Sierra Canyon High Spending $7.4 Million on New Sports Facilities

A gym and a football field are under construction at Sierra Canyon High School. School officials say they're excited even though the school has done quite well in intrastate competition without its own facilities.

The football team, playing home games on a rented field, went 12-2 last season, and lost the state championship by a touchdown. The boys basketball team and the girls soccer team, also playing on rented space, were state champs. The girls volleyball team made it to the finals.

"I don't know if there's another school in Southern California that had four teams reach the finals," said Jim Skrumbis, head of school.

Despite those triumphs, he said, some prospective students would prefer to attend a school with athletic facilities. Starting early next year, Sierra Canyon will have some of the best.

The private school at 20801 Rinaldi St. broke ground last fall on a $6 million gym and a $1.4 million football field. Initially projected to be completed in late October, it now appears more likely that the projects won't be finished until next spring. Heavy rains and wind forced work stoppages on 68 days during one 120-day period.

All the while members of the carpenters union protested the construction with a banner at the school. Angered by the lack of union carpenters, the banner alleges that the school is hurting the community.

"Our contractor hires the subcontractors," explained Skrumbis, referring to Del Amo Construction, based in Torrance. "We don't have anything to do with that." The head of school said the demonstrations were ironic "because there's very little carpentry being done on the job. It's a masonry building. Also, he added, other subcontractors on the job belong to a union.

"Our students, after the initial shock of wondering why these people are saying bad things about their school, have just come to ignore it," Skrumbis said.

Once the gym and field are completed, the school plans to move forward with the second phase, which includes a parking lot, lights, toilet facilities, bleachers, a concession stand, the addition of a baseball field and tennis courts and improvements to the intersection of Rinaldi Street and DeSoto Avenue. "That's probably three or four years away," said the head of school.

Regardless, Jon Ellinghouse, Sierra Canyon's football coach and assistant athletic director, said completion of the field would be "huge for our overall athletic program." Even though home games are played at Granada Hills High, practices will be held on the field, which is west on Rinaldi Street and across De Soto Avenue from the school, saving time and transportation expenses.

"The thing I really like about our field is it's in a natural bowl," the coach said. "DeSoto Avenue is above it and we're digging into that mountain and putting in retaining walls. It gives a real neat feel to a high school stadium."

The new facilities will greatly reduce the number of facilities rented by athletic director Rock Pillsbury. "I'll still have to rent for tennis, swimming, softball and other sports," he said. "But that will take a few of them off my plate."

Pillsbury said the new athletic facilities will not put any additional pressure on him to turn out winning teams. "I've always said that when they put your scores in the paper, that's pressure enough," he said. Besides, he added, "Most of the pressure is internal."