Vowing transparency, Pasadena Unified School District trustees voted 4-3 to approve a resolution designating a study session in August to review background and determine next directions of an ongoing district transformation process.
But the action came with pushback among the trustees over whether to proceed so soon after what became a tumultuous effort to consolidate schools.
Trustees Jennifer Hall Lee, Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Michelle Richardson Bailey voted no.
“We can look at all the alternatives,” said Trustee Kim Kenne who brought forward the resolution. “Keeping all the schools open with appropriate program reductions or reducing the number of schools and the pros and cons of each. We should help the community understand what those options look like and listen to their feedback on the options. The goal is for a process moving forward to be transparent and open to the community.”
The resolution “to Initiate a District Transformation Process” replaced an earlier resolution that kicked off the merger exploratory process. Trustees halted exploring school consolidation after months of advisory committee meetings and town halls that garnered public backlash, including two trustees being served with intent-to-recall notices due to alleged Brown Act violations.
“What I have tonight is questions about the district transformation process,” Emily Stow, Blair and Muir parent, said. “I’m wondering how we are going to rebuild trust; how we are going to engage the community; and how we are going to have a process that actually works, considering the past.”
In May, the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee voted against all of the proposed school merger scenarios from third party contractor Total School Solutions. The Board then rejected receipt of TSS’s equity impact analysis that found no student groups would be disproportionately impacted by any of the scenarios.
The three dissenting trustees said the Board of Education said it was not the time to jump into another transformation process and should instead look internally at what has caused a fracturing of community trust in district leadership.
“We need to spend internal work together going through that process,” Marshall McKenzie said.
The controversial process was kickstarted last fall amid a $30 million budget shortfall and financial struggles that prompted Los Angeles County education officials to signal risks of county intervention. Major preceding and subsequent cuts across district levels were spearheaded by years of enrollment decline, structural deficit, rising costs, and uncertainty in federal funding.
“I felt that we weren’t always as clear as possible as we could have been this last year on the budget cuts because we made those cut decisions in November, but I think it took until the spring for a lot of people to realize what their schools would be missing next year,” Kenne said.
During initial public comment, more than 12 speakers spoke on the ongoing process, the majority in opposition to school closure. Student board representative Katherine Bleeker likened the board consolidation process to “pouring salt on an unhealed wound.”
“If the board was truly prioritizing student input, it would not be considering consolidation at this time,” Bleeker said. “This consolidation process has caused students unnecessary stress, fear, and anxiety.”
The resolution directs district officials to prepare local enrollment context, projected enrollment data, school site capacity reports and site staffing levels at an Aug. 13 study session.
“We understand there are intense financial pressures but we can be intentional about how we proceed so we can protect vulnerable kids from bearing the brunt of these decisions … includ[ing] beyond race but special education students, LGBTQIA+ students,” PUSD stakeholder Fiona Burgos said. “We need detailed plans before decisions are made on which consolidations to do on how exactly these would work.”
Thursday’s meeting was streamed live on the KLRN Pasadena YouTube channel.
Staff Writer David Wilson contributed to this report.