PUSD: Message on School Consolidations



Lawrence Torres (l) and Dr. Brian McDonald (r)

Because the schools in our community are places where children learn and thrive and where our communities come together, the Board of Education of the Pasadena Unified School District is doing everything possible to strengthen our schools and serve our students today and in the years to come.

With the leadership of the Board and in collaboration with PUSD administration, after a year-long process that involved examining many possible scenarios, the Board acted to make programmatic and fiscal changes to our school system that align with our mission to provide a caring, engaging, and challenging educational experience for every student, every day.

We examined data and considered factors such as socioeconomic diversity and ethnic balance; proximity to students; facility conditions including special program facilities; campus capacity; alternative uses for facilities; and the potential for diverse partnerships that benefit students. The Board and its Master Plan/Boundaries Subcommittee held meetings, community forums, and gathered feedback from our stakeholders.

The decisions we are making to close three elementary schools and a middle school at the end of this year are incredibly difficult. But we are already working with schools to help students, staff, and families through the transition. Care is being taken to address the needs of all students, especially students with disabilities. Students now enrolled at Franklin, Jefferson, and Roosevelt Elementary and Wilson Middle School will have priority placement in 2020-2021 at other PUSD schools through a special lottery of the District’s Open Enrollment-School Choice process. They will also have guaranteed placement at neighborhood schools within redrawn school attendance boundaries.

At the heart of the decisions we have made is equity so that every student has opportunities to participate in the excellent and innovative programs that our District offers, including dual language in Spanish, Mandarin, and French, STEM, arts education, International Baccalaureate, college and career academies at every high school, STEM, arts education, and more. The decisions we have made ensure that our students are supported by wraparound programs that have a holistic approach to serving children’s physical, social, and emotional needs. Our district is committed to supporting campuses where students feel safe, cared for, and supported.

Good things are happening in PUSD, but we can do better.

To create a future that builds stability and the opportunity for growth, we have to face our community’s history of inequity. The decisions we made to close schools were rooted in creating conditions so that every child in our schools – regardless of who they are or where they live – has access not only to the full K-12 core program, but the innovative learning programs that are igniting our students’ love for learning. As a community focused on education, we cannot think as “they” or “them.” To move toward the excellence we all desire, we must act as one team focused on doing what is best for the children and youth in our schools.

Our Board of Education is committed to working together with our community as we move forward. Every student deserves an engaging, challenging, and caring learning environment wherever they attend school. We have made the necessary changes to deepen the educational experience for every student so they can excel. We know that with smart and passionate teachers and concentrated human and fiscal resources and programming, we can get there.

Now we begin the hard work to heal our community and to plan how best to create a district that not only serves the students currently in it, but becomes the district of first choice for families in our community.

We encourage you to work in partnership with us to make our district the best it can be.

Respectfully,

Lawrence Torres
President, Board of Education

Brian McDonald
Superintendent

 

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