Uniforms for students at Washington Stem from Honda (Photo – Garrett Rowlan)
“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot in The Waste Land, and attending the April meeting of the Pasadena Unified School District, one might not necessary think it was the cruelest of the months, but it seems that the proclamations and resolutions made suggest that April was not one of the year’s better months.
By Garrett Rowlan
There was, not in order, a resolution of autistic awareness, stating that once autism (four times as likely to strike boys than girls) struck only one in two thousand, now it’s one in 40; there was a resolution for the remembrance of the Armenian holocaust in which over a million people died in 1915; another resolution called for the opening of homes to relieve the plight of foster care children; and even the opening musical number from the Washington School Glee Club was from The Lion King, where the evil Scar rallies his minions to the eventual murder of his brother.
There was a forward-looking presentation regarding the creation of a Culture of Continuous Improvement, which intends to put into action an Educational Master Plan with an emphasis on data gathering and field testing using two schools, Longfellow and Wilson. It is hoped that the material culled there will be transferable and usable in other schools in the PUSD. While this was a noble undertaking, it was a rather insular exchange between the two speakers and the school board, and could have been done better in a closed session.
A musical number from the Washington School Glee Club (Photo – Garrett Rowlan)
This was followed by a re-occurrence of the teacher’s unrest of a month ago, where the teachers have been working without a new contract, and a definite mood of unrest and even defiance was evidenced by the few speakers who addressed the board.
One thing was helpful: Honda Corporation buying uniforms for the students at Washington STEAM Middle School, a bit of public relations that helped both parties.
> Watch the entire PUSD Board Meeting on April 25, 2019.
In regards to “insular exchange” – these presentations are supposed to be conversations between the presenters and the board. The board is not allowed to engage the public during these meetings, including public comment, beyond asking staff for clarification if a factual matter comes into question. A presentation like this would never, by law, be allowed to be given in closed session, as closed sessions are only for confidential matters – personnel issues, legal settlements with confidential terms, expulsions, etc. These presentations, in open session, as they must be, are incredibly valuable, and many are watching them online and getting much from the discussions between board members and staff. I’d recommend that the author here become more familiar with how board meetings are supposed to be conducted before making such editorial comments.
Also, the Helpful Honda people gave uniforms to Washington STEAM Middle School. Not Washington STEM Elementary
Wow. The reporting here is so disappointing. A glee club performance is used as an example of how dark and dire the April board meeting was. Unbelievable. You couldn’t find the humor, skill and beautiful execution of a scene by middle school students who have been working hard all year.