[KHTS] – Santa Clarita City Council members are set to look at another potential Einstein Academy location Tuesday, and this time with city staffers recommending city approval.
Santa Clarita officials staffers are recommending City Council OK a site for 250 students on site off Rye Canyon Road in Valencia.
The school site also would accommodate 50 home school students, according to the City Council agenda. The site is OK to accommodate 20 teachers and administrative staff, as well.
The site would have students from kindergarten to fourth grade inside an existing 53,000 square-foot commercial building at 25300 Rye Canyon Road.
Santa Clarita planning commissioners voted 5-0 to deny Einstein Academy’s plan for the Valencia school site at a March hearing.
Einstein Academy officials have been working with city officials on the site for more than a year, according to a statement from a Facebook group.
The plan denied by the city’s Planning Commission called for 650 students in kindergarten through grade 6, with an additional 37 teachers and employees.
City planners said the school needed to reduce the student population for approval.
Einstein Academy recently opened a site at the old Pinecrest school site on Orchard Village Road under protest from the Newhall School District.
Planning Commissioner Lisa Eichman expressed concern over the site choice because it was an industrial park, and shared concern with the other commissioners over the impact to surrounding businesses.
According to the City Council agenda: “The proposed project would include interior improvements consisting of the construction of 14 classrooms, 23 offices, and an indoor multi-purpose and play area.
The proposed exterior improvements consist of the construction of pedestrian sidewalks adjacent to the existing right-of-way of Avenue Scott and Rye Canyon Road, and the conversion of 5,700 square feet of existing outdoor pavement to a picnic and turf area.
No additional exterior construction is anticipated.”
A traffic study submitted by Einstein Academy officials revealed an early drop-off schedule, as well as other efforts to lessen the impact on traffic underway by the school.
The traffic and parking management plan is expected to be implemented “through a ‘triad’ of resources, including: (1) an on-site school official, who will be responsible for leading the T&PMP’s ongoing efforts, operations, and program monitoring; (2) LLG’s support in the initial, startup stages to establish the vision/objectives and framework/parameters of the operating plan for the T&PMP, and turnkey training of traffic control personnel; and (3) a qualified third-party contractor (similar to a firm providing crossing guard services) to be hired by AEA, which will provide paid staff, field traffic control personnel in carrying out the requirements of the T&PMP, onsite field presence, and provide project management oversight and monitoring/internal field checks.”
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23 Comments
Jessica Jasso
Santina Carrolli
Robin Heinz Bratslavsky
I know they are meeting tonight. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Are they going to address the traffic at the Pinecrest location. Someone is going to get killed there one of these days.
Debbie Banks Violin haha
As long as they put it far away from us!! And move this one while they are at it!
Harold, I’m not an AEA parent, but have 4 kids elsewhere. There are dangerous traffic issues at many schools up here, in fact, my father-in-law is a crossing guard and has almost been hit more times then you can imagine. I’ve seen the traffic at AEA and it’s tame in comparison. Not sure why AEA gets singled out.
Probably because the parents who park on the residential streets in my neighborhood are self-absorbed and insufferably rude. It’s not just the traffic volume, it’s drivers who stop in the middle of the street and open all 4 doors to let children in and out, blocking progress for other drivers. Just a hunch.
Again, that happens at every school up here! At North Park they turn into the closed parking lot driveway, then back out into the intersection where cars are merging and kids are crossing. They also park on the corners blocking the wheelchair ramps and park across driveways blocking homeowners from leaving for work.
They also drive up the street on the wrong side of the road to avoid the valet line and drop their kid in the middle of the street with cars on both sides!
Michael if that “happens at every school” does that make it ok???? Not a good excuse.
No. My comments were directed at those who only post on AEA threads and never post about this very issue at other schools. Complaints should be to the city and sheriff for not controlling traffic and monitoring schools at these hours, rather than attacks on the schools who have no control of this.
They seriously need a crossing guard at the OO location. Why is the city not making that happen?
Come over to the Wiley Canyon/ Old Orchard intersection and parallel residential streets between 7-7:30 a.m. and 2:30-3 p.m. and check out the pandemonium. You don’t know what you are talking about Michael. Besides there are no crossings guards anywhere to be seen.
Patricia, if you read my posts, I said I was referring to North Park and my father in law who is the crossing guard there and witnesses the same or worse situation there. Again, I’m not at AEA but don’t think it’s fair to single them out rather than the sheriff or city who let this happen at schools all over the SCV
Michael you really need to get a clue if you think the traffic at AEA is “tame”. Like Harold Hamilton said someone will be killed and then everyone will say “why was nothing done sooner”….again why are there no crossing guards. And as Patricia Fleming Hamilton said the residential streets around the school are flooded with traffic from the school. I personally was almost hit by a parent making a u turn in the middle of the street. Don’t turn a blind eye.
I think crossing guards at OO and Wiley — 2 of them– would make a HUGE difference. A cop would be better. Today ambulance got stuck at that intersection and couldn’t get through. It’s not just AEA, but that has really compounded the problem there.
Pandemonium? That’s not dramatic at all. Michael Smith is tge ONLY person on this post who is looking at the reality of the situation. ladt time i checked, a student WAS hit by a car… but that was at Placerita JHS. nobody is saying tbe situation is perfect–but please fond me a trafgic situation near any school in this valley that does not impede on our roads or neighborhoods. drive by Bridgeport Elem at pickup time and see the blocked traffic lanes. Drove down Copperhill and see the blocked traffic laned and residential streets leading up to West Creek AND Tesoro Elementaries. Cruise down Decoro and Seco and enjoy the gridlock provided by both Ssnta Clarita Elem and Arroyo Seco JHS. Traffic in thus valley is a mess. And this mess is compounded by impatient, crazy drivers who speed all over this valley. People all over need to be mindful of speed limits near schools, but many people are not. If you set your cruise control to 25 mph when you drive through a school zone you will see first-hand how much faster people are actually driving in these zones. I worked the drop off line at my neighborhood elementary for many years and I saw MANY times when Michael Smith’s father-in-law was narrowly missed by a speeding car. The bottom line is this: We have lousy drivers everywhere. One school is not to bland for this city’s traffic woes.
And the question still remains why Aea is continually singled out. Yes, there is a very, VERY small group of former students for whom Aea program was not a fit, but the vast majority are seeing great turn around in their kids at this school. No one is being honest about why Aea is being targeted. Traffic in this valley, as Robin states is appalling. But it is not just this school. Traffic by Oak Hills, Rancho Pico, and West Ranch is terrible too. And there is still no outlet up there.
Of course, the ONLY school in this valley that causes traffic is AEA. Other
Sorry for the typos—on my phone.
The reason the traffic seems so bad is that Pinecrest had so few students.