The governing boards of College of the Canyons and the William S. Hart Union School District are scheduled to discuss plans for a new Academy of the Canyons-style campus at the future Castaic High School when they sit down for their annual joint meeting Sept. 27.

Tentatively called “Canyons North Academy,” the new campus would be a middle college high school, according to a meeting agenda published Friday. It would mirror the academic offerings of Academy of the Canyons at COC’s Valencia campus – with the notable addition of a sports program.

Castaic High School is under construction and on track to open to its first crop of freshmen in September 2019.

“This expansive campus in the Castaic community will provide new and innovative opportunities for the Hart District to collaborate with College of the Canyons,” the agenda reads.

“In addition to state-of-the-art career pathways, rigorous academics and a rich co-curricular program, we see the potential to offer an academy within Castaic High School that would provide many of the same opportunities to students district-wide as our highly recognized Academy of the Canyons,” according to the Hart District’s agenda.

“Instructional leaders from College of the Canyons and the Hart District have been meeting for the last several months to create a vision for ‘Canyons North Academy’ (working name only),” it reads.

As currently envisioned, “Canyons North Academy” would provide a fully integrated curriculum with College of the Canyons enabling students to earn both high school and college credit; robust career pathways;  allied health professions; computer science and technology; and law and public safety.

“Specific areas will be evaluated based on input from prospective parents in Castaic and other parts of Santa Clarita Valley through a survey that is expected to be administered in October.”

Successful students would receive “at least one year of college credit upon graduation from high school and opportunities for additional college credits to include progress toward an AA degree or UC/CSU transfer.”

“Over the next 10 months, we expect to continue to solicit input, refine the program, and begin marketing for the academy,” the agenda reads.

[Read the complete meeting agenda.]

The Hart District and COC have had a long history of partnering on concurrent enrollment.

In 1998, College of the Canyons began waiving tuition for high school students concurrently enrolling at COC.

In 1999, the Hart District adopted a policy giving students an additional grade point for college courses taken through concurrent enrollment – similar to what is done for AP courses.

Since then, the College and Hart District have worked closely to promote concurrent enrollment opportunities.

For more information about Academy of the Canyons, click here and here.