City of Pasadena Human Relations Commission Presents ‘The State of Education’ Forum

The City Council’s Human Relations Commission will be presenting a forum on “The State of Education” in Pasadena today, Wednesday, April 6, 2016, at the Lilian Vosloh Forum Auditorium at Pasadena City College.

Leading the discussion will be Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Superintendent Brian McDonald and Pasadena City Mayor Terry Tornek.

Dr. Patricia Breen, President of Pacific Oaks College, and Gregory Feldmeth, Assistant Head of School of Polytechnic School, will also be joining the forum.

Educator Warren Sata is moderating the forum.

Justin Jones, a commissioner representing District 3, said the Commission wants to foster conversation among all groups of education in the city through this discussion.

“We want to tap into private education, public education and charter,” Jones said. Our talents are a diverse group and they’re on the panel to discuss the issues that the city plays a hand in that can directly affect education.”

Jones quoted statistics from the PUSD saying that 70 percent of students in the district come from an economic disadvantaged background. He said roughly 60 percent of those students belong to the Latino community.

“We want to know how we can bring private and public sectors together to educate all students in the city,” he said. “We want to know what the city can do, what types of programs can be created, and what initiatives can the city take. We want to start the dialog about how every student can have a quality education, no matter if they go to private or public.”

Today’s forum will start at 6:30 p.m., the Human Relations Commission announced.