New School Board Takes Seats on Monday

Newly elected school board members Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Yarma Velászquez will be sworn into the district 5 and 7 seat on Monday.

McKenzie and Velászquez will join incumbents Michelle Richardson Bailey and Kim Kenne. 

The incoming board members will be sworn in at 5 p.m. on Monday in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room, 351 S. Hudson Ave., Pasadena. 

Bailey will serve as board president. Kenne will serve as vice president. 

“I am honored that the voters in PUSD District 3 had the confidence in my ability to effectively advocate for our children and chose to re-elect me as their representative on the Board of Education for a second term. Thank you!” Richardson Bailey said. 

“I am especially thrilled that I will assume the President’s position where the majority of the members are new, having served less than three years.”

Bailey said her professional development goals for this board will focus on leadership and governance.

The victories came in the school district’s first plurality election in modern times.

In a plurality election the candidate that gets the most votes wins even if neither candidate gets below 50% of the vote. 

The board already was composed of a majority of women, but now with Velászquez winning the seat being vacated by Scott Phelps, six-of-the-seven trustees are women.

Of the six women, four are women of color, two are Black, one is Latina and one is Asian. 

“The addition of two women of color brings the school Board closer to reflecting the student demographics of the district,” Richardson Bailey told Pasadena Now last month. 

About 80% of the students enrolled in the district are minorities.