By Mary O’KEEFE

The territory transfer between Glendale and La Cañada unified school districts has been debated and discussed for decades. In 2016 a group called UniteLCF, composed of La Cañada residents, submitted 724 verified signatures to the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization in favor of a territory transfer. The School District Organization accepted the petition and, after a vote, the transfer was approved preliminarily; however, that does not mean the transfer is happening anytime soon, or that the debate has ended. All interested parties are awaiting the next time the subject will be on the agenda of the School District Organization.

The area in question is at the far west side of La Cañada Flintridge, west of Rosebank Drive to Pickens Canyon. This is known as the Sagebrush area because “years ago, it was a patch of sagebrush, which parents on both sides did not want their children to walk through,” said Jeannie Roeper, former LCUSD school board member and former petitioner, at one of the public forums held to discuss the issue.

Sagebrush shares the La Cañada zip code and town name, but falls within the boundaries of the Glendale school district.

Recently CVW interviewed then-Glendale Unified School District Superintendent Winfred Roberson Jr. about the issue of the territory transfer [see CVW, Jan. 24, 2019].

CVW reached out via email to LCUSD Superintendent Wendy Sinnette asking similar questions on the subject.

“The possibility of a territory transfer in its current iteration began in July 2013 when Scott Tracy [then LCUSD governing board president], Dr. Richard Sheehan [then GUSD superintendent], Greg Krikorian [GUSD board member] and I met for the first time and jointly made a commitment to do everything possible to avoid disruption to students, families and local schools in relation to the petition being put forward by Sagebrush residents. This led to the permissive student transfer agreement which is currently in place,” Sinnette said.

Each district has points of concern over how this issue would affect its students, parents and schools. One is enrollment. There are many districts, including Glendale and La Cañada, facing declining enrollment in schools of all levels. Sinnette said the governing board of LCUSD has been proactive in its research and managing this trend.

“Over 20 years ago, LCUSD had a demographic study performed and the board determined that it would intentionally manage enrollment and prevent it from declining by engaging the permit process. LCUSD began to permit students via the Allen Bill – employment-related permits – ensuring that parents who worked within the community would be intrinsically involved in our community and share a direct and positive desire to engage in activities and promote the success of our schools,” she said.  “Similarly, we have expanded our permitting process to include residents of the territory, again with the understanding that residents of La Cañada who live in the Sagebrush area naturally strengthen the potential for children’s educational outcomes via their ties as families within the community.”

One of the comments from GUSD was LCUSD did not have the infrastructure to accommodate the influx of Sagebrush students if the territory transfer took place and it would adversely affect those presently-permitted students; however, Sinnette disputes that assumption.

“If the territory was to transfer, the immediate impact would be a decrease in the number of Allen Bill permits offered; there would be an offset, but this would only be the reality in the initial year or two. Allen Bill permits would continue at their current levels after that,” she said.

Sinnette pointed out LCUSD already has enrolled 215 Sagebrush students.

“According to GUSD, Mountain Avenue Elementary School has 84 Sagebrush students,” she said. “This past year we enrolled 181 permit students; 59 were Sagebrush.”

Sinnette added the district would be able to accommodate Sagebrush and Allen Bill permit students if the territory transferred.

“Even at the earliest enactment of a transfer, we would still have another year to continue to enroll Sagebrush students via the permit process,” she said. “I would anticipate that there would be numerous families who would elect to remain with GUSD and those inter-district transfer requests would be honored. So, the financial structure of the district would remain relatively consistent as would our structural/housing capacity.”

Permitted students make up a total of 789, with 215 students from the Sagebrush area.

“Those students who are on a permit who are not Sagebrush students would be unaffected by the territory transfer,” she added.

Another area of concern voiced by GUSD representatives is future Sagebrush students would not be able to use their permit status to move from LCUSD to GUSD if the territory is transferred.

“The [LCUSD] governing board has committed in a recently revised resolution which supports the territory transfer that LCUSD would release all students in the Sagebrush territory who desired to remain in GUSD schools,” she said.

She added the commitment by LCUSD to release students via the inter-district permit process would also be extended to siblings of Sagebrush residents attending GUSD schools once they reach school-age, if requested.

If the territory transfer is not approved, LCUSD will not be the entity that will appeal; that decision would be left to the petitioners – UniteLCF.

Sinnette was in agreement
with former GUSD Superintendent Winfred Roberson Jr. that the two districts continue to have a “very positive and very collegial” relationship. She added that she, as well as the LCUSD governing board, has the “utmost respect” for the GUSD board and the entire district.

There would be a financial impact to residents in the Sagebrush area. According to Sinnette, LCUSD’s current annual parcel tax is $450.

“Residents would also be included in our Measure LC General Obligation Bond – but the amount they are currently paying in GO bonds to GUSD is equivalent, and they would no longer have that tax obligation,” she added.

  Mary Okeefe