PUSD building (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net)
Accusations ran high as PUSD’s school board selected schools to be remodeled, using Measure O funds.
By Billy Malone
On September 7, 2023, the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education grappled with deciding which schools would be prioritized for remodeling, using funds from Measure O, a bond approved by voters in 2020.
While some board members seemed to be swayed by the large number of public speakers in support of an athletic facility at Muir, others were interested in schools in their own districts, or the priority list worked on for many months by outside facilitators to identify the best use.
The meeting was fraught with interruptions, challenges to the Brown Act, various motions with friendly amendments, and accusations of divisiveness.
Finally, after several hours of mostly public comment, the board voted to focus on the three schools that topped the priority list – Muir, Longfellow, and Madison – along with a second vote to set aside $40 million for essentials at the remaining 19 sites.
Why doesn’t p s u d care about the fact that marshall fundamental school is run down and it truly is not handicap accessible from the front of the school. They say it’s handicapped because on the far West side of the school, there is a handicap ramp. But once you get inside, there’s stairs. That little elevator thing is old and run down. Parents and grandparents that are handicapped should be able to enter the front of the school, But because there are so many stairs in the front of that school. I have been in bed all weekend. There was an emergency there and I had to go and I had to go through all of those stairs to get inside the building to go down a big flight of stairs to get to the nurse’s office. How is this school handicap accessible from the front? It is not.
fix the sprinklers at Sierra Madre Elementary! It’s a sin all the landscape is frying!