Russell appointed to vacant seat on Glendale School Board

Glendale school officials appointed Sandy Russell to its board Wednesday night with a 3-1 vote after a series of televised interviews with five applicants vying for the seat.

“I’m humbled, I’m overwhelmed, and I’m excited…I’m very thrilled, and I’ll do what I can,” Russell said after the meeting was adjourned.

Russell will be sworn in on the board on Oct. 21, filling the seat left vacant when former board member Mary Boger resigned in August.

School board member Armine Gharpetian cast her vote for Jason Nyhan. The three others, Christine Walters, Nayiri Nahabedian and President Greg Krikorian voted for Russell.

Russell is the immediate past president of the Glendale Council PTA, and began this school year as president of the Rosemont Middle School’s PTA. She told the board Thursday night she would not run in the April school board election, and had turned in a notarized letter in her application packet “where I swore I would not, in fact, run,” she said.

School board members Walters and Nahabedian said they would heavily consider each applicant’s intent on running when casting their votes because they preferred a candidate who wouldn’t seek the seat when it’s up for election in April.

Meanwhile, Krikorian said it was any of the candidate’s “God-given right” to run for election.

When questioned by the board, Todd Hunt and Elizabeth Manasserian said they were each undecided about running in 2015. However, parent Kevin Cordova-Brookey said he had considered it. Fellow applicant Jason Nyhan said he would run if asked by each of the board members when the temporary term was up. Otherwise, he said, he would find other ways to serve Glendale schools.

In the end, Nyhan and Russell surfaced as the top two contenders, although school board members repeated that each candidate was attractive for the post.

“Each one is more excellent than the other,” Nahabedian said.

Each of the candidates cited their involvement in Glendale schools, their willingness to boost parent participation, keep an eye on finances and strengthen collaboration with city and community leaders, all the while focusing on the district’s students and educators.

During the first round of voting, Hunt received three votes, along with Nyhan. Manasserian got two votes and Russell garnered four. Cordova-Brookey did not get a single vote.

A second round of voting broke the tie between Nyhan and Hunt with Nyhan receiving three votes and Hunt getting one.

In the final voting among the four board members, Russell garnered three votes and Nyhan received one.

Russell comes to the board with many years of PTA experience, stemming from when her now seventh-grade son was a young student at Mountain Avenue Elementary. She also lives in what is perhaps the most heavily debated area served by Glendale Unified today — the Sagebrush area of La Cañada Flintridge.

While the long-disputed Sagebrush territory did not arise as a direct question to any of the candidates, it is expected to return to the Glendale school board’s discussion soon as members continue to mull over whether they will vote for a negotiated transfer of the territory and hand it over to La Cañada Unified.

Also, the district continues to face ongoing budget hurdles as educators and stakeholders decide how to spend state dollars over the next several years under the state’s new funding method for schools.

Russell herself served on the committee that drafted a three-year spending plan, known as the Local Control and Accountability Plan, earlier this year.

In her closing remarks Wednesday, Russell said serving on the board will make her a better advocate for children.

“I understand our process — who we are and how we run,” she said of the school district. “And I’m ready to go today.”