Meeting to map out Glendale school district’s future draws few residents

Shortly after a meeting was slated to start on Thursday night about Glendale Unified’s shift to a voting-district system for elections, the only people in attendance were the few school officials facilitating the meeting as well as three language translators and the school district’s demographer, Douglas Johnson.

After several minutes, Luis Gomez was the first local resident to show up at the first community meeting to gather input about how the district should plot the new districts as part of Glendale Unified’s shift from its current at-large voting system in which school board members are elected to seats regardless of where they live in the city.

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Gomez said his participation in the meeting was important. “I think that without people’s voice or presence, we have nothing,” he said.

Two more men and three women arrived after him, but the overall low turnout was not a surprise for Johnson, who is president of National Demographics Corp. and has assisted hundreds of school districts and cities in switching from an at-large voting system to a district-based one.

He attributed the small attendance to the fact that the switch Glendale Unified is making is one that was not triggered by local residents, but one brought on by a lawsuit filed by Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman, who sued Glendale Unified for allegedly violating the state’s Voting Rights Act.

As part of reaching a settlement with Shenkman, Glendale Unified must adopt new voting districts and seek input from residents about how the districts should be formed.

Johnson created drafts of four maps and asked each resident to vote on which one they liked best by placing a blue sticker on their preferred map. The maps are also posted on the district’s website, gusd.net.

By the end of the meeting, Draft A received 12 blue stickers, while Draft D had six stickers and Draft B received one. No one put a sticker on Draft C.

Johnson will ask residents to vote at additional community meetings, and he will provide the feedback to school board members before they vote to adopt one of the maps in May.

For Adams Hill resident Joal Ryan, the change in the district’s voting method is exciting.

Currently, not one school board member lives in south Glendale.

“I’m excited about the prospect of south Glendale having representation,” she said.

A community meeting on the proposed voting districts will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday in the board room at the school district’s headquarters, located at 223 N. Jackson St.

A third meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the auditorium at Crescenta Valley High School, 4400 Ramsdell Ave., La Crescenta, followed by a final meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the auditorium at Toll Middle School, 700 Glenwood Road.

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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com

Twitter: @kellymcorrigan

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