By Charly SHELTON

A decision regarding the Sagebrush territory transfer between the school districts in the cities of La Cañada and Glendale may finally be in sight.

The Sagebrush debate has been going on sporadically since the 1960s, with this current campaign beginning 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, at one of the public forums. Sagebrush shares the La Cañada zip code and town name, but falls within the school district of Glendale. As of August 2016, there were about 356 students from Sagebrush attending GUSD schools. The hope of UniteLCF, the pro-transfer movement, is to have Sagebrush transferred into LCUSD officially so the families of that area can send their children to La Cañada schools. GUSD was in transfer negotiations with UniteLCF and LCUSD several years ago, but has since declined to negotiate any further as an agreement between sides could not be met. GUSD has, however, pledged to approve any releases requested by Sagebrush families who wish to send their students to LCUSD schools by permit.

According to GUSD enrollment data in its Sagebrush FAQ packet, over the last five years 147 Sagebrush students have been released by GUSD to attend LCUSD in an effort to “mitigate the upheaval of a forced transfer for the families in the Sagebrush territory who choose to continue attending GUSD schools.” This is in addition to the 356 who still attend GUSD.

The end of negotiations led to the formation of UniteLCF, which began to circulate a petition for transfer that gathered 724 verified signatures and was filed with the County Registrar’s Office. The case was submitted to the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization at the Los Angeles County Office of Education. It began proceedings on the matter in September and ordered that two public forums be held, one in each district, to gather input from residents on the proposed transfer. Forums were held in October and November, giving the LACCSDO 120 days from Nov. 2 to render its final verdict.

Now, after 89 days, the decision will be announced at the next LACCSDO meeting on Feb 2 at the LACOE in Downey. Some opponents and proponents of the transfer have hinted, sometimes subtly, sometimes blatantly, that if the decision doesn’t find in their favor, it will be appealed at the state level. Whether this further appeal happens will remain to be seen.

For now, all parties are waiting to see what the decision will be.

“The Board is waiting for a decision from the LA County Committee on the territory transfer and will determine next steps once a decision has been made. In the meantime, we are focused on student learning,” said Kristine Nam, Communications director for Glendale Unified School District.

For more on the Sagebrush issue, visit CVWeekly.com and search “Sagebrush.”

  Charly Shelton