Glendale Unified warns that Sagebrush transfer could result in possible school closure
As Los Angeles County officials inch closer to deciding whether or not to transfer the Sagebrush territory out of Glendale Unified’s jurisdiction and into La Cañada Unified’s boundaries, Glendale school officials are warning residents about what they could stand to lose — and the list appears to be getting longer.
Last month, Glendale school officials said for the first time that if they were to lose the Sagebrush area to La Cañada Unified, it could result in 10 teacher layoffs, despite Glendale Unified avoiding any layoffs during several years of consecutive budget cuts.
This month, Glendale school officials issued a new warning: a possible school closure.
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The “potential closure of a district school” was listed as a reason for opposing the transfer of the Sagebrush area in a resolution the five Glendale school board members passed unanimously Tuesday night.
Glendale school officials also said the district would lose $2.7 million annually in state enrollment funds tied to the Sagebrush students who would transfer districts.
Currently, the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization is weighing whether or not to transfer the Sagebrush area of La Cañada Flintridge into that city’s school district.
The citizens group Unite LCF submitted a petition to the county committee to consider the transfer, which is supported by La Cañada city and school officials.
Glendale Unified’s latest warning over a potential school closure comes slightly more than two years after Glendale school officials assured parents during a public forum in August 2014 that a school closure would not occur in a potential Sagebrush transfer.
At the time, La Cañada and Glendale school officials were still negotiating whether or not to transfer the territory, and Glendale school officials held a public forum at Mountain Avenue Elementary School to answer questions from parents.
Officials then typed up residents’ questions raised at the forum as well as responses to them and posted them online.
In that document, the 19th question asked: “Is Mountain [Avenue Elementary] in jeopardy of closing if GUSD loses in an adversarial process with Sagebrush?”
The answer: “No.”
The Glendale school board’s vote to oppose the transfer came before them the night prior to the second of two public hearings on the matter.
The second hearing presided by the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Organization will begin at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the MacDonald auditorium at Crescenta Valley High School, 4400 Ramsdell Ave.
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Kelly Corrigan, kelly.corrigan@latimes.com
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
