react in the event of an active shooter on school grounds.

Related story: Hart School District Governing Board Approves Shade Structures, Track Resurfacing, New Textbooks

“The idea of going through drills over and over is that it creates muscle memory, so if something really did happen, (students, faculty and staff) would know how to react and how to respond at that time,” Hunter said.

2015 will be the first year that requires schools in the Hart District to implement active shooter drills.

In the history of the United States, a total of 352 school shootings have occurred and 150 have occurred since 2013, according to Hunter.

In 2015 alone, there have been a total of 52 school shootings across the United States, Hunter said.

The Hart District enlisted the services of Vice President for the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Patrick Prince, as their leading expert.

Prince brought a team of professionals to meet with the Hart District’s Risk Management Team.

Together, they went out to schools within the district to find weaknesses in the event of an on-campus shooting and how to address those weaknesses to make campuses more secure.

Prince informed the district that there is currently no profile for an active shooter.

In the past, shooters have differed in gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds.

School principals within the Hart District, local law enforcement officials, mental health professionals and Prince’s threat assessment team have created a coalition to educate faculty and staff in the event of an on-campus shooter.

The result was a book of guidelines as thick as a dictionary, a majority of which came directly from the U.S. Secret Service, Hunter said.

In their findings with Prince and his team, the Hart District, along with local law enforcement officials, have decided to implement two drills every year that deal directly with an active shooter threat.

“Students will be told that this is a high alert lockdown drill,” Hunter said. “At that time the teachers are instructed over the P.A. by the principle that they need to lock the door, turn off the lights, shut all the blinds and that everyone needs to get into a secure position.”

In the past, active shooters have had only one similarity. Prior to the shooting, the perpetrator told someone of what they planned to do or posted their intentions online, according to Hunter.

In response, the Hart District has a program called text-a-tip which allows students to confidentially report any type of threat.

Shade Structures Approved At Multiple Schools

The Hart School District governing board also approved the installation of shade structures for Arroyo Seco Junior High, Bowman High, Canyon High, La Mesa Junior High, Placerita Junior High and Sequoia Schools.

The proposed scopes of work are:

• Arroyo Seco Junior High School: One 25’ x 30’ multi-layered peak structure by the cafeteria and four 14’ single post structures at the outdoor amphitheater.
• Bowman High School: Four 14’ single post structures at main quad.
• Canyon High School:  One 20’ x 30’ multi-layered peak structure by the student store and two 14’ single post structures at the entrance to the home side grandstands.
• La Mesa Junior High School:  One 25’ x 30’ multi-layered peak structure by the administration building and two 14’ single post structures at the main quad.
• Placerita Junior High School:  One 40’ diameter hexagon peak roof structure nearby the cafeteria.
• Sequoia School:  Three 14’ single post structures at the interior of the campus.

The Governing Board approved the district-wide Shade Structure program to Shade Structures, Inc. on July 22, 2015.  The program is divided into three phases:

Phase I:  Golden Valley High School and West Ranch High School are now at Division of the State Architect (DSA) for approval.

Phase II: Sierra Vista Junior High School and Saugus High School are now DSA approved.

Phase III:  Arroyo Seco Junior High School, Placerita Junior High School, Bowman High School, Canyon High School, La Mesa Junior High School and Sequoia School submitted here for approval.

District staff has completed planning for the three phases and provided a financial summary of the program.

The Shade Structure program was initially anticipated to be over the original $1,000,000 donation, primarily due to the scopes of work for Golden Valley High School and West Ranch High School, according to Wednesday’s agenda.

The Governing Board had approved the scopes of work for these two sites on July 22, 2015, which included 14 shade structures for Golden Valley High School and 15 shade structures for West Ranch High School.

The Golden Valley High School and West Ranch High School projects were recently submitted to the Division of the State Architect, or DSA.

The projects were denied submittal for over the counter approval due to the number of structures per site. DSA had recently changed their ruling on the number of shade structures allowed for over the counter approval to five structures per site, per project, requiring a full review be done for Golden Valley High School and West Ranch High School, according to Wednesday’s agenda.

District staff will de-scope the projects at Golden Valley High School and West Ranch High School to five shade structures each in order to qualify for over the counter approval at DSA.

In reducing the scopes of work for Golden Valley High School and West Ranch High School, the program is within the $1,000,000 donation, according to Wednesday’s agenda. The proposals for all shade structures, including soft costs in support of construction, is $998,899.13. The soft costs are currently projected costs; the total construction cost will vary as the actual costs are defined.