1999 The year in review

Bond measure tops district's year

By STACI HAIGHT
Valley Press Staff Writer

It was patience that brought them a new gym after a 50-year wait. It also was patience that won the district voter approval of a much-needed bond measure.

The year of accomplishment started for the Valley's second largest elementary school district in early February when district and city officials gathered for a momentous occasion - the groundbreaking ceremony for the Richard T. White Gymnasium at Park View Intermediate School.

Since Park View was built in 1949, the school's students had been attending physical education classes outside on warm days or in classrooms or the cafeteria on colder days.

New Vista Middle School students tested their patience when they committed themselves to reading 17,828 books, which earned the school 150 accelerated reading points. To acknowledge their accomplishment, NBC, Channel 4, meteorologist Christopher Nance, who forecasts the weather for "Today in L.A." and "Mid-Day News," visited the campus on Feb. 8.

District officials and voters anxiously await the results of a March bond election, when poll results showed a 77% victory for the proposed $28.1 million bond issue. The bond money will be combined with $32 million in state funds to build two new schools, modernize seven existing campuses and turn two 10-year-old temporary sites into permanent schools.

Although district officials had their share of good news this year, they didn't escape the year without some troubling news.

In April, the district was sued by the family of Antonio Salas. The lawsuit claimed that in 1998, the 10-year-old Linda Verde Elementary School fourth-grader complained to his teacher that he was having an asthma attack and asked to see the school nurse. The teacher, according to a lawsuit, told the boy to go back to his desk.

Later that night, the boy was rushed from his home to a hospital emergency room because of breathing difficulties. He spent several days in the hospital, the family's attorney, Marc Herbert, said.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the boy and his mother, Linda Salas, names teacher David Nishimoto, Principal Raul Maldonado and the Lancaster School District. The suit, which is still pending in the court system, is asking for unnamed damages.

In June, Lancaster School District officials joined city representatives and other members of the Valley community for another groundbreaking, this time for Amargosa Creek Middle School.

Superintendent Stephen Gocke called the event "a great moment," because it demonstrated the increased partnership between the district and the city.

Previously, the two entities worked together to build the Park View gymnasium. That partnership will continue when Amargosa Creek Middle School opens.

Gyms at both the schools will be used by the city's parks and recreation division for team sports.

"It's been a banner year for the Lancaster School District and a special time," Gocke said. "This is the best moment of my life to see this school be built from the ground up - all because of team Lancaster."

In September, Lancaster officials learned that a $1.3 million state grant will make preschool programs possible at all of its 16 schools.

Until now, Sunnydale and Mariposa elementaries were the only Lancaster schools with preschool programs, serving the 3- and 4-year-olds living in adjacent neighborhoods.

Mariposa Elementary began its preschool program in July, with more than 600 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Mariposa Principal Sheldon Epstein, who has watched the program grow, said he believes the new preschools will be similar to
his school's program.

In November, Lancaster district voters went to the polls again, this time to fill board of trustee seats.

Political newcomer and former Mariposa Elementary School Principal John Miller garnered the most votes for the first trustee slot. Incumbent and then-board president Mel Kleven garnered the second-highest vote count, earning him the second seat.

Also in November, a structure of steel and cinderblock on a dirt lot near 27th Street West and Avenue J began to take shape, for the district's newest middle school, Amargosa Creek, which is scheduled to open in fall 2000 with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students.

On Nov. 19, after a half-century's wait, district officials and city and community representatives opened the $1.8 million Richard. T. White Sports and Recreation Center at Park View Elementary School.

After the celebration, faculty members from the district took part in an exhibition basketball game against city dignitaries.

Uploaded December 30, 1999