Sagal takes lead of La Cañada Unified school board

David Sagal was named La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board president last Thursday, when the panel reorganized in a special meeting and elected officers for 2016.

Board member Dan Jeffries will serve as vice president, while Kaitzer Puglia was appointed clerk.

Sagal was first elected to the board in 2013. The father of three children who all went through LCUSD schools — son Boris, now 24, 19-year-old daughter Nora, and son Finn, a 15-year-old La Cañada High School sophomore — Sagal said he ran for office not out of a desire to change it, but rather to preserve its good work.

“When I was running for office, people would say, ‘What are you going to change?’” he recalled Wednesday. “It’s not so much what I would change, it’s about managing all the goals we’re trying to achieve right now.”

Among those goals, Sagal named the district’s continuing transition to Common Core learning standards and its commitment to districtwide technological improvements as chief areas of concentration. He also said he supported strengthening music programs and replacing the high school’s track and field.

“It’s a great board and a great administration, and I’m really looking forward to an exciting year,” he said.

New officers will take their seats at the board’s next meeting on Jan. 12.

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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com

Twitter: @SaraCardine