No Need to Bus Saugus Kids to Canyon Country

* I object to the William S. Hart High School District’s intention to separate the community of Saugus and send our children out of Saugus and into Canyon Country to attend junior high school.

The district proposes to take the children from Bouquet Canyon and Emblem elementary schools and send them 10 miles away to Canyon Country, even though Arroyo Seco Junior High, where they are supposed to go, is only a couple miles away. Ten miles is a long way to drive in the event of another earthquake or a flood, fire, illness or other emergency.

Saugus and Canyon Country both have their distinctive characteristics. There are rivalries between both high schools--the positive being academic and athletic and the negative being location and gang rivalries. Our schoolchildren live one mile from Saugus High School, yet when they reach high school age, they would be bused over the hill to Canyon Country.

There is absolutely no reason to wait until 1998 to build more schools, as the district intends to do. The Santa Clarita Valley is growing at a rapid rate, and the need for new schools is here.

There is no reason to send our children to school in Canyon Country when trailers can be set up at Arroyo Seco to accommodate the additional students, or class size can be increased until the new Saugus schools are built.

KEN WILCOX

Saugus