Pasadena Unified’s New District Athletic Director Hits Out Against ‘Private School Cherry Picking’

After last week’s buoyant Week Zero 49-12 romp by John Muir High School football over hapless Compton, Pasadena Unified’s first-ever District Athletic Director Gilbert Barraza spoke enthusiastically about plans he has for the district’s athletics programs and confronted what he calls “cherry picking” of the district’s top athletes by private schools.

Barraza, who held the position of Pasadena High School principal for six years until this past summer, said he plans to streamline the district’s athletic programs across the high schools and middle schools in Pasadena.

“We want to create better communication,” Barraza said. “We’re conducting internal streamlining, whether electronically or literally visiting the campuses, to give the athletic directors and assistant principals access to a singular person. Then my job would be to report back the projects we’re working on to our superiors at the district.”

During his first year, Barraza, who now oversees every school athletic program throughout the district, said he also plans to work out the finances of the district’s athletic programs in order to make sure allocated funds are being properly used.

“We’re going to call this a benchmark year, we’re definitely looking at finances and trying to track the dollars to where they are going,” Barraza said. “What we’re going to be doing is working closely with the business office and tracking those dollars to see if we could consolidate a JV team and a varsity team to save money.”

Barraza went on to stress the importance of retaining middle school children in Pasadena’s public school system who display athletic prowess, as scouts from private schools are always looking to recruit them for their skills.

“We’re looking to grow in certain areas. We’d like to retain our 7th and 8th graders so they can get into 9th and 10th grade sports,” Barraza said. “What’s traditionally been happening, and I know this because I was Pasadena High School’s principal, is that grade schoolers who display athletic talents are getting consistently cherry picked by private schools.”

According to Barraza, some parents choose to send their children to private schools due to the parents’ perception of poor academic stereotypes associated with some publicly funded schools. To combat this, Barraza said his former school recently rebranded and improved academics, which improved enrollment numbers.

“I don’t have a problem with private schools or choice,” Barraza said. “Where I’d like to see improvement is if you choose to not come to PUSD, make sure it’s based on facts and not stereotypes. I don’t mind losing a kid to a private school for all the right reasons, but I don’t want happening is the slamming of high schools based on inaccurate information.”