Dear LCUSD Community,

I hope this email finds you well and that 2024 is off to a great start for you and your family. I have some important and timely news I wanted to share with you.

As you may know, a potential Sagebrush territory transfer from the Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) to the La Canada Unified School District has been in discussion for over 10 years. After many rounds of appeals, we are excited to share that the California State Board of Education (SBE) has finally agendized the issue for their Thursday, January 18, 2024 meeting and we expect that they will make a final decision on the matter after hearing from both sides.

The SBE reviews recommendations on the matter as put forward by the California Department of Education (CDE). In this case, the CDE has found in favor of the territory transfer and has recommended that the SBE reject Glendale's appeal of the LA County's decision in favor of the Sagebrush petitioners. LCUSD concurs with this recommendation.  However, the CDE is also recommending that the election area for the vote that would finalize the territory transfer would be the service areas of Crescenta Valley High School and La Canada High School.  This means, in effect, that GUSD voters would outnumber the La Canada voters by a 2:1 margin, and LCUSD shares the Sagebrush petitioners' concerns that such a voting area would make a final victory at the polls highly unlikely. 

The SBE will take public comment on the Sagebrush Territory Transfer agenda item until noon on Friday, January 12, 2024.  The Sagebrush Territory Transfer Petitioners have engaged a campaign to encourage supporters of the Territory Transfer to submit public comments.  LCUSD would like to encourage you to as well, especially by providing comments concerning the expanded election area and those which express details about how attending LCUSD schools as a united and close knit community (One City/One School District) may have benefited your child(ren).  Even if you have already submitted a comment, the issues below are critical to address, so please consider submitting another one addressing these.

If you would like to make a public comment to the SBE, please review the talking points and instructions below as prepared by the Sagebrush Territory Transfer Petitioners.

Thank you for your attention to this email and for all you do in support of LCUSD.

Sincerely,

Wendy Sinnette, LCUSD Superintendent

Summary of Critical Areas for Comment and Directions on How to Make a Public Comment:

This Friday, January 12th at Noon is the deadline to submit public comments for consideration by the State Board of Education (SBE) at its January 18th meeting. Below is the link and instructions.   The time is now and it would be greatly appreciated and significantly valuable if every supporter and family member voice their opinion and express their support for the transfer to the SBE.  Two important points for your consideration are included below for potential reference in your note to the SBE.

1)    Most critical: Express Your Preference and Reasons for the Election Area to Be Limited to Sagebrush. Although the CA Department of Education (CDE) recommends the territory transfer be approved and moved to an election, they also recommend that the Election Area be the service areas of Crescenta Valley High School and La Canada High School. That would, in effect, mean that GUSD voters would outnumber the La Canada voters by a 2:1 margin, making a final victory at the polls highly unlikely.   It is arguable that those most impacted by the territory transfer will be Sagebrush families as it involves their right to attend either school district and they would also now be subject to a new LCUSD parcel tax with a transfer.   There appears no rational basis why the CVHS area should be included in the voting area when according to the CDE less than 78 Sagebrush students attend CVHS and Rosemont Middle School. Moreover, having an unsupportable broad voting area does not serve the public good since such an imbalanced voter area lends itself to an unfair election.  If you support the above rationale, please let the SBE know that a fair and balanced Election Area is the only one that supports good Public Policy.

2)    Share Your Story of How Attending LCUSD Schools Has Benefited Your Kids.  Over the last 10 years, over 300 Sagebrush kids have attended LCUSD under permit.  We have argued that in addition to greater safety and access during an emergency, at the heart of this petition is the goal to bring equity to Sagebrush families. Unlike students who live in the City of Glendale or the town of La Crescenta, students who reside in our La Canada neighborhood community are not fully a part of it as they currently do not have the right to attend their community-focused hometown schools. While studies link strong social capital to improved student performance, Sagebrush is currently divided between two school districts, which is a barrier to unity and can lend itself to fragmentation within the community. The LCF City-School District collaboration is the social fabric and core of LCF’s community identity, which a transfer would greatly enhance. The transfer aims to permanently provide Sagebrush students with an equal and enriched educational experience.  A transfer would also provide Sagebrush students with a greater sense of wellness, belonging, and inclusion  - one which we hope all LCUSD students experience as a part of our close knit and familial district community.  The CDE in its report said “…the sense of support and community identity resulting from a transfer that has been identified by the petitioners promises substantial benefits for the transfer territory’s students.”  If you feel the same way, please let the SBE know.

LINK to Make Public Comment - SBE Public Comments Form (ca.gov)

• Enter you name and e-mail address

• For Agenda Item* select Item 19 – Appeal of an Action…

• Position on the Matter* select Oppose

• Comments* enter the following header Oppose GUSD Appeal & Support Territory Transfer

• Comments Attachment if you prefer to attach a letter rather than type in a comment, please use same header as noted above. You can upload a letter from your computer using the “Choose File” tab below the Comment Box and browse to the file location on your computer and then select “Open” much like you attach a file to an email.

Please reach out to family and friends across all of La Canada Flintridge and encourage them to send a note to the SBE by Noon on Friday, January 12th. Commenters are NOT limited to just Sagebrush residents. This is the critical opportunity to strongly express concerns and to clearly identify the expanded Voting Area as an unsupportable recommendation. 

Thank you again for your efforts in support of the Sagebrush Territory Transfer.