By The Signal Editorial Board
There’s a disconnect between the Saugus Union School District and the community it is supposed to serve.
That disconnect has manifested itself in a couple of key areas over the past several years. It makes the announcement from Superintendent Colleen Hawkins that she is retiring next year a moment of relief, and opportunity: Perhaps the district’s next leader can right the ship.
Maybe most distressing — at least to the parents, teachers, staff and students of the Saugus district’s 15 schools — is the district’s inability to solve a litany of behavior issues and the district’s seemingly rudderless approach to solving them.
Teachers and parents alike have repeatedly gone to the school board telling tales, sometimes tearfully, of students who misbehave and act out in abusive ways toward their teachers and classmates, with no consequences and no resolution to the problem.
As government often does, the Saugus district’s leaders tackled the problem by forming a committee to study it. Ad nauseam. And actually doing … well, not much about the actual problem.
Then there’s the former site of Santa Clarita Elementary School.
We don’t doubt that the district is following the letter of the law when it comes to deciding what to do with the former school, which was shuttered in 2024 because the cost of retrofitting the aging campus to current seismic standards did not pencil out.
There’s a state-mandated process to it. A state-required committee was formed and public meetings were held. Through that process, the community has made clear that residential development — especially high-density residential development — would be an undesirable outcome.
The property really should be used for a tangible public benefit, and the city of Santa Clarita has expressed interest in acquiring the property to do just that.
And yet.
There’s this “vibe” coming from the district. Maybe it’s unintentional, but city leaders seem clearly frustrated that they feel they are getting the cold shoulder from the district. It sure looks like that’s what’s happening.
And then, this week, the district board had a closed session meeting to discuss proposed price and terms with, you guessed it, a residential developer.
The district is required by law to listen to such offers. We get that. But why is the residential developer’s proposal being presented to the board at the same time the city’s proposal to use the property for a beneficial public use being slow-rolled?
Why is the developer at the front of the line and the city — which, again, wants to use the property for something that would benefit the entire Saugus community — seems to be reduced for begging for the district’s proper focus?
This week’s meeting itself was not a “surprise,” per se. It had been on the board’s calendar for over a month — minus the fact that it involved a residential developer. Then, when the agenda was posted shortly before the closed session — meeting all legal requirements, of course — it was done quietly and without notification or communication to the local press.
They certainly didn’t get out in front of it, to use PR lingo.
The quiet way this item was included on the board agenda, coupled with the cold shoulder to the city, doesn’t exactly create an environment conducive to trust.
And that, in a nutshell, is the problem: The community doesn’t seem to trust the Saugus Union School District’s leadership.
Truth be told, we don’t, either. This is just another chapter in Colleen Hawkins’ legacy of non-transparency.
There’s enough smoke there to wonder where the fire is.
Change is needed. Urgently. We hope the Saugus district doesn’t follow the example of College of the Canyons, which is now on track to find a new superintendent a full two years after the ouster of former Chancellor Dianne Van Hook.
The Saugus district needs to get on the stick and start searching for a new leader now. One who will bring transparency to the district, one who will listen to teachers, parents, and the community at large, and put real solutions into action rather than merely making sure the letter of the law is being followed. That, clearly, is not enough.
Change is coming to the Saugus school district. We can only hope it’s for the better.
It would almost have to be.
