Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education Swears In New and Re-Elected Members

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education held its annual organizational meeting Monday evening at the District headquarters at 351 S. Hudson Ave. to swear-in re-elected Board members Kimberly Kenne, Elizabeth Pomeroy, and Scott Phelps and welcome newly elected Board member Michelle Richardson Bailey for the 2017-2018 school year.

“I’m excited to be able to serve the community at this place and I’m just ready to go to work and hit the ground running,” said Bailey.

Bailey was elected to represent District 3 on March 7, 2017. Until her recent retirement, Bailey was a classified employee of PUSD for the last 14 years, most recently at Blair High School. She has served as a city commissioner and the district’s Equity and Access Committee. Bailey and her children are products of PUSD schools.

“It’s thrilling because I’ve worked in education at different levels and with different folks throughout the offices and being able to serve from a decision making body is all the rave to me. I think I’ve been around long enough to be effective at it,” said Bailey.

Kimberly Kenne was originally elected to the Board in 2011 and represents District 1. She served as the president of the board in 2016-2017. Kenne has been actively involved as a parent leader at the school site, district, and state levels since her children started kindergarten at Burbank Elementary.

“There’s still continuing work and I saw some things today that makes it sound like we are going to have to work around the budget and make sure we can afford everything we need for the kids,” said Kenne.

A representative from Senator Anthony Portantino’s office was in attendance to present Kenne with a certificate of recognition for her work with the PUSD Board of Education.

Elizabeth Pomeroy was originally elected to the Board in 2009 and represents District 5. She served as president of the board in 2015-2016. A Stanford University graduate, she holds a Ph.D. in English from UCLA. Dr. Pomeroy has taught English at Pasadena City College, and earlier taught at UCLA, UC Irvine, and California State University Los Angeles. Her first teaching years were in middle school and high school.

“There’s always this sense that we’re making a new beginning when we have this swearing in time. I’m personally going to make my own new work plan for myself and I want to get some fresh ideas and put them to work for the good of the students,” said Pomeroy.

Scott Phelps was elected to the Board of Education in 2005 and represents District 7. He served as president of the board in 2014-2015 and as its vice-president twice. Currently an instructor of mathematics and astronomy at the University of La Verne, Mt. San Antonio College and Chaffey College, and is a consultant for external evaluations of federal and state school reform grants received by school districts.

The Board appoints its president, vice president, and clerk during the annual organizational meeting.

For more information about the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education, visit https://www.pusd.us/domain/48?