LCUSD board meeting to consider Sagebrush transfer priorities

The La Cañada school board will hold a special meeting Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to discuss whether changes should be made to the process in which applications for transfer into the district are accepted.

Currently, LCUSD gives top priority to applications from children whose parents work full time and second priority to those who work part time for the district. Sagebrush families, those living in the westernmost portion of La Cañada, receive third priority, along with people who work in the city but aren’t residents.

The examination follows a request from a John Womack, a resident living in the Sagebrush area. Womack addressed the board Tuesday in a public comment.

He said that although he and his wife both work in La Cañada, his 6-year-old daughter would be forced to attend kindergarten at Glendale Unified School District’s Mountain Avenue Elementary School.

“If you work in La Cañada and you live in La Cañada, and you’re a member of this community, you’re way down at the bottom (of the list) with somebody who works here, but lives far away,” Womack said. “I don’t understand why we wouldn’t have priority.”

Previously, LCUSD offered enrollment to Sagebrush families beginning this fall, in anticipation that negotiations with GUSD to annex the territory would soon bear fruit. But when Glendale school officials began to backpedal, fearful a transfer would threaten Mountain Avenue, La Cañada Unified withdrew that offer.

Supt. Wendy Sinnette said any changes to the board’s policy on accepting transfer students would need to be made very soon.

“We have a significant permit application pool, and there are a lot of people who haven’t heard anything and are looking elsewhere at this point,” she said.

Tonight’s meeting will be held in the district’s Round Building at 4490 Cornishon Ave.