By Mary O’KEEFE

The Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization approved the Sagebrush territory transfer petition in May but it still has a way to go before students move from Glendale Unified School District to La Cañada Unified School District.

Some history: Students living in the far west portion of La Cañada Flintridge, known as Sagebrush, currently attend GUSD schools, primarily Mountain Avenue Elementary School, Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High School or Clark Magnet High School. A grassroots organization, UniteLCF, composed of La Cañada residents, was formed so those who live within the Sagebrush area would transfer to the LCUSD to attend LCUSD schools. In 2016, a UniteLCF petition was submitted with 724 signatures, verified by the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office and accepted by the L.A. County Committee on School District Organization for the Sagebrush territory transfer. In May, the Committee gave the transfer a preliminary approval. It now goes through a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review to assess the environmental impact of the transfer. This review could take a year or longer.

“The process to begin the CEQA study is already underway. [LA County Office of Education] is developing a scope of work to start the process of selecting an environmental consultant to conduct the CEQA study,” stated Margo Minecki, LACOE spokesperson in an email response to CVW questions.

After the CEQA study is completed it will be presented to the county committee.

“At that time, they will vote to approve or deny the petition. If the committee approves the petition, it will determine the area for an election,” Minecki said.

The May meeting of the LACOE committee was long and, at times, a bit confusing. There was a committee member who recused himself from the vote and yet participated in the discussion, sharing his opinion from the panel prior to the vote. There was a recall or revisit of a vote of a condition when the board found their declining vote would result in the rejection of the entire petition and the territory transfer would not be approved. These issues concerned those from GUSD in attendance because when a petition is presented to LACOE there are state specifications that must be followed.

“The state education code does lay out criteria,” said Robert Oakes of the California Dept. of Education.

The criteria include that a petition must identify and meet nine standards or conditions. These conditions are then voted on by the local committee, he added.

“Nine standards must be met before it goes to the State Board of Education,” he said.

All nine standards must be met in order for the petition to move forward. At the May Sagebrush meeting, the initial vote did not pass Condition 7. That meant, according to the CDE, the petition would be rejected. This was a subject of confusion to some board members who were not certain that one rejection would affect the entire proposal.

“In general, this [criterion] has been in place for a long time,” Oakes said, “for more than 20 years.”

There have been some changes to the requirements/criteria; however, those concerned budget issues, he added.

According to Minecki, “The county committee is required to follow the Brown Act and Robert’s Rules of Order. The committee is allowed to revisit a vote during the same meeting in which the vote was cast. At its May 4 meeting, the committee passed a motion by a majority to revote on a matter related to the Sagebrush petition as allowed.”

During the May meeting, Joel Peterson, a LACOE Committee board member and a former member of the LCUSD governing school board, had recused himself from several votes but spoke on the subjects, or specific conditions, prior to the vote.

“County committee members who recuse themselves from voting on certain matters are free to participate in related discussions and offer their views. In fact, the perspective of committee members who live in or represent a community affected by a proposed change in school district boundaries is welcome,” Minecki said.

During the May meeting there was discussion of how many students attend the districts in question as well as how many permits were approved by the La Cañada Unified School District. Permits are approved, or not approved, by districts depending on space and specific district rules. The Allen Bill permits refer to students whose parents work full-time within the LCUSD boundaries. The districts retain the right to revoke any approved permits for a variety of reasons including false information provided on the permit paperwork, unacceptable behavior or irregular attendance.

Currently LCUSD enrollment is 4,137. Permitted students, those living outside of La Cañada, comprise just over 17% (or 733) of that enrollment, said Wendy Sinnette, LCUSD superintendent.

Of those permits, according to Sinnette, 70% (513) are permitted through the Allen Bill, 14% (106) are students living within the Sagebrush district, 16% (114) are children of LCUSD employees.

Other comments made during the meeting concerned teacher-to-student ratio within GUSD.

According to Kristine Nam, spokeswoman for GUSD, average student-to-teacher ratio in TK (transitional kindergarten) to third grade is 26-to-one; in grades four to six the average is 32 to 36 students to one teacher.

Currently, Nam said, there are 134 students from the Sagebrush area enrolled in Mountain Avenue Elementary. This does not take into consideration those who are enrolled in Rosemont Middle School or CVHS.

In the 2014-15 school year, 21 students who lived in the Sagebrush area requested to transfer to LCUSD; in 2015-16, 63 students requested permits and in 2016-17 there were 31 students.

“GUSD currently approves any permit from a student living in the transfer territory to transfer to LCUSD,” Nam said.

But that May meeting vote may not be the end as either party can appeal the decision. Those appeals will be heard by the State Board of Education. In the past 20 years there have been 13 cases of territory transfer brought to the CDE state board, Oakes said.

  Mary Okeefe