Pasadena Unified School Board Meeting Thursday Includes Consideration of 5-Day Muir Basketball trip to Las Vegas

The Board of Education of the Pasadena Unified School District will meet on Thursday, October 27, to discuss and decide on a number of academic and business issues, facility improvement and personnel and policy matters.

The meeting will include a public hearing to encourage public comment and participation on a proposal from the California School Employees
Association Pasadena Chapter 434 to amend some articles within its Collective Bargaining Agreement with PUSD.

Among some academic decisions that have to be made are a recommendation to ratify the Memorandum of Understanding between PUSD and Reading Partners, a national educational nonprofit that assigns community volunteers to work with students that need help on their reading skills.

Reading Partners will be working with seven PUSD schools for the 2016-2017 school year: Cleveland Elementary, Don Benito Elementary, Jackson Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Longfellow Elementary, Madison Elementary and Washington Elementary.

Under the program, the schools will contribute cash amounting to $20,000 to $25,000 to Reading Partners, in addition to donating space that Reading Partners uses for the school year, and support services including janitorial and maintenance.

The Board of Education will also act on a recommendation to approve PUSD participation in the Career Pathway Teacher Development grant from the California State University Los Angeles (CSULA). The grant provides funding for training teachers and paying substitute teachers during the academic year.

From the grant, PUSD stands to receive $73,000 per year, or a total of $292,000 over four years until 2020 for teacher development programs.

Meanwhile, PUSD is seeking Board approval for a trip by the John Muir High School basketball team to Las Vegas for a pre-season tournament that will last five days, and a series of overnight and weekend skill building and environmental education trips by students from the Center for Independent Studies and Rose City High School. Organized by Outward Bound Adventures, the trips are designed to engage PUSD students, particularly from the two schools, in environmental science and studies that could create a pathway towards careers in conservation.

On business-related matters, the Board of Education will discuss a number of consultant contracts, purchase orders and disbursements, and facilities improvement contracts at various PUSD schools.

The Board of Education meets with a closed session at 4 p.m. and a public session at 6 p.m. Meetings are held at PUSD’s Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room at 351 South Hudson Avenue in Pasadena.