By Mary O’KEEFE

The issue of the territory transfer between Glendale Unified School and the La Cañada Unified School districts will “sometime this year” be once again in front of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization (LACCSDO), according to a spokeswoman for LACCSDO.

The petition for the transfer, backed by UniteLCF (a La Cañada Flintridge grassroots organization), was approved in 2017 by the Committee, despite the staff’s recommendation not to approve it. As reported in CVW, as of 2018, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)-required Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Initial Study (IS) was completed and published with a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND). According to the findings of the IS, “although the proposed project could have a significant effect on the environment, there will not be a significant effect in this case because revisions in the project have been made by or agreed to by the project proponent.”

Sagebrush is in the far west side of La Cañada Flintridge, west of Rosebank Drive to Pickens Canyon. Students from the Sagebrush area attend GUSD schools – Mountain Avenue Elementary, Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High School.

The territory transfer is not just about land; it is about students, families, teachers and school districts. The lines have been drawn with the Crescenta Valley Town Council, many La Crescenta community members and GUSD on one side and UniteLCF, LCUSD and the La Cañada Flintridge City Council on the other side. And even within those groups are subgroups that disagree on the territory transfer; however, all agree it is important to put students first though each side disagrees about how to best do that.

CVW interviewed GUSD Superintendent Winfred Roberson Jr to get insight on why he feels it is important to maintain the territory within the district he oversees.

“The students and families in the Sagebrush territory are an integral part of GUSD’s academic and community success story,” he said of what Sagebrush means to the district. “They have contributed to GUSD’s success and have helped to shape the positive culture that exists within the district. Together, we have built lasting relationships through PTA and school foundation participation. Additionally, the students and families that reside within the Sagebrush territory were a primary factor in the GUSD’s decision to build Mountain Avenue Elementary School. GUSD built Mountain Avenue Elementary to meet the proximity needs of our Sagebrush families and remains enthusiastic about serving their educational needs.”

The loss of students who live in the Sagebrush area will affect GUSD financially. Each school district gets funding in accordance to ADA, average daily attendance, for each day that each individual student is in school. According to Roberson, on average for the 2018-19 school year GUSD receives $9,351 per student.

“Conservatively, since the time of the petition, GUSD has projected that the district would experience an ongoing and cumulative loss of revenue of $2.7 million per year. At the time of the petition [2016], it was determined that 356 students living in the Sagebrush area were attending GUSD schools. However, the CEQA consultant used by the LACOE committee identified over 500 school-aged children in the Sagebrush area, all of whom would be considered potential GUSD students,” he said.

Mountain Avenue Elementary currently has 84 students who reside in the Sagebrush territory. Rosemont Middle School has 37 students, and CVHS has 68 students who reside in the Sagebrush area. In addition, 46 students who live in the Sagebrush area attend other schools within GUSD, including Clark Magnet High School, Verdugo Academy and dual immersion and special education self-contained classrooms at various other elementary schools, Roberson added.

It is important to note that families who have children living within the Sagebrush area can always petition GUSD to attend LCUSD. Petitions must be approved by both districts. The annual number of requests for transfers from GUSD to LCUSD has ranged between 20 and 31 students.

The idea of the territory transfer was first brought to GUSD by UniteLCF during the 2014-15 school year but the formal petition was presented during the 2015-16 school year, prior to Roberson’s hiring as the GUSD superintendent.

There were discussions at the district level as well as at CVTC community meetings.

“It would be important to note that GUSD, the City of La Cañada, and the petitioners hired an independent organization – Capital Advisors – to conduct a review of this specific territory transfer request,” Roberson said. “Capital Advisors indicated in its summary that a territory transfer from GUSD to LCUSD would have ‘significant impacts’ on the involved parties. The LACOE staff and their CEQA consultant noted a similar conclusion in their documents.”

LCUSD did not initiate the territory transfer; it was first brought to GUSD by UniteLCF. Although in early discussions there was talk of some form of compensation between the two districts, that is no longer a possibility. The LCUSD is not required to offer GUSD any compensation.

“Moreover, it is important for GUSD parents and stakeholders to understand that, if the transfer is approved, they will experience a property tax increase because the portions of Measure K and Measure S that are currently paid by the territory transfer residents will shift onto Crescenta Valley and Glendale residents,” Roberson said.

LCUSD will be impacted by the transfer as well, he added.

“The La Cañada/Flintridge community should be fully aware that LCUSD acknowledged facility/capacity challenges associated with having territory transferred from the GUSD to LCUSD. To receive the transfer students, LCUSD would need to readjust its current enrollment numbers, increase class sizes or drop portable classrooms onto their campuses,” he said.

There will be challenges for families in both districts if or when the transfer takes place.

“According to LACOE staff, students and families would have to transfer in the upcoming school year; however, an appeal to the state would delay this process,” Roberson added.

This final decision could go on for some time with either district having the power to appeal any decision. This would add about two years to the process, Roberson said.

“Two appeals have occurred in the past and both times the California State Board of Education supported the GUSD’s arguments that a transfer of territory from the GUSD to LCUSD does not meet the transfer criteria,” he said.

GUSD board and administration have looked at options of what to do if the transfer is approved.

“The board and administration would openly collaborate with our valued Mountain Avenue Elementary stakeholders to determine academically appropriate and fiscally sustainable options to continue providing an excellent program,” he said.

In informational community meetings about the territory transfer some parents were concerned about the fate of Mountain Avenue Elementary and specifically about the possibility of its changing to a FLAG (Foreign Language Academics of Glendale) school. This concerned neighbors due to the possibility of students being bused to the school, which is located in a quiet cul-de-sac.

Roberson said neither the district board nor the administration have any plans to make Mountain Avenue a FLAG school.

At times the debate for the territory transfer has become heated and personal; however, GUSD and LCUSD still work together and are supportive of each other, especially in the area of special needs student education. Both districts, along with Burbank, are part of the Foothill SELPA (Special Education Local Plan Area) and Glendale, La Cañada, Burbank, Pasadena and South Pasadena unified school districts are also part of the Five Star Coalition. Both programs focus on the special needs community.

“The GUSD and LCUSD maintain a positive relationship,” he said.

He pointed out that UniteLCF is the group that initiated the territory transfer, not LCUSD or GUSD. Roberson said at present transfers between the districts provides students with a choice.

“The UniteLCF petition takes away the choice and forces all students and families within the Sagebrush to leave the GUSD,” Roberson said.

Next week CVW will look at the La Cañada Flintridge side of the argument with a discussion with the LCUSD and Tom Smith of UniteLCF.

  Mary Okeefe