School Board to Vote Again on Terminating Jefferson Campus Lease With City Due to Brown Act Violation

The Pasadena Board of Education today will once again vote on terminating a lease agreement with the City of Pasadena for an unused school campus after realizing they had violated the Ralph M. Brown Act when they took an unauthorized vote in early February.

The City and the School District entered into a lease agreement in 2021 that allowed the City to relocate some services and training facilities to Jefferson Elementary School. The City opened a new Pasadena library facility focused on children’s and teen services, a Fire Training Academy, Police Activities League facilities and new public pickleball courts.

The Board’s invalid action in early February was intended to relocate students from Longfellow Elementary to the Jefferson Elementary School campus during renovation work at Longfellow in 2025. The vote overrode the original plan to relocate the students to the vacant Allendale Elementary School.

But parents complained that Allendale was too far.

Longfellow Elementary School to Allendale Elementary is 3.5 miles. Jefferson Elementary is closer, 1.5 miles from Longfellow.

Longfellow students come from across the City.

The district is providing busing for the students.

Although the District’s lease with the City was not set to expire until 2027, the Board voted 4-3 on Feb. 1 to end that agreement.

Board Members Michelle Richardson Bailey, Jennifer Hall Lee, and Patrice Marshal McKenzie voted against the item.

But, a vote on that item was not on the meeting’s agenda.

There was an item on repairing Longfellow that allowed the school Board to vote to move students to Allendale, but nowhere on the agenda was Jefferson Elementary School listed as an option or ending the lease with the City mentioned for consideration.

After parents demanded the children be moved to Jefferson Elementary School, Blanco said she would need permission to end the lease with the City, resulting in the vote on non-item.

According to today’s agenda, “As termination of the memorandum of understanding was not on the February 1, 2024, Board agenda, on advice of counsel, termination of the memorandum of understanding is being brought back to the Board for action.”

According to the state’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, all items voted upon in open session must be agendized at least 72 hours in advance, and the agenda must be posted and mailed to requested parties.

The City and the School District released comments after the unauthorized February vote.

“The City of Pasadena recently learned that the Pasadena Unified School District will be asking the City to end its activities and to vacate Jefferson Elementary School for the 2025-2026 school year, prior to what had been agreed upon as the termination date in 2027 for the City’s use of this once vacant property,” said Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian after the vote.

The School District cited public engagement in its statement but did not acknowledge the item had not been properly agendized.

“The decision to temporarily move Longfellow Elementary School to the former Jefferson site was made by the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education at its meeting on February 1, 2024, after public discussion and a community meeting earlier the same week,” the District’s statement reads.

The City had earlier expressed gratitude for the long-term lease of the unused and closed school property.

The City relocated to Jefferson Elementary in 2021 during the pandemic.

“The City has made a substantial investment of time and money in the property to address deferred maintenance and to allow it to be safely occupied for a variety of critical uses, including the following City programs: Critical Library Services, a Fire Training Center, the Police Activities League, and Pickleball, with plans for the Pasadena Health Department to establish a satellite office,” Derderian said. “The City has invested significant resources into operations at Jefferson Elementary that serve our community, particularly our youth, in anticipation of its longer use.”