Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education President Tina Fredericks created her own consolidation plan that proposed closing six schools, public records show.
According to records revealed in a published report, Fredericks created the plan last fall before the Board of Education voted to formally begin exploring school mergers with a third-party consultant. The documents highlighted in the report showed discussions among trustees that have sparked questions over whether schools mergers were determined before a special committee convened to explore the idea.
And they have prompted calls for the resignation of trustees.
Records obtained by the Southern California News Group shed more light on the scope of the plan, and its details.
Fredericks’ plan, explained in a 28-page slideshow titled, “Pasadena Unified School District Consolidation Plan” included the following proposed mergers:
- Reduce 13 elementary schools to 10 elementary schools. Close Don Benito, Norma Coombs and Altadena Arts Magnet
- Reduce six middle schools to three middle schools. Close McKinley School, Blair and Eliot Arts Magnet. Convert Marshall to a sixth-eighth grade school.
- Reduce four high schools to two high schools. Close Blair and Marshall ninth-12th grades.
In a previous slide, titled “The Board’s Moment to Lead in Fiscal Solvency,” Fredericks summarized the district’s recent financial struggles and referenced the Los Angeles County Office of Education warning it could take receivership of the district if PUSD did not take the necessary steps.
Fredericks said reducing its workforce is a reactive approach to the problem rather than being proactive.
“The current fiscal crisis is an opportunity for PUSD to offer a new long-term vision for its educational offerings that aligns its facilities long-term plan with student enrollment forecasts,” Fredericks wrote.
Parents in opposition of school mergers took issue with Fredericks’ proposal of merging Blair and Marshall high school students with Pasadena High School, which would create a campus of more than 2,600 students and the need for additional portable classrooms, per the plan.
“It creates overcrowding, higher likelihood of student conflict and fights, harder for students to get the classes they need to graduate in the master schedule, and less opportunity to participate in the academies and advanced placement classes,” PUSD parent Dawn Denison said in an email. “The social toll will be greater too – less opportunity to participate in leadership roles like student government, and fewer spots in the musicals, band, theatre, and varsity sports teams that make the high school experience memorable for so many.”
Last week, facing fierce pushback from parents, the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee voted against the following merger scenarios proposed by Total School Solutions, a consulting firm that contracted with PUSD:
- Merge Don Benito Elementary School to Willard Elementary School
- Merge Norma Coombs Elementary School to Webster Elementary School
- Merge Eliot Arts Magnet and McKinley School and close McKinley (TK-5). McKinley students would go to Hamilton, Madison or Washington
- Merge Thurgood Marshall Secondary School with Pasadena High School and Marshall sixth-eighth grade stays at Marshall
- Merge Blair ninth-12th with Muir High School and Blair sixth-eighth with Octavia E. Butler Middle School
Following the publication of internal communications, the Board of Education held a special closed session meeting regarding anticipated litigation. The Board took no reportable action.
The next regular Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 28, where it will be presented with the consolidation committee’s feedback and a draft equity analysis report. The Board of Education has the final say on any potential school mergers and is expected to take a final vote on the topic on Thursday, June 25.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.