The State of Pasadena Unified Schools? “Hopeful”

At Pasadena Unified School District’s Annual State of the School Address on Tuesday presented at Jackson Elementary School, President Renatta Cooper declared the state of the schools in Pasadena as hopeful.

“It’s a difficult task, but we believe we’re up to that task,” Superintendent Jon Gundry said.

With the passing of the $3.6 million Common Core Standards Initiative rollout at the board meeting on Thursday, the district hopes to step more toward its goals of 21st century learning for all students.

PUSD is proud to join the nationwide 4-C movement of the Common Core which focuses on critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity, reiterated by Superintendent Gundry, Board President Cooper, and Chief Academic Officer Brian McDonald who explained exactly how it would impact learning in the classroom.

Four PUSD board of education members were in attendance, Tyron Hampton, Kimberly Kenne, Todd Selinske and Elizabeth Pomeroy. City Councilmember Jacque Robinson attended as well as Police Chief Phillip Sanchez.

Newly renovated Jackson Elementary School hosted the State of the School address in the auditorium that benefited from funds by Measure TT, the $350 million school bond initiative approved by voters in 2008.

Located on the border of Altadena and Pasadena in the northwest part of the district, Jackson Elementary School has a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) focus, hosts a Spanish dual language immersion program and collaborates with Reading Partners volunteers to provide regular one-on-one language arts tutoring for students.

Kindergarten through 2nd grade students delighted the audience with songs like “Wheels on the Bus” and rehearsed a Spanish poem, demonstrating the skills they have gained with the Spanish dual language immersion program.

Blair High School’s Culinary Arts Program provided the food for the reception preceding the address, sponsored by Pasadena Educational Foundation and PUSD’s College and Career Pathways.

Although Cooper had grievances about not having funding in the past especially for technology, she believes California’s school funding reform will positively impact Pasadena and is encouraged by the recent allocation of funding to implement Common Core Standards.

“We will be held accountable for every penny in this initiative and must make specific educational plans,” Cooper said. “We are committed to being fiscally responsible with the projects we take on.”

Cooper also proudly announced the schools are moving forward into the technology age as every Pasadena High School and Middle School as well as some elementary schools has one 3D printer on their campus. These printers open creative and innovative possibilities to the students. Yet one issue that stands essential in Cooper’s mind is for every student to become multilingual.

“The 21st century is not just technology, its about being able to communicate in different languages,” Cooper said. “We are so far behind the rest of the world in terms of being multilingual. It’s important we get more children involved in our dual language programs.”

Gundry hopes to change the conversation around the public schools in Pasadena and make the public system a stronger alternative. He said pressure was being placed on public education around the United States and he wants to ensure Pasadena leads the way to 21st century learning.

“I personally believe that our long tradition of public education in this country is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. I don’t think we would be the United States of America we are today without a long history of free public education for every child. There is no other place in the world, no other country that holds themselves accountable for the education of every child,” Gundry said.

As for an update on Measure TT, about one third of the $350 million school bond initiative has been spent thus far on projects across the district with several projects to commence within the fiscal year.

With the Common Core Learning, the classroom will focus more on explanations rather than right versus wrong, encouraging creativity within parameters and developing problem solvers that know how to think rather than what to think.

One important change is to focus more on informational text that will fill in a child’s background knowledge rather than literary text, so that by the time the student is in middle school they will be reading more informational text than literary texts. In math the focus will be on how, why, and where math works.

“The curriculum that we normally have in this country is a mile wide and an inch deep. The common core is going to change it. Top performing countries, that’s how they do it, they start off with only three concepts and add on it every year,” PUSD Chief Academic Officer Brian McDonald said.

Currently the district has four constructional coaches, but announced they will add three more immediately with the new spending plan to help in the transition. Cooper said ideally a coach would be at every school, but that would require more funding in the future.

The PUSD Board President is required by the Pasadena City Charter to annually deliver a State of the Schools Address on or before September 30. Spanish translation of the remarks were provided and tours of Jackson Elementary School were offered.

“I too have a vision of a beloved community,” Cooper said to end her speech, referencing Marin Luther King Jr.

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