Attendees at the Pasadena Unified School District Board meeting on Thursday recite the Pledge of Allegiance (Photo – Screengrab, KLRN)
The Pasadena Unified School District Board held its regular meeting Thursday, Sept. 24, hearing public comments on trees, potential school closures, campus maintenance and other topics before adjourning at 11:20 pm.
By Margaret Prietto
Public comment included four speakers on trees, 10 on anti-closure efforts, seven or eight on school closures, and several additional speakers on other topics. Representatives of various recognized employee organizations also addressed the Board.
One exchange involved Patricia Herrera of Upper Hastings Ranch, who confronted Tina Fredericks about the 124 “Doe” individuals named in Fredericks’s lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Registrar concerning the recall effort against her. As she spoke, Herrera held up and fanned the pages of the 65-page document
“How is a 65-page legal document that was presented to me at my doorstep a mistake?” Herrera said.
Michael Leon and two members of Teamsters Local 986 shared a slideshow demonstrating conditions at district campuses, showing photographs of broken bathrooms at several schools. They also discussed students and parents performing campus cleanup work, saying such work violates the Education Code.
The Teamsters representatives specifically referred to a Facebook photograph showing Pasadena High School Principal Barba using a string trimmer. They also cited other school sites where maintenance work had been performed by individuals other than contracted Teamsters.
Student Board member Lula Matsuura delivered an extended statement addressing school closures and staff reductions. She said closing one or more schools would not solve the district’s financial problems and urged the Board to learn from previous decisions.
“Simply closing down one school or multiple schools will not solve our financial problems,” Matsuura said. “We’ve seen what has happened in the past and we must not act as carelessly as we’ve had before.”
Matsuura called on the district to promote specialized programs, including Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual enrollment and dual-language programs. She said consolidating those programs could limit their potential and prevent them from effectively serving students.
She also urged the Board to prioritize retaining staff rather than pursuing layoffs and position cuts, and to find ways to attract families to the district.
“The Board must clearly decide where its priorities lie — itself or the students,” Matsuura said.
She further called for transparency, communication and collaboration among the Board, community and students.
A presentation and Board discussion followed on the district’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports, or MTSS. The presentation and related questions lasted more than 90 minutes.
The next action item concerned approval of a webpage for data resources and materials pursuant to Resolution 2894. The webpage would include data related to possible school consolidations.
Trustee Michelle Bailey criticized the Board’s approach to the consolidation discussion.
“We continue to bulldoze our way through this topic … without thoughtful conversation,” Bailey said.
Trustees Patrice Marshall McKenzie and Jennifer Hall Lee questioned what information would be posted on the proposed webpage that was not already available on existing district websites. They also asked who would manage and update the page, noting that the district’s webmaster works two days per week due to cuts made in November 2025.
“It’s easy to sit in these chairs and think work needs to be done. But until you work here” — referring to the District office — “you don’t know the level of work they do,” Bailey said.
Fredericks responded that the webpage would involve posting only some links. Bailey replied that minimizing the work would insult district staff and said the Board needed to be more considerate of their time.
Hall Lee again raised concerns about reduced IT and webmaster staffing and how the webpage would be maintained, describing the issue as arising amid deep district cuts. McKenzie proposed a friendly amendment to table the item until the Board had more clarity.
The amendment was rejected on a 4-3 vote, with Kenne, Harden, Fredericks and Velazquez voting against it. The webpage proposal was then approved as written by the same 4-3 vote.
The Board also discussed several district policies that will return for future votes.
Consent items were approved as a group, except for a Board bylaw concerning governing board elections. The bylaw was pulled after staff determined that it had not been properly attached. A vote on the bylaw was postponed.
The meeting adjourned at 11:20 pm. You can watch the full meeting at this link.
Oh the poor teamsters. Mad that parents are pulling some weeds, spreading some mulch and generally making our campus’s more visually appealing. Honestly what the hell is wrong with this world where that is a “problem”. Get over yourselves. If the schools looked nice, parents would not feel the need to do our own clean up efforts.