Schools

New PUSD Task Force Map Has Two Board Seats for Altadena

A Pasadena Unified districting committee released a map that will be the basis for a plan to switch the district-wide school board elections to smaller electoral districts.

A Pasadena Unified School District task force charged with coming up with a plan to form sub-districts for the election of school board members unveiled a new "consensus map" plan that it will likely recommend to the school board as the best way to carve up the district.

The committee is working on developing maps of geographic sub-districts that would make board members accountable to specific geographic areas of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre.

The redistricting process has been underway since January, when the school board  to study the issue.

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

The task force released the new map on Saturday.  It was intended as a way to bring out elements of four previous maps that would satisfy the concerns that various advocacy groups, city officials, and other interested citizens had with some of the maps.

Two Majority Altadena Seats

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

As , the task force was previously looking at four different maps, two of which would give Altadena residents two seats with a voting majority, and two of which would give Altadena only one seat where residents would make up the majority of voters.

The consensus map, which is pictured on right along with the four older maps, would also give Altadena two majority seats.  Unlike some of the other proposals which had stray Altadena voters in majority Pasadena seats, all of Altadena would be inside two districts.

The west Altadena district, pictured on right, would be west of Lake on the north side, and would push east all the way over to Hill as the boundary moves toward Pasadena.  That district would be 97 percent Altadena voters, according to task force consultants.

The east district would be about 53 percent Altadena residents, with the rest coming from Pasadena and the unincorporated Kinneloa Mesa area.

Task force members have said at various times that Altadena residents who have shown up to the meetings have expressed concerns that Altadenans be grouped together and have a substantial voice in more than one district.

Altadena Feedback

The two Altadena residents who spoke Saturday reiterated those concerns.  Dan Stuart, who told the task force he was born in Altadena and lives there today, said that his son's choice of schools has been seriously affected by the PUSD board's recent decisions to close Altadena schools.

"Every time I start to make a plan the school I want him to attend it gets closed," Stuart said.

"It's critically important that whatever map gets approved has two majority Altadena seats," he added.

What's Next

The task force plans to hold three more meetings to get input on the map. The map could still change before the task force recommends it to the board, depending on what input it receives from community members.

The PUSD board, which must approve the plan, will have meetings on it on March 27 and April 24.  If approved, the plan goes on the June ballot for PUSD voters to approve or reject.  A similar reform was voted in 2000 and narrowly rejected by voters.


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