By Charly SHELTON

Nov. 2 saw the final Sagebrush forum to discuss a possible territory transfer with the public at-large. Held in Crescenta Valley High School’s MacDonald Auditorium, the forum brought the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization, a committee of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, to the public and heard their support or opposition to the proposed transfer.

This was the most recent step in the territory transfer process that started in 2013. The area west of Rosebank Drive in La Cañada to Pickens Canyon is known as the Sagebrush territory 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. Sagebrush shares the La Cañada zip code and town name, but falls within the school district of Glendale. As of August of this year, there were about 356 students from Sagebrush attending Glendale Unified School District schools. The hope of UniteLCF, the pro-transfer movement, is to have the Sagebrush territory transferred into the La Cañada Unified School District officially so the families in that area can send their children to La Cañada schools. UniteLCF started a petition, which gathered 724 verified signatures, that was filed with the L.A. County Registrar’s Office, which moved the case to the LACCSDO for review and decision. It mandated two public forums be held to gather public opinion – one in LCUSD, which was held on Oct. 26, and last week’s in GUSD territory held at CVHS.

From both sides of the issue, sentiments were fairly uniform. Those who wanted to keep Sagebrush in GUSD felt that the transfer would adversely impact the children and families of the district and promote division among the community.

“As parents, we all want what is best for our children. We want to give all of our children a better life and a better future than we experienced. We want to protect our children from harm. And when I look around this room – is this territory transfer really uniting the community? I really think it’s dividing us. If we sacrifice one child’s education for the benefit of another child, are we doing our job? Are we serving our community?” asked James Bodnar, GUSD parent.

Bodnar recalled that at the first public forum UniteLCF chair and former La Cañada resident Tom Smith compared Sagebrush and GUSD to the biblical David and Goliath.

“I want to stress this one point, because David and Goliath has been brought up – this is not David and Goliath. There’s no war here. This transfer is more about the judgment of King Solomon, where one proponent is proposing to split a community,” Bodnar said. “Please don’t split the community,”

On the other side of the issue were the proponents of transfer. Their sentiments were fairly uniform as well, echoing the small size and minimal impact of Sagebrush, the lack of community cohesiveness and the greed of GUSD.

“Last week I talked about issues that happened with my daughter. Since then I’ve gone home and thought about what the real issue is – it’s all about the almighty dollar. I have heard four different superintendents in 20 years talk about cost,” said Carol Mollettte, Sagebrush resident. “I looked at some school board reports the other night. On March 18, 2016 on page 34, the truancy rate at Glendale Unified School District was 4%. Sagebrush is 1%. I would like them to talk about being connected. They talk about every child matters, but the 4% truancy rate – that’s four times the volume [of students] lost.”

Some attendees at the forum cited various other reasons that the transfer should or should not happen. One Sagebrush resident, Bob Tanagi, voiced his opinion on why Sagebrush students should not have to matriculate through GUSD schools, including Crescenta Valley High.

“Another [point] to summarize the curriculum of Glendale schools: CV High is publishing a letter called Ally, which seems to promote transgenderism and I’m sure there are some nefarious forces behind that agenda that’s encouraging that type of social integrating platform,” Tanagi said.

Tanagi referred to the Ally newsletter sent out by the Gay-Straight Alliance Club at Crescenta Valley High School and the Rainbow Gems Club at Rosemont Middle School, which fosters support between LGBTQ students and their peers.

The next step in the territory transfer process will be for the LACCSDO to make its decision on whether the transfer will
move forward. It will have 120 days from the Nov. 2 forum to
make its decision. It will announce that decision at a LACCSDO monthly meeting
held at the LACOE offices in Downey. For more information on the Sagebrush issue, visit CVWeekly.com and search ‘Sagebrush.’

  Charly Shelton