Parents Group Lobbies to Create New General Plan Guiding Principle: Education

The Invest in PUSD Kids (IIPK) parents group is calling for supporters of public schools to attend the Tuesday (September 27)  meeting of the PUSD Board of Education to lobby for approval of a resolution that seeks the City Council’s ratification of an 8th Guiding Principle to Pasadena’s General Plan, education.

Steve Cole, the IIPK board president told Pasadena Now in an interview, “We believe it is the perfect time for the city to make a stand that it is in favor of its own public education system.”

Cole added that members of IIPK are expected to attend Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting to dramatize their support for Resolution 2,116, “Support for Inclusion of Guiding Principle on Public Education to City of Pasadena General Plan.”

The Resolution recognizes that other nearby communities like, Arcadia, Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana, have included support for public schools in their general plan and principle. In Pasadena, the latest survey showed that 91 percent of residents support the addition of a guiding principle to the City’s General Plan saying, “Pasadena will value and support a vibrant public education system.”

Cole added, “It will help the economic viability of the city as people will want to move here because they will know that the city its behind its public education. They don’t have to go anywhere else because they can afford to live here [Pasadena] with our good public education system.”

He added that Pasadena could lead the way and become a model city which embraces education as one of its guiding principles.

IIPK’s cause has found support from Board of Education board member Ed Honowitz, who said in a separate interview that he believes the city should adopt education in its guiding principle.

“But the challenge for us is not adding generic language about supporting public education,” Honowitz added. “The challenge is to actually [determining] how are we going to collaborate in ways that impact families and children in the district. This principle is a good first step going forward. But we have a lot to do to make this effective in terms of a collaboration that directly benefits children and family.”

Many observers expect the Board will approve the resolution in today’s meeting.

“The guiding principle spells out what kind of community we want to be. We figured that the seven guiding principle does not really deal with public education. But public education is a big part of Pasadena life. An eight guiding principle will put Pasadena on the map of public thinking,” Cole commented.

Cole said that the campaign to include education in the city’s guiding principle is not a ground breaking, although he described the move as a “fantastic way for the city and the school district to come around its citizens and public school.”

The group envisions raising awareness of public schools at the local government level, he said.