Politics & Government

New PUSD Electoral Map Plan to be Voted on at May 8 Board Meeting

The Pasadena Unified School Board will hold a May hearing on a June ballot measure to switch the district to electoral subdistricts and give Altadena two board members accountable to the town.

At its May 8 meeting, the Pasadena Unified School District board will hold its final hearing on a plan that would switch the district from at-large elections to seven electoral districts that would each elect one school board member.

Since January, an appointed task force has been hold public meetings and working on developing maps of geographic sub-districts that would make board members accountable to specific geographic areas of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre.

After initially looking at four different potential map scenarios, the task force released a 'consensus map' in March and approved it to be voted on by the board.

Find out what's happening in Altadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

That plan would give Altadena residents two districts where they would make up the majority of voters.  

The board was presented with the plan at a March hearing and .  There were some community groups and individuals who raised some issues with the map at that meeting as well.

Find out what's happening in Altadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

One of the issues raised at that meeting were concerns about a district that would represent most of West Altadena. 

The two incumbents who live in that district, Ramon Miramontes and Kim Kenne, have their terms expire in different years, Miramontes in 2013, and Kenne in 2015.

As part of the districting process, the task force had to decide which seats will go on the ballot in 2013 and which will go on the ballot in 2015. In their plan, the West Altadena seat would be voted on in 2013, giving Kenne a shortened two-year term rather than a full four-year term, a move that will also make it easier for Miramontes to run without having to take two years away from the board.

Three other districts (numbers 2, 3, and 6), which represent Sierra Madre, as well as much of northeast Pasadena, northeast Altadena and northwest Pasadena would end up with no direct representation until 2015, while the rest of Pasadena and West Altadena would get new direct representatives after the 2013 election.

The presentation that the board viewed in March is attached at right - it has full demographic backgrounds by city, by race, and by other factors.

The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m on Tuesday May 8 at PUSD headquarters at 351. S. Hudson in Pasadena.  Public members interested in the task force presentation are recommended to show at 7 p.m, according to Ken Chawkins, the chair of the task force.

If approved by the board, redistricting will ultimately be voted on by residents in the June election, though the actual maps worked out by the task force will not appear on the ballot.  

For more on the task force's process, check out the below links:


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