Hart Board to hear SCVi petition presentation
The governing board members of the William S. Hart Union High School District are set to hear from Santa Clarita Valley International faculty on why the district’s only independent charter school should have its charter renewed.
Charter schools are required to have a chartering district and meet with officials from that district within a previously agreed amount of time, for periodic renewal. The last time SCVi’s charter was approved was in 2015.
While there is a way to challenge decisions on petitions that are rejected by school districts, which include a process of going through state and local officials, the local school agency is allowed to decide on whether to accept the school’s petition in the interim.
SCVi is presenting a petition of renewal of its charter, from July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2025.
Board President Bob Jensen said the petition needs to go through a public hearing for SCVi to formally present the petition for renewal.
“The board has the information that the public has also, and the board will study before tomorrow’s meeting,” Jensen said Tuesday. “The board can ask questions if it wants tomorrow.”
Jensen said the board would not be voting on the petition renewal at today’s meeting, and the decision on whether to approve would be decided over the coming weeks.
Livestreaming sporting events
In addition to hearing the SCVi presentation, board members are expected to consider an agreement with PlayOn! Sports Inc., a company that would live-stream sporting events within the district.
Through this agreement, PlayOn! would provide 15 Pixellot camera systems and installation services to the Hart District. These systems would be installed in each high school gym and at each high school football field, with one additional system being installed at the College of the Canyons football field for Hart and Saugus high schools’ home football games.
The games would be broadcast to paid subscribers across the country, and district officials say the program will generate revenue through advertisements for the broadcast, as well as the subscription revenue in year four of the five-year agreement.
“This agreement will allow schools to generate advertising revenue for their athletic programs, and provide a reliable method for recording games instead of using a student manager or parent volunteer to do so,” reads the meeting agenda. “There is no cost to the Hart District, only potential advertisement revenue and revenue sharing from subscriptions.”