Letter: Comparing GUSD to the Russian leader

The ongoing debate between the Glendale Unified School District and the La Cañada Unified School District brings to mind the struggle the world is experiencing with Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who is hell-bent on achieving power at the expense of logic and peace. It is difficult to understand this man’s motives. I also have the same difficulty trying to understand the motives of the Glendale school board members who are behaving in a very Putinistic manner in their negotiations with peace-loving LCUSD board members over the Sagebrush area transfer of students.

Like Putin, this group of so-called public servants keep upping the ante from an original $7 million to over $20 million with no justification apparent other than the fact that they wish to overcome the will of the people of Sagebrush who have for many years wanted to have their children attend La Cañada schools and be fully integrated in this community. Glendale’s tactic is to make the transfer untenable due to its ridiculous inflated dollar value.

The Sagebrush neighbors live in La Cañada Flintridge where they own their properties and where they identify with their neighbors as members of this community. Their only connection to Glendale is their forced association by having the education of their children controlled by the Glendale school board.

The whole mess smacks at unfairness and a power struggle at the expense of the Sagebrush families. The La Cañada school board has been very gentle and tried over the years to work peacefully, calmly and cooperatively with the bullies from Glendale; their patience seems endless, and now apparently unwarranted. They need to bite the bullet and go to the Los Angeles County Board of Education or the state of California for a ruling to end this long and tedious battle now.

I’ve lived in LCF 28 years and it seems this story has been in the news for at least that long. History has proven, time and time again, that you cannot negotiate with people like Putin who will tell you what you want to hear and then turn around and betray your goodness and sense of fairness. I really don’t like putting Putin and the GUSD in the same category, but if it quacks like a duck, it must be a duck.

Al Restivo

La Cañada Flintridge