GLENDALE : Vote on District Boundaries Denied

A proposed election on a shift in the boundaries between school districts in Glendale and La Canada Flintridge was rejected Friday by state education trustees.

“The (7-1) vote today basically throws the case out,” said Vic Pallos, spokesman for the Glendale Unified School District.

Glendale district officials had appealed to the state Board of Education after a Los Angeles County school district organization committee voted to let residents decide on the proposed boundary shift, Pallos said.

The measure was part of a plan by some La Canada Flintridge parents whose children attended Mountain Avenue Elementary School in Glendale. Most of them live in the Sagebrush area, and they wanted to have district boundaries redrawn so their children can attend Palm Crest Elementary School in La Canada Flintridge.

The proposal would have affected 241 students attending Mountain Elementary, Rosemont Middle School and Crescenta Valley High School, Pallos said. That would have meant a $788,000 loss for the Glendale district and an $838,400 gain for the La Canada Flintridge district, according to county and state reports.

Sagebrush Coalition members who pushed for the plan couldn’t be reached for comment. But La Canada district Supt. Jim Davis said he was disappointed with the state vote.

“We would have liked to have seen the city boundaries and the district school boundaries made one so that all of the students who live in La Canada can attend La Canada school,” Davis said. “It makes sense in a small community.”

Parents who fought against the plan applauded the state board’s decision.

“I was very pleased with the fact that our state board saw that the issue was education,” said Montrose resident Grace Chase, who has three children enrolled at Mountain Avenue Elementary.