Guest Opinion | Scott Harden Better Together: PUSD PTAs Celebrate Our Educational Community

As we reflect back upon an ever-evolving year in education, we recall how our local schools have had to balance the return to traditional norms with the necessary precautions to ensure health and safety. In many cases, it has presented real challenges for parents and community members to stay as engaged in their child’s educational experience as they’d like to be.

The 20 Parent and Teacher Associations (PTAs) that represent Pasadena Unified public schools, from the historic neighborhoods of Pasadena and the highlands of Altadena to the leafy lanes of Sierra Madre, have risen to meet those challenges by staying active, engaged and relevant.

PTA Council of PUSD, through its collective experience of leadership development, outreach, volunteerism and passion for advocacy, is the organization that stands behind all of these remarkable PTAs, supports their ambitions, and cheers for them when they accomplish great things. At Council, we like to say that we win when they do. And they’ve been winning all year.

On Monday, May 23, PTA Council held its annual Founders’ Day gathering, the first in-person event in over two years, to celebrate the mission and purpose of PTA. This year is National PTA’s 125th anniversary, and from its bold beginnings, PTA has come a long way since Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst founded an organization dedicated to protecting children when women did not have the right to vote and social activism was frowned upon. They were true innovators in their time.

Hosted at John Muir High School Early College Magnet, our theme was “Better Together: Celebrating our Educational Community” and our goal was to honor the achievements of our PUSD PTAs as well as the vital community organizations that our Council and PTAs have worked with and supported this year. In times like these, the partnerships we’ve nurtured have been even more vital to the success of education in our community.

Our guest list was impressive and featured exhibits from Young & Healthy, Collaborate Pasadena, Foothill Family, College Access Plan, Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena, Light Bringer Project, Day One and Pacific Oaks College, as well as distinguished guests from the PUSD African American Parent Council, Pasadena Education Network, Pasadena Educational Foundation, District English Advisory Committee, PUSD Board of Education, District Executive Leadership Team and many of our PUSD PTA board officers and members.

Our keynote speaker was Shannon Mumolo, Coordinator of the Pasadena Community Schools program, a rapidly growing initiative to re-focus PUSD schools as hubs of service for students and families in order to disrupt disparities of student achievement and engagement at PUSD schools. The public can learn more about the Pasadena Community Schools initiative at pusd.us/communityschools.

We looked back fondly at PTA-led events and programs at our schools, from a mid-autumn moon festival at Field Elementary to a virtual family dance at Sierra Madre Elementary. We learned how Blair PTSA kept teachers and staff feeling welcomed and supported through their BlairCares program, and how Willard PTA formed a dedicated special education committee to ensure all children at the school felt cared for and supported. At Longfellow Elementary, their Book Fair program and Don Benito’s Literacy Experiential kept children engaged in reading all year, and Hamilton’s Cultural & Community Festival celebrated their school’s rich cultural diversity.

PTA Council also honored specific contributors and organizations who made remarkable contributions this year to our educational community:

John Lynch, Honorary Service Award

A champion for all PUSD schools, Mr. Lynch is a Los Angeles County Office of Education employee supporting Pasadena High School’s community schools program. He is a guide and mentor for community advocates across the District.

Warren Skidmore, Honorary Service Award

Dr. Skidmore is the Observatory Instrumentation System Specialist at Thirty Meter Telescope Corporation and a consummate PUSD parent leader. Year after year, he’s organized the Eliot Arts Magnet Science Fest, drawing crowds of students and their families to learn about robotics, astronomy, engineering, so that they are aware of the “vast range of opportunities that are on their doorstep,” says Skidmore.

Light Bringer Project, Honorary Service Award

This organization of committed partners, headed by Board Chair Thomas Coston, Managing Director Patricia Hurley and Program Coordinator Angelina Coppola, are involved in some of the most recognized forms of public artistic expression in the community. Their mission is to build community through the power of art and education. They have been involved in some of the most treasured events in our community, from the Doo Dah Parade to ArtNight Pasdena.

Courtney Srabeck, Very Special Person Award

Ms. Scrabeck served as John Muir High School PTA President with distinction. She’s been the driving force behind costume design in the recent Eliot and Muir dramatic and musical productions, as well as the gardening program at Eliot.

Charlene Tucker, Outstanding Administrator Award

Principal Tucker began her principal tenure at Eugene Field Elementary School in Pasadena in the middle of the COVID crisis. During that extremely challenging time, she kept families engaged and fostered a dynamic school community, against all odds.

Mary Donnelly-Crocker, Golden Oak Award

Recipient of PTAs highest community honor, Ms. Crocker has served as Executive Director of Young & Healthy for over 32 years. She has led the charge in ensuring that Young & Healthy’s focus on helping uninsured and underserved children and families in our community remains as strong as ever and she’s maintained dynamic relationships with the Pasadena Executive Roundtable, Growing Together PASadena and Collaborate PASadena.

It’s because of educational partners like these that the future of our PUSD PTAs shines brighter than ever, just as brightly as the pathway for our PUSD students. Any resident of Pasadena, Altadena or Sierra Madre, regardless of whether they have enrolled children, are more than welcome to connect to their local public schools by joining any of the 20 PTAs within Pasadena Unified. It’s a great way to stay informed about and advocate for the future of our community, and our world.

Head to https://www.ptacouncilpusd.org/join and with your support, we’re all better, together.

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Scott Harden is the Executive Board President of PTA Council of PUSD and is a long-time advocate for public education in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre.