Pasadena Unified School Board Will Meet Thursday Evening

Pasadena Unified’s Board of Education is on track to adopt two resolutions on Thursday, January 26, one calling for the celebration of National African American History Month in February, and another declaring January 30 of every year as Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution at all schools within the district.

Resolution 2388 will require the PUSD Superintendent to work will all schools in the District to recognize and celebrate the event “through culturally relevant activities and through in-depth programs” in the month of February. The celebration became a national event starting in 1976 when Black History Month was officially recognized by the U.S. government.

With the other resolution, Resolution 2389, the Board of Education encourages all schools and teachers to observe the Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution on January 30, or the days surrounding it, for each school year.

Korematsu was a first-generation Japanese-American who was convicted for defying evacuation orders during World War II when 120,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated. Korematsu’s conviction was ultimately overturned in 1984, a decision that influenced the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

During its meeting on Thursday, the Board of Education will also approve the submission of an application for the “Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities” grant competition of the U.S. Department of Education.

Based on the department’s “Stronger Together” initiative, the “Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunities” grant was announced over a week ago by outgoing U.S. Secretary of Education John King, Jr. The one-time non-matching federal grant of up to $750,000 over a 26-month period is intended to help school districts implement or expand school diversity initiatives. The funds can be used for community engagement, conducting data analysis, setting measurable diversity goals, and preliminary steps toward implementation of diversity efforts.

Century Foundation scholar Richard D. Kahlenberg has offered to continue to work with PUSD to prepare and submit an application, assisted by a team of experts including Michael Alves and civil rights attorney John Brittain.

The deadline for submission of the application is on February 13.

The Board of Education will also deliberate on a number of contracts and purchase orders for different projects at its schools, preliminary facility proposals, and personnel projections for the current academic year and beyond.

The meeting begins at 4 p.m. at the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room at PUSD, located 351 South Hudson Avenue in Pasadena.