Pasadena Board of Education Considers Re-Opening Linda Vista School

Realizing a new enrollment stability in the Pasadena Unified School District as well as increased demands for programs at San Rafael School which driving the need for an expanded campus, the Pasadena Unified Board Thursday will consider the possibility and timeline for the reopening of Linda Vista Elementary School.

According to the staff report, reopening the Linda Vista campus with a Dual Language Immersion program would allow future expansion beyond the current San Rafael School campus, which is currently at capacity.

Nearly a year ago, the Board of Education voted to rescind its previous declaration of the San Rafael Elementary School as surplus, and subsequently authorized staff to move forward with modernization of the site.

An October 2015 report by Earth Systems of Southern California indicated that active faults are not present within the depth and location explored at the campus, and the potential for surface fault rupture at the site during the design life of the existing structures is considered to be very low. “The effects of ground shaking in the event of a large earthquake or a nearby earthquake can be mitigated by proper engineering design and construction in conformance with current building codes and engineering practices,” the report stated.

“I am delighted that the board has removed San Rafael Elementary School from surplus consideration, and given direction to staff to proceed with modernization design planning. West Pasadena will keep its popular public elementary school, and I look forward to its further growth and success in providing families with an excellent educational program,” said District 7 Board Member Scott Phelps at the time.

“This is a testament to the school’s strong parental support, the community’s strong 7-11 committee and its recommendation to do further seismic evaluation, and the leadership of Superintendent McDonald and Chief Facilities Officer Nelson Cayabyab.” Phelps added.

According to Mercy Santoro, associate superintendent for the PUSD, Linda Vista was one of several schools which had closed over the last decade because of dramatically declining enrollments.

Now, said Santoro, the Pasadena Unified Board will “look a little more closely at what the opportunities are at Linda Vista, because the San Rafael school is at capacity. It’s a school of choice, and people are applying from all over the district to attend that school, and it always fills up, we never have enough spots available.”

“What we’re finding,” Santoro continued, “is that more and more families are also moving in to that area of the community, and are very interested in attending a PUSD school, which in the recent past, has not always been the case. They were exercising other options for private schools, but now they are calling us, and attending community meetings. They may have a three year-old, or are planning to move in to the area with the intention of wanting to see their child in a public school.”

According to Santoro, there is a strong interest in expanding the pre-school program at San Rafael as well.

Based on the boards’ acceptance of the staff recommendation, a group of local residents, including members of the West Pasadena Residents’ Association, in the Linda Vista area will work with staff and begin looking at options and various types of programming for Linda Vista, and bring a more formal study before the board in February of 2017.

“We’re just at the beginning of this inquiry,” said Santoro.