The Signal's Top 10 Stories of 2022

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Fentanyl and its dangers

New information regarding teen’s fentanyl overdose caps year of woes

By Trevor Morgan Signal Staff Writer

Deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station did everything they could to save 17-year-old Alyssa Dies’ life after she overdosed on a single fentanyl-laced Percocet pill in Central Park on July 23 – including administering two doses of Narcan. But it wasn’t enough, and she died at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital a few hours later.

Earlier in the day, Dies had met with two friends to go see a movie before going to Concerts in the Park that evening, according to court documents recently acquired by The Signal. It was here that Dies and her friend would decide to split the single pill, possessed by Dies – one they both apparently knew was “counterfeit and believed to contain an amount of fentanyl.”

Not long after Dies had taken the pill, she fell unconscious onto the grass and never woke up.

When deputies were performing CPR and delivering Narcan to Dies, they were able to get a pulse at one point, but it still wasn’t enough to fully resuscitate her – even after she had been transported to the hospital.

Dies became one of at least 30 people who died from a fentanyl overdose in Santa Clarita during the past year since the city started counting in March, double the amount who died in 2021. While countywide statistics for this year are not yet available, 2,741 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2021 – which was a 31% increase from 2020.

Fentanyl has become one of the most dominant news topics within the SCV during the past year – whether it’s been fentanyl-related arrests, overdoses, deaths or awareness. For local first responders, encounters with fentanyl have become an almost daily occurrence, including one in early December in which half a dozen overdoses occurred within a 24-hour span – five of which happened in the same place at the same time. Three people were detained in connection with that incident.

The sixth occurred just three-tenths of a mile from where the first five took place and took the life of 35-year-old Saugus resident Brandon Shubunka.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the age group affected most by fentanyl overdose death has been ages 26 to 39 (1,546), followed by ages 40 to 64 (1,267) and then ages 18 to 25 (669).

However, this does not mean that adolescents haven’t been affected. Following an incident at Bernstein High School in Hollywood earlier this year, the Health Department went on an awareness campaign to combat the prevalence in youth overdose deaths attributed to fentanyl.

“Nationwide, there has been a growing trend of illicit drugs (particularly

(Above)

Resources Symposium called “Chasing the High” in September, in coordination with the city, to warn parents about the dangers of fentanyl. (Right) Cary Quashen, CEO of Action Drug Rehabs, hugs Jaime Puerta, who lost his son to fentanyl consumption, during a press conference at the Action Drug Rehabs facility in Saugus in August. To date, since March, at least 30 people have died from a fentanyl overdose in Santa Clarita, double the amount who died in 2021.

methamphetamine and cocaine) and counterfeit pills contaminated with fentanyl and other life-threatening substances,” Public Health wrote in a prepared statement.

In 2021, fentanyl was identified in about 77% of adolescent overdose deaths nationally, and more than 80% of drug overdose deaths among adolescents aged 15 to 19 in 2015 were unintentional, according to Public Health.

Experts have said that one of the contributing factors to the rise in accidental overdoses is because fentanyl is being cut into other commonly used drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy, Percocet and many others.

“It’s in all drugs,” said Cary Quashen, president and founder of Action Drug Rehabs, “and sometimes the dealers

don’t even know what they’re getting.”

This year, SCV leaders have gone on similar awareness campaigns – Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, sheriff’s Capt. Justin Diez, former L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, several members of the Santa Clarita City Council and local drug experts convened in August to discuss the issue and approaches to combat it.

Diez described 21 overdose deaths that had occurred by that point of the year in the SCV as “21 too many.” He added that there have also been 150 calls for service in the past eight months regarding overdoses, and another 700 people

were arrested on suspicion of narcoticsrelated offenses in the same time frame.

“Station deputies and patrol have used Narcan over a dozen times to save lives, just in the past year,” Diez said. “Can you imagine if those deputies weren’t equipped with Narcan?”

Since the meeting in August, there have been several local awareness seminars and campaigns held by school districts, the city and by the Sheriff’s Department in the hopes that next year’s numbers will halt the consecutive increases in deaths caused by fentanyl over the past five years.

2022: The Year in Pictures

(Above) Dan Watson/The Signal, (Right) Chris Torres/ The Signal

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station Capt. Justin Diez spoke at a Parent

Chris Torres/The Signal

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Narcotics Bureau Capt. Brandon Dean (above, left) and then-Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva (above, right) spoke to the media at the Action Drug Rehabs press conference, which also saw multiple high-ranking city and state figures make speeches.

Dan Watson/The Signal

(Above) Back in May, the city of Santa Clarita heard new plans to tackle homelessness from Community Preservation Manager Michael Villegas, who presented a report from the Santa Clarita Community Task Force on Homelessness. (Right) City Councilman Bill Miranda showed his support for Ukraine in its war against Russia at a rally held at Bridgeport Community Park in March.

The people vs. Gascón

Recall effort, lawsuits linger against DA

By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer

One of the biggest stories in the front pages of The Signal in 2022 is likely to be a big story again in 2023.

District Attorney George Gascón instituted a number of sweeping criminal justice system reforms on his first day of office on Dec. 7, 2020.

And by all accounts, he’s been at odds with the union that represents his deputy district attorneys and dozens of cities that have voted no-confidence in his regime, and faced two recall efforts in the two years since.

In addition to strongly worded criticism from the Association for Deputy District Attorneys, Gascón is facing lawsuits from at least nine of his senior prosecutors, including a former chief of staff, who allege that Gascón and his inner circle have retaliated against them for pointing out their objections to his policies.

Gascón has repeatedly refused to comment on the merits of the lawsuits, citing that they’re part of ongoing court cases, several of them having hearings as soon as January.

But members of the union for deputy district attorneys have not minced their words on how they feel about his regime:

“There is no direction,” said Eric Siddall, vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys. “Gascón’s lack of vision, his chaotic management style and constant finger-to-the-wind policy reversals make our office an impossible environment in which to work.”

Special directives

According to court documents, Gascón gave his staff a few hours to review a slew of special directives he issued just after his swearing-in ceremony — a series of moves intended to drastically alter the office’s operations.

“The sentences we impose in this

country, in this state, and in Los Angeles County are far too long,” Gascón wrote in a statement explaining his new policies, which was part of the pledge to end “excessive sentences” on which he had campaigned. “Researchers have long noted the high cost, ineffectiveness, and harm to people and communities caused by lengthy prison sentences; sentences that are longer than those of any comparable nation.”

Gascón also made it so that juveniles

2022: The Year in Pictures

Dan Watson/The Signal

The attempt to recall Los Angles District Attorney George Gascón was announced as a failure earlier this year due to a large number of invalid signatures, though a second recall effort is underway after a Superior Court judge gave a time limit of March 31 to review the gathered signatures.

(Above) Dan Watson/The Signal, (Right) Chris Torres/ The Signal

(Above) Patti Martin (left) and Carl Pike were two Santa Clarita residents who signed the petition to recall George Gascón. (Right) Jonathan Hatami, an L.A. child abuse prosecutor and Santa Clarita resident, speaks to attendees of his Public Safety Meet and Greet about the effort to recall Gascón.

See GASCÓN, S19

Chris Torres/The Signal

The 2022 fall sports season saw both the West Ranch football team and the Saugus girls’ volleyball team claim Foothill League titles. West Ranch football stormed through the league en route to an undefeated season and the program’s first league title. The Saugus volleyball team captured the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 title to go along with its league title.

COVID-19 continues to make headlines

Virus continues to mutate, but there is light at the end of the tunnel

By Trevor Morgan Signal Staff Writer

2022 did not mark the end of the pandemic in L.A. County by most metrics – in fact the all-time highest number of new cases per day was during the winter surge of 2021/2022 – but there were indicators that may have provided a light at the end of a long tunnel.

The virus itself continued to mutate

– with the Omicron variant and its subvariants becoming dominant strains. This year saw mask mandates be lifted and threatened to be reinstated. It also saw the introduction of bivalent vaccines – meaning updates can be made and widely distributed in a timely manner to keep up with new variants as they emerge. Therapeutics such as Paxlovid and the new updated vaccines were major contributors to preventing further mask mandates, which had divided the community throughout the pandemic.

Sometimes hope cannot be measured on a line graph, but rather in the smiling faces of friends or the embrace of loved ones – opportunities made more possible as the year progressed thanks to better accessibility to vaccines and advances in therapeutics that helped prevent hospitalizations and deaths.

Many community events returned for the first time since 2019, allowing residents to congregate in a fashion similar to before the pandemic. While still omnipresent, the division sowed by debates over masks and vaccines seemed to diminish as the community came back together again to participate in events and activities that allowed common ground among neighbors.

In her Dec. 15 weekly press briefing, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer acknowledged how masks had divided communities.

“What is hard and what we’ve acknowledged is very hard for all of us is [that] we’re going into year three and we’d like to be done,” said Ferrer. “Symbolically, keeping a mask on in this country where we don’t have a history of wearing masks… has been really aligned with [the idea] that this pandemic might never end… there are some people in the public who are just done with the pandemic.”

However, this was not a signal that L.A. County residents should forgo preventative measures. COVID-19 has been and still is among the leading causes of death, especially among the most vulnerable – seniors, low-income residents and those with immune deficiencies.

In that same briefing, Ferrer expressed hope, optimism and a change in tone for the first time since the original COVID-19 vaccine was announced.

“Navigating the pandemic has been made much easier with the new tools at hand and the data we can look at to better understand risk. High numbers no longer mean shutting down events or gathering over Zoom,” said Ferrer. “We have the strategies, information and resources to celebrate in person with friends, with family in safe ways. I hope that over the next few days everyone can use this information to keep each other protected. Simple efforts can lead to big returns and this works best when people come

together and act collectively.”

Mask restrictions began to lift, with Public Health lifting mandates on public transit and in airports – among the last still in place. There were a couple of occasions when it seemed like a mandate may return, one of which was during a summer surge dominated by Omicron and its sub-variants, which put considerable strain on the county’s health care system. Local leaders spoke out against what Supervisor Kathryn Barger believed would be a “forthcoming masking mandate.” Barger was vehemently opposed to one, if it were to occur.

“I have not seen any empirical data that conclusively shows that masking mandates make a difference in decreasing or stopping COVID-19 transmission rates,” Barger said in her letter from July, later adding: “I believe masking mandates are polarizing and are unenforceable.”

Later in the month, Ferrer announced that L.A. County would not move forward with a mandate.

“As I noted last week, any indication that the county would soon be moving to the medium community level would be a good reason not to move forward with universal indoor masking, which is what we’re doing today,” said Ferrer. “We will be pausing and not moving forward at this time.”

A similar announcement was made

S19

2022: The Year in Pictures

Dan Watson/The Signal COVID-19 mandates, including mandatory masking in public, were largely swept away in 2022, though the virus is still prevalent and case numbers continue to rise and fall. The virus is still one of the leading causes of death in Los Angeles County, especially among seniors, low-income residents and those with immune deficiencies. See COVID,

(Above left) Chris Torres/The Signal, (Right photos) Dan Watson/The Signal

(Above left) After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, effectively ending the United States’ federal right to have an abortion, hundreds of protestors gathered at the intersection of McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard in protest of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision. The protest was organized by the Santa Clarita Valley Democrats and featured former state assemblywoman Christy Smith as a keynote speaker.

(Right photos) The high school class of 2022 was able to celebrate graduation despite two years of learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were constantly in and out of in-person classes, and many of the ceremonies noted just how difficult this class had it during the students’ final two years of high school.

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The problem with money...

Gas prices and inflation soared in 2022

By Michael Picarella Signal Staff Writer

The beginning of 2022 saw rising gas prices that had some motorists in March paying well over $100 at the pump to fill their tanks. Inflation also soared, and U.S. households began shelling out hundreds of extra dollars a month on everyday expenses.

Local legislators would eventually call for “gas price relief” in the spring, the federal government would pass the Inflation Reduction Act in August, and in September, the Valley Industry Association would host a discussion with financial experts to break down and decipher the act for residents and local business owners.

Peter Mullen, of American Consumer Credit Counseling Inc., shared tips with The Signal over the summer that readers could use to deal with inflation.

“Inflation is eating away our buying power,” he said. “Three things are key to reducing that: (1) have a budget, (2) seek good information, and (3) plan ahead.”

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index was bumpy over the course of the year with some of the largest increases in March and in June. For the last 12 months ending in November, the allitems index increased 7.1%.

Mullen offered tips on budgeting, planning ahead and reducing debt in these times of rising costs. He also shared everyday actions to adjust to inflation, such as cooking at home more often, eating less meat or using storebrand products as opposed to name brands; he also suggested carpooling or using public transportation, joining a gas station rewards program and keeping vehicles tuned up to get better gas mileage.

The price of gas was certainly something on motorists’ minds in 2022, especially in the Santa Clarita Valley.

In March, the Chevron station on the 23000 block of Soledad Canyon Road in Saugus was selling regular gasoline for $6 a gallon and premium gasoline for $6.30. Costco in the 18600 block of Via Princessa in Canyon Country had regular for $5.09 and premium for $5.39. It was the same at Sam’s Club in the 26400 block of Carl Boyer Drive in Santa Clarita. But most stations in the area were selling regular gas for around $5.50 and $5.70.

Motorists at the pumps were upset with the price hikes.

“How about we reopen the Keystone Pipeline and look for America to start producing more oil for a while until things calm down globally and we stabilize gas prices?” said Richard Irby, a Sylmar resident getting gas at Costco on March 9 in Canyon Country. He was fueling up his 2015 Kia Optima and added that waiting in the long line for gas seemed counterproductive, but something he had to do, nonetheless.

Some motorists told The Signal they were buying their gas with the assistance of the Google Maps app on their smartphones, seeking out the lowest prices by typing “gas” into the search field on the app to locate surrounding stations and their listed gas prices.

In mid-March, state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Assemblywoman Suzette Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, vocalized their support for a proposal made by a group of Democratic lawmakers that would provide every California taxpayer with a tax rebate check to offset some of the cost incurred by skyrocketing prices at the pump.

In October, California started

sending residents payments ranging from $200 to $1,050 to help with the high price of gas and the rising cost of living. Grace Gedye, a CalMatters economy writer whose story was published in The Signal in the fall, answered some of the basic questions people had about the gas rebate.

She wrote that eligibility, for example, is based on having submitted a complete 2020 tax return by Oct. 15, 2021, as well as other factors including income and residency. She also cleared up some confusion, stating that the gas rebates were essentially the same as the “inflation relief” payments, and that, according to Franchise Tax Board spokeswoman Catalina Martinez, payments aren’t taxable for California state income tax purposes.

The federal government offered assistance to help build an economy that, according to a White House statement, “works for working families.” The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August with the aim to lower the costs of prescription drugs, health care and energy.

But how would that affect Santa Clarita residents and local business owners, asked Valley Industry Association President Kathy Norris during a Sept. 23 breakfast at the Hyatt Regency in Valencia among business leaders in the area.

“That’s why we invited our speakers this morning to help us decipher it,” she said at the event before a group of financial experts took the stage to discuss tax credits under the act. The group of speakers included Chris Ingram, chief executive officer of Prosperitas Financial, Andrea Cummings, a tax and lead manager in the department of research and development for MUN CPAs, and Joey Romero, a tax manager for MUN CPAs.

According to the group, a portion of the Inflation Reduction Act was

dedicated to incentives for clean energy and tax records.

Romero elaborated on energy-efficient home improvement credits, energy-efficient products for real estate owners, and how the Internal Revenue Service will hire more agents — approximately 87,000 of them.

Cummings discussed a second energy efficient credit, known as the residential clean energy credit, that was previously set to expire in 2024 and was extended through 2034. The credit, she said, covers qualifying systems, which include solar, electric property, solar water heating property, small wave energy property, geothermal heat pump property and fuel cell properties.

Ingram talked about the Medicare side of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“You could probably make a good argument that this was improperly named,” he said. “There’s not a lot in here that really reduces inflation, but there are portions in here in the medical side of things that actually do try to work through some inflationary issues,

and bring costs down over time.”

And while the Inflation Reduction Act is taking its course in trying to bring down the nation’s debt, and while some gas rebates are still in the mail, gas prices have certainly come down.

On Dec. 21, the Soledad Canyon Road Chevron in Saugus that was selling regular gasoline for $6 a gallon and premium gasoline for $6.30 a gallon in March came down to $5.10 and $5.40, respectively. Costco in Canyon Country went from $5.09/$5.39 to $4.09/$4.49. Sam’s Club in Santa Clarita offered gas for a penny less per gallon than Costco.

Still, SCV residents may feel light in their wallets. Mullen had suggested that those feeling financial strain can contact American Consumer Credit Counseling Inc., by going to ConsumerCredit.com or calling 800-769-3571 for a budget counseling analysis.

There might not be much that most people can do about inflation, he said, but there are things people can do to at least reduce the impact.

Dan Watson/The Signal

With inflation rising to unprecedented levels in 2022, some motorists were paying as much as $100 to fill up their tanks in March. That number has gone down in recent months, though some Santa Clarita Valley residents have voiced their displeasure with how the government handled the rising gas prices, noting that the Keystone Pipeline could be reopened to help the United States produce its own gas and stabilize prices at the pump.

Dan Watson/The Signal

In March, the Chevron gas station on Soledad Canyon Road was advertising regular gasoline for sale at over $6 a gallon. In December, regular gasoline at that station dropped to $5.10 a gallon. California Gov. Gavin Newsom attempted to ease the burden that Californians faced throughout the year by sending out gas rebates starting in October, though not everyone was eligible.

A new election system

City, facing lawsuit, agrees to districtbased elections

By Perry Smith Signal Senior Staff Writer

After a pair of lawsuits, protracted discussions and more than $1 million in legal bills, the city of Santa Clarita announced a move to district-based elections on April 12.

More than nine years after the city was first sued over a claim that its atlarge elections disenfranchised Latino voters, a violation of the California Voting Rights Act, the city ultimately capitulated to district-based elections, after a second lawsuit, due to a couple of realizations.

The settlement wasn’t prompted by the merits of the lawsuit, according to a statement written by one of the attorneys the city retained to argue its cause:

“I want to be clear about why the city is settling this suit,” wrote Kahn Scolnick, an attorney with Gibson Dunn. “It’s not because the council members believe that at-large elections are diluting Latino voting power, or that districtbased elections would improve Latino voting power or otherwise help the city. The council members all prefer the current at-large system because it encourages candidates and elected officials to respond to the needs of the entire city, not just one small corner of it.”

However, the city was also faced with a stark reality after the second lawsuit. The first lawsuit was settled in March 2014, with the city moving its election to even-numbered years to line up with the general election. This increased turnout, with the number of ballots cast going from 15,871 ballots from 11,661 registered voters in April 2014, to 90,947 ballots from 117,972 registered voters in 2018, according to

Rafferty Group’s Proposed Map and Racial Breakdown

District Latino White Asian Black

1 45.1% 39.5% 9.1% 5.8%

2 27.4% 51.3% 12.4% 6.2%

3 25.3% 56.5% 11.1% 4.0%

4 17.9% 63.4% 12.7% 3.7%

5 21.1% 51.3% 12.0% 5.6%

city of Santa Clarita data. A fact that Santa Clarita’s counsel had to face is that no one has ever successfully defended a lawsuit against an alleged CVRA violation. Palmdale

Percentages according to map sent to city of Santa Clarita by attorney Scott Rafferty. This is the map proposed by Rafferty and will not necessarily be the Þnal map that will be used for future elections.

tried its hardest, and only came up about $4.5 million lighter for its efforts. Santa Clara fought for four years and lost, $6 million later. Santa Monica, one of the last holdouts, fought

such a suit for six years and, after it lost, was asked to pay a whopping $22 million. Needless to say, Santa Clarita’s total in litigation fees could have been worse if it had decided to continue the fight.

The city was also told that if it fought the case and lost, which legal precedent predicted it would have, Santa Clarita would have much less control over the “remedy,” or resolution of the lawsuit, than it would have if it reached settlement terms.

So now the issue heading into 2023 is not whether the city will have districts for voters, but what will those districts look like?

It’s expected that since Mayor Jason Gibbs and Mayor Pro Tem Cameron Smyth would be up for reelection in 2024, that they’ll be the first two candidates to run in a district-based election. However, Scott Rafferty, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in the current lawsuit that alleges a CVRA violation, stated recently a lot of the final determinations are still being hashed out.

“We’re really striving to come up with a single map, and that’s always been our goal,” Rafferty said in an interview

SCV voters make their choices

By Jose Herrera Signal Staff Writer

Santa Clarita Valley voters cast their ballots to elect numerous officials in local, state and federal races, and while some races were no-contest others were close, so close, that those races were determined on the final day of processing the ballot count.

In the race for three open seats on the Santa Clarita City Council, voters reelected incumbents Laurene Weste, Bill Miranda and Marsha McLean.

“It’s just wonderful to see the city of Santa Clarita residents vote for me in such high numbers off the bat,” Weste said on Election Night as the initial results came in. “I love my community, and I will do everything I can to keep us the very best community.”

Both Weste and Miranda led the returns with more than 32,000 votes each. McLean held the third spot with more than 28,000 votes, but challenger Denise Lite trailed behind her, and ultimately secured more than 25,000 votes.

Jeffrey Malick, Selina Thomas, David Barlavi, Douglas Fraser and Kody Amour followed behind Lite in the polls. Amour dropped out of the race in September.

All candidates ran on similar issues such as homelessness, addressing fentanyl, improving the city’s economy, public safety, water conservation and

Signal graphic

The city of Santa Clarita will be moving to a district-based election system after a pair of lawsuits and more than $1 million in legal bills. The city was first sued over nine years ago over a claim that its at-large voting system disenfranchised Latino voters. Scott Rafferty, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in the current lawsuit, has proposed a district-based map based on the demographics of the city.

Dan Watson/The Signal

Newly-appointed city of Santa Clarita Mayor Jason Gibbs (above left) and Councilman Bill Miranda (above right) were both elected under the old at-large election system. Under the new system, each district would be able to choose its representative for City Council.

Chris Torres/The Signal

Santa Clarita Valley voters made their voices heard in the November general election. Incumbents largely were successful in their bids for reelection, with the Santa Clarita City Council and William S. Hart Union High School District governing board both remaining unchanged. State Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, won his reelection bid for the 27th District, though Pilar Schiavo was able to beat out incumbent Suzette Valladares for the 40th Assembly District seat.

2022: The Year in Pictures

4.

-

es

(Left) Chris Torres/The Signal, (Right) Dan Watson/ The Signal (Left) Cub Scouts from Cub Scout Pack 490 wave to the crowd while riding on their parade float at the Santa Clarita Valley Fourth of July parade in Newhall. (Right) Valentina Martin Del Campo, 2, displays the Easter eggs she collected at the 2022 city of Santa Clarita Eggstavaganza held at Central Park in Saugus on April 16.

Chris Torres/The Signal

(Left) Golden Valley football player Jackson Torres (20) does a back flip out of the tunnel as the Grizzlies run onto the field at Canyon High School as they prepare to face off against the Laguna Hills Hawks in the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 championship game. Golden Valley lost, 28-27. (Right) Valencia senior Trey Suffredini takes first place in the 400-meter race during a tri-meet between Golden Valley, Hart and Valencia at Hart High School on March 17.

Chris Torres/The Signal

(Left) Country music artist Brad Paisley performs as the headliner at the Boots & Brews Country Music Festival held at Central Park in Saugus on Sept. 4. (Right) Festival attendees dance together as Paisly performs on stage.

Chris Torres/The Signal

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies close off Soldedad Canyon Road in response to a brush fire that sparks on the hillside near the intersection of Bouquet Canyon Road and Soledad Canyon Road on Aug.

Los Angeles Coun

ty Fire Department personnel were able to halt forward progress within one hour of responding, though some business

were evacuated as a precaution.

The gaps and strides in education

Test scores decline as students fully return to inperson learning

By Jose Herrera Signal Staff Writer

Though the school year is still underway, and students recently went on winter break, the 2022-23 school year marked the first full year of in-person learning, and the return of state testing, since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Educators across the nation anticipated a decline in academic performance at every level of education — it was no different at the William S. Hart Union High School District. The California Department of Education released its test scores in October, which indicated approximately 50% of Hart district students did not meet state standards for science and math.

The Hart’s district student achievement in English language arts declined by approximately 4 percentage points, in math, student achievement dropped by almost 11 percentage points, and in science, student achievement rose by less than a percentage point compared to results from the 2018-19 school year.

The 2021-22 California assessment results indicated, by all grade levels, approximately 31%, 58% and 55% of Hart district students did not meet state standards for English, math and science, respectively.

“We were making constant change to what was going on in our community, and, actually, the world,” Michael Vierra, the district’s deputy superintendent of educational services, said in response to how the height of the pandemic affected student learning. “Although there’s decline in our achievement data from a few years ago, it was understandable.”

These exams are officially known as the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, which includes the Smarter Balanced assessment system, the California Science Test, the California Alternate Assessments for special education students and the optional California Spanish Assessment.

In spring 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the Department of Education canceled CAASPP assessments while in 2021 only one in four eligible students took the tests because not all students were back on campuses.

Nearly all eligible students participated in state testing in the 2021-22 school year, making these results a key data point for understanding the effects of the pandemic on education.

In the state, approximately 53%, 67% and 71% of California students did not meet state standards in English, math and science, respectively.

According to the Department of Education, the percentage of California students meeting state standards plummeted 7 percentage points and English language achievement dropped by 4 percentage points compared to results from the 2018-19 school year.

“A comparison with the data from the state’s 2021-22 ELA and mathematics assessments suggest that recovery may already be underway,” according to a prepared statement from the Department of Education.

In an effort to assist educators in addressing the issue of learning loss, the state provided school districts with additional resources to help students beyond 2024, when federal relief funding is set to expire.

In the Hart district, 2,949 seventhgraders, 3,143 eighth-graders and 3,741 11th-graders took the 2021-22 CAASPP exams.

Results from the Smarter Balanced test for English language arts/literacy indicated approximately 34% of eighthgraders and about 26% of 11th-graders did not meet state standards. In the Smarter Balanced test for mathematics, approximately 57% of eighth-graders and about 61% of 11th-graders did not

(Above)

The pandemic had an effect on society as a whole, and students were no exception. According to state testing scores, the Hart district saw its students’ scores drop across the board, though those scores were still better, on average, than the rest of L.A. County and the state.

meet state standards.

While CAASPP data indicated Hart district student achievement declined, the district’s students are in a better position than those in nearby school districts and throughout the state.

In Ventura County, approximately 56% and 49% of eighth- and 11th-graders did not meet state standards for English, and approximately 73% and 75% of eighth- and 11th-graders did not meet state standards for math.

In Los Angeles County, approximately 53% and 46% of eighth- and 11thgraders did not meet state standards for English, and approximately 71% and 74% of eighth- and 11th-graders did not meet state standards for math.

Overall, assessment results indicated a decline in the Hart district’s student performance, but there are pockets of growth for some student groups or specific school sites. District officials noted student achievement increased for English and math for different schools, and for English learners in science.

Vierra said the district uses the data as a guide for initiatives in the district or even at an individual school site. He also reiterated that the state assessments are just one piece of the puzzle.

In response to the pandemic and concerns regarding learning loss, the district implemented new and expanded support for students.

These initiatives, a multi-tiered system of supports, included increased intervention supports, online supplemental academic support programs, extra help during the school day, parallel support classes and variety of credit recovery programs, according to district officials.

In addition, district staff increased support for the social-emotional learning and well-being of students. They also expanded college and career preparation courses, including career path completion.

“We are proud of the pockets of growth achieved in spite of the many disruptions and lost learning time,” Superintendent Mike Kuhlman said in a prepared statement. “We will implement elements of our new strategic plan to help accelerate the learning of students in order to ensure that every student graduates opportunity-ready.”

would look like.

districts it possibly can.”

earlier this month.

The proposed remedy, based on the demographics of the city, would include a map that has one district with a plurality of Latino voters, if one with a majority cannot be reasonably constructed while still respecting the traditional community boundaries.

That’s probably one of the contentions being discussed as City Council members have met several times in closed session since the settlement was announced to discuss what its new boundaries

A map that was proposed by Rafferty as a solution to the alleged violation gerrymanders the western portion of Canyon Country into a district with Newhall in order to create a Latino plurality.

The City Council has announced that there will be at least a couple of public hearings in the new year in order to solicit input on the new boundaries “to fine-tune a district map.”

What also will be of interest to City Hall observers is how a map proposed by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which has Councilwoman Laurene Weste and Councilmen Cameron Smyth

and Bill Miranda all living in the same district, will be received by the council.

City Council members have two options spelled out in the consent decree agreed to by both sides: The council can present one agreed-upon map at the first of two public hearings, the first hearing to take place no later than March 3. Or, council members can propose two maps, the plaintiffs’ and their own at the first hearing.

Within 30 days of the first hearing, counsel for both sides will meet and publish a revised joint map in advance of a second hearing. If both sides are unable to agree to

terms at that meeting, both maps will be presented at the second hearing, which is to take place at least one week after, but no more than one month after the first.

“The city welcomes everyone’s participation in those hearings and will take seriously every resident’s views about how the district lines should be drawn,” according to a letter from Scolnick. “I’ll conclude by saying that although the city disagrees with the plaintiffs and their lawyer about the merits of districtbased elections and their lawsuit, the city is nevertheless committed to working together to come up with the best

The court’s consent decree calls for the new map to be decided upon by no later than June 30, 2023, and that the city cannot challenge its electoral system until at least Nov. 6, 2030, and if it does so then, it of course runs the risk of another lawsuit.

Local resident Michael Cruz, one of the parties of the second lawsuit, said he was hopeful for the outcome and the discussion of a districtbased map for city elections in the coming months.

“I’m an optimist at heart,” Cruz said, “and I’m optimistic that we will get a resolution to this matter.”

Chris Torres/ The Signal

Students returned to school earlier this year with some COVID-19 precautions still in place. (Right)

Signal graphic