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Schools

Sierra Madre Voters Not Likely to Get Designated Seat on School Board

Sierra Madre will have its own seat on the "Task Force" charged with creating election sub-districts, though not necessarily on the PUSD board.

The Pasadena City Council and Pasadena Unified School District moved forward with plans to implement geographic sub-districts for the election of school board members, but it's not clear whether Sierra Madre will get its own seat on the school board.

In a joint meeting Tuesday night, the City Council and school board agreed to create a nine-member task force that will handle both a special election to amend the city charter to allow for seven sub-districts and the creation of those districts, assuming the charter amendment is approved by voters.

The task force will include three members appointed by the Pasadena City Council, three by the PUSD, one by the Sierra Madre City Council and two appointed by L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich to represent the unincorporated areas of the district, such as Altadena.

Elisa Weaver, director of community and personnel services for Sierra Madre, was on hand to represent the city on what she termed a “fact-finding mission.” Weaver said she would be presenting the plan to the City Council at its meeting on March 8.

Despite the task force’s inclusion of representatives from Altadena and Sierra Madre, the new sub-districts will not necessarily take those boundaries into account. Instead, division of the PUSD into geographic sub-districts will be based on demographic data collected in the 2010 census.

“I know there’s been some discussion floating around [asking], 'Does this mean there would be an Altadena sub-district or a Sierra Madre sub-district?''” PUSD Board Member Ed Honowitz said. “There’s, like, 200,000 people within the district, and if we divide it evenly by seven it’s not going to fall exactly like that. There won’t be a separate city of Sierra Madre representative, for instance.”

Pasadena City Clerk Mark Jomsky echoed the sentiment, saying that determining the sub-district boundaries is “going to be part of the demographers role in carving up the population of the school district” and there are “definitely a number of different ways to establish boundaries.”

While the charter amendment allowing for the creation of the sub-districts will be put before PUSD voters in a special election slated for June 5, 2012, its passage by voters is in no way guaranteed. In fact, a similar measure seeking to establish sub-districts failed in 2000 when Measure BB was rejected by a slim margin.

John Pappalardo, the PUSD chief finance officer, blamed that initiative's failure on the lack of “enabling legislation,” which he said is now in place following the 2003 passage of the California Voter’s Rights Act. Pappalardo said the board would have the task force “look at the language of that time” and “weigh in on whether it does comply with the Voters’ Rights Act and make any changes that might be necessary. So, actually, we’ll be building upon that work that was already done,” he added.

Currently, the district elects its seven member board in a single at-large election, a system that could expose the district to legal action under the terms of the 2003 California Voter’s Rights Act.

“There have been districts that have been sued even as they were trying to comply with making the change,” Honowitz said. “We’re taking the approach that this is right on a number of levels and as we move forward we want to implement it effectively.”

Though the process of forming the task force, drawing the new boundaries and holding an election to amend the charter could cost more than $500,000, City Council and PUSD board members agreed it was important to move forward, despite the cost.

“It’s cheaper than a lawsuit,” PUSD Board Member Renatta Cooper said.

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