Chris Amico: Journalist

ACTON — Since deciding not to seek a third term on the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School Board, Trustee Steve Harbeson has clashed frequently with his fellow board members.

Now the only incumbent not running for re-election has turned on his colleagues, endorsing three challengers in the Nov. 8 election.

Harbeson said Larry Layton, Deborah Jauregui-Rocha and Leona Sexton are “the only candidates that I feel really care about the children of our district.” Read the rest of this entry »

ACTON — The lights over the Vasquez High School athletic field are almost finished, but trustees for the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District still have doubts about the project.

School Board President Fred Heslep refused to hear an update on the lighting project at Thursday night’s meeting, since the school board has never officially voted to endorse the project started by Vasquez High athletic director Tim Jorgensen.

“It doesn’t exist as far as the board is concerned,” Heslep said in the meeting. Read the rest of this entry »

ACTON — The ghost of Acton School continues to haunt the district that voted to close the campus 18 months ago.

Trustees for the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District voted 4-1 to cancel a restroom installation project at Meadowlark Elementary and High Desert Middle School on Thursday night. Part of the reasoning, aside from fiscal considerations, was a lingering discontent over Acton School’s closure.

“There’s a strong feeling in my mind that we’re going back to Acton,” said Trustee Melissa Harnett, who voted with the majority. Read the rest of this entry »

LANCASTER — In a hearing to establish a restraining order, the former interim-principal of Vasquez High School and the man she accuses of shoving her against a wall in the school office met face to face Friday morning for the first time since the alleged incident occurred.

Sharon Millen, who resigned as principal days after the incident, appeared shaken for much of the hearing.

Her alleged assailant, Charlie Bang Sr., appeared without an attorney and said several times that he meant no harm to Millen or anyone else.

Bang faces a criminal charge of battery against a school official in the incident.

“I’m not a violent person,” Bang said. “There was no violence prior, the incident lasted only three or four seconds, and there was no violence after.” Read the rest of this entry »

ACTON — The interim principal of Vasquez High School, Sharon Millen, said she has resigned following a scuffle prompted by a parent’s attempt to seize records of his son’s suspension.

Millen, interviewed Thursday evening, said she is pressing charges in the May 4 incident, in which she said the parent shoved her and slammed her against a wall. She said a restraining order has also been filed.

“I am pressing it to the full extent of the law, for all the school’s benefit,” she said. Read the rest of this entry »