Survey: Majority of Pasadena Unified Parents Are “Happy” With Their Children’s Schools

[Editor’s Note: The original version of this story reported that the Educational Master Plan would be presented to the Board of Education next week. That schedule has been changed. Instead, the plan will be brought forward at the early start  of next year.]  

 

An overwhelming majority of parents whose children attend the public schools of the Pasadena Unified School District are happy with their children’s current school, according to a survey released Tuesday by the District.

The survey, done by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, said that a whopping 88% of parents are satisfied with their current schools. In addition, 75% of all parents and 81% of elementary school parents are satisfied with their elementary school choices. All categories of schools from high schools to elementary to middle schools showed overall positive ratings from parents, according to the survey.

“There are a lot of very satisfied parents in the Pasadena school district,” said Paul Goodwin, whose company gathered and reported the survey results.

The survey also found, however, that former parents who have enrolled their children in private or charter schools still have concerns about the district. Yet, 32% of those former parents also say they might consider returning to the District, and another 32% of private and charter school parents have also considered enrolling their students in a Pasadena Unified school.

The survey, released in English and Spanish, based its findings on two focus groups — current and former parents of PUSD schools. Within those two groups, the district further broke down the groups into current parents, former parents, private and charter parents, and pre-school parents, as well as results from a community-wide web survey.

Initiated in the face of declining enrollments in the Pasadena Unified District over the last few years, according to Associate Superintendent for School Support Services Mercy Santoro, it is part of the “community” component in the PUSD Master Plan, along with Instruction, Leadership, and Facilities.

“When a family starts out in PUSD, they often ask, ‘Where will I end?,’” said Santoro, who addressed a gathered group of parents at the PUSD Professional Development Center Tuesday evening.

“There is a great anxiety over school choices,” in various areas, she said. “We have not had a clear control over our K-12 pathway,” a condition which the district hopes to change as part of its new five-year Master Plan. The new five-year Educational Master Plan is due to come before the PUSD board for approval this week.

Santoro cited the slowing in birth rates, and an aging population as part of the declining of California school enrollments, reporting that that PUSD lost 1100 students from 2011 to 2014, but has since leveled off in the current year, with no losses.

“Something that is really important to PUSD is, ‘listening,’ and by being open an responsive,” said Santoro. “The only we can become a better district is by hearing the feedback and responding to the feedback and collaborating, and being accountable to the findings.”

Former PUSD parents in the survey expressed strong concerns about academics in the PUSD, from “boredom and lack of rigor,” to their children “slipping through the cracks,” and not finding a teacher of academic program that was right for them, according to the survey overview.

Former parents also said a factor in removing their children from PUSD schools was concern about their children’s safety and the “behavior of other children, ” according to the survey.

Large class sizes and a lack of responsiveness on the part of the district were cited by those parents who had removed their parents from PUSD schools.

Overall, parents wanted high-achieving, college-prep academies with smaller class sizes, enrichment such as music and art classes and a focus on college readiness. The survey found this concern all across the socioeconomic scale.

To see tghe survey results, click here.