Pasadena Unified School District students returned to campuses Monday, Aug. 17, marking the first day of the 2026-27 school year.
Like for districts across the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier areas, the return to classes was a celebration of sorts, complete with smiles and greetings for youngsters.
For Pasadena, in particular, it also marked a moment as the district works to get beyond recent controversies.
At Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School students and parents gathered by the front gates of the TK-2nd grade entrance, which opened around 7:40 a.m. School staff including second-year principal Reyna Uka greeted students and helped point them in the right direction to their classroom.
“It’s just very exciting to see faces again,” Uka said. “It was a very lonely campus over the summer, so it’s good to see kids saying, ‘Hi, Ms. Uka!’”
Washington was one of several campuses that required soil remediation work to be conducted over the summer break after contaminants were found during tests done after the Eaton fire. One garden area will remain closed as the school year begins to allow for restoration work to be completed.
At 10 other district sites where remediation was required, some of the work was not fully completed by the time students returned to campus. The sites include: Blair High School, Cleveland Elementary site, PUSD Education Center, Field Elementary School, Franklin Elementary, Jefferson Children’s Center, Longfellow Elementary, John Muir High, Octavia E. Butler Magnet and San Rafael Elementary School.
Local advocates and the city of Pasadena pushed back against the district’s remediation plan because it included removing more than 100 trees located in contaminated soil.
According to the district, the contaminated soil has already been removed. The area will be closed off to students as landscape restoration is completed. Washington has plenty of green on its campus with several native gardens for students as part of the school’s environmental studies on offer.
The school grows tomatoes, watermelon, squash, strawberries and kale, to name a few.
“Being a school that has an environmental studies theme, the idea is that students understand their place in their environment,” Uka said. “The interaction between humans and nature.”
Inside Ana Vasquez’s first-grade classroom, Vasquez invited her students to raise their hands to introduce themselves and share with the class some fun facts about them. Excited hands shot into the air and the class greeted each student in unison when they said their name.
Several students stopped to take a photo with Wes the coyote, the school’s mascot, before making their way inside the school.
“I want to continue growing our school community and continue creating a place where students feel safe and thrive,” Uka said. “Both socially and emotionally and academically as well.”
The first bell of the school year rang out at 7:50 a.m. ringing in the new school year. It’s been a challenging summer and recent months for PUSD, which has struggled with maintaining public trust in the face of school merger talks, budget cuts and more than 100 tree removals.
Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco, who greeted students and parents Monday, touted the work done to remediate Washington’s garden that was closed down all of last year due to contaminated soil.
Despite a slew of cuts to the central office and school based services in the current fiscal year budget, Blanco said the district has been able to bring some cut positions back thanks in part to the Pasadena Educational Foundation and some individual school resources.
“We’re going to have to wait and see how it works out, but I think we’re going to have a great year and we will support our teachers and classrooms,” Blanco said. “That’s always the first priority that we have for the school district.”
More than 18 months after the Eaton fire forced students to be relocated to a different campus, Altadena Arts Magnet students returned to their home campus Monday to start the school year. The campus did not suffer any fire damage, but was located around several burned homes and required smoke remediation.
At John Muir Early College Magnet High School on Monday morning, Muir alum Brandon Lamar hosted the annual community welcome for Muir students. School leaders, community members, alumni and civic leaders lined the walkway leading into the school to cheer students on their first day.
Los Angeles Rams’ mascot Rampage and team cheerleaders joined in the welcoming party in front of the school.
“I really love what we have going here at John Muir … I feel like this [celebration] might be a bit larger and we have more alumni that come to this one, because that’s what this school is about, is this rich history and tradition, and alumni, and generational people that have gone to this school,” PTSA President and parent of a current Muir senior Jacqueline Kuykendall said.
Susan Macabitas Lee, a 1970 graduate of Muir, said she wanted students to have positivity about going to school and the value it can bring.
“This is really exciting to see them,” Lee said. “I know they don’t like smiling or paying attention, but I bet you when they go into the school they were excited to see us there. You want them to know that we support them. The community supports them. They’re not left on the wayside.”