Plan for Separate Altadena School District on Hold

The chief proponent of a school that has long advocated for a separate Altadena school district now says his group will not focus on pushing for an Altadena Unified School District as there doesn't appear to be enough committed support in the community.

Bruce Wasson of the Altadena Schools organization wrote in an email to Patch that a separate school district is an "unreasonable solution to our community's profound educational problems."

Wasson, along with other supporters, had gathered more than 7,000 signatures on an official petition required to allow Altadena residents to vote on having their own school district.  In June, the County Registrar , and found they were roughly 2,500 signatures short of what would be required to have the district do a study on the viability of an independent Altadena district.

Wasson told Altadena Patch Wednesday that while he believes he can get the required signatures, doing so makes no sense as long as there is not a larger community commitment to establishing a district.

"It's a very popular petition for people to sign," Wasson said. "But actually going through with it is another thing entirely."

He added that his main purpose in starting the group is to advocate for better student performance, a wider community participation in education, and better representation at the Pasadena Unified School District, which includes Altadena.

Whether those things are acheived through a separate district or in the current district is not what matters, Wasson said, though he said he still thinks that Altadena will eventually have its own district.

In the mean time, supporters can still go to the Altadena Schools website and sign the group's declaration of principles, which center around a commitment to give a chance to each child in town to go to college.

Editor's note: The original version of this article stated that a quote from Bruce Wasson came from an email to supporters rather than email to Altadena Patch.