Tuesday, May 15, 2012
With San Rafael Elementary planned to be closed because of seismic hazards, PUSD is looking at options for new schools, including one location in Altadena. The options will be discussed at a public meeting on Thursday.
The Pasadena Unified School District announced last Friday that Pasadena's San Rafael Elementary School will need to be closed in the near future because of earthquake hazards, and the Altadenablog notes today that one of the options the district is discussing is opening a new school in Altadena. The new location that the district announced is the district's service center property, which is located on Woodbury Road across from Jackson Elementary School, according to PUSD spokesman Adam Wolfson San Rafael is slated to be closed as soon as the 2013-'14 school year because of the discovery of new fault lines that run under the school, according to a district press release. Under state law, the school cannot modernize any buildings within 50…
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Peace & Justice Academy will hold an neighborhood fair and open house with school tours, food, entertainment and a cake raffle on May 26.
The Peace & Justice Academy, a private Christian grade 6-12 school is holding a neighborhood fair and open house at their new location at 2033 E. Washington Boulevard (right on the border of Pasadena and Altadena). Nora Lee, a representative, of the school has the following details: The Peace & Justice Academy is having a party and all our neighbors are invited. We have recently moved into the St. James Arches complex at 2033 E. Washington Blvd and it’s time to throw open our doors and celebrate! Plan to drop by on May 26, from 1pm to 5pm in the afternoon. There will be tours of the school, food, entertainment, a cake raffle and local businesses and nonprofits sharing information and some surprises. Our gold level sponsors include David…
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Students from Altadena's St Elizabeth Parish School were among those who attended a mobile learning lab demonstration on water conservation in April.
Students from Altadena's St Elizabeth Parish School were among more than 300 third and fourth grade students and teachers from local schools who participated in a science lab about water conservation in April at La Salle High School in Pasadena. According to a release from La Salle, the school was visited by the Wyland Mobile Learning Lab, a program run by a foundation that encourages water clean-up and conservation. La Salle students guided the younger students through the process, showing them exhibits incluing Estuary Food Webs, Pollution Run-off Wetland Succession, The Wheel of Water Misfortune and Engineering and Water Management. The photos at right show students going through some of the stations.
A money-saving version of the Districting Task Force's original consensus map was approved with a 5-2 vote.
Pasadena Unified School Board members voted 5-2 Tuesday night to approve a slightly tweaked version of the task force-endorsed districting map they praised in March, following a storm of heated commentary triggered from a staff report released only days earlier that provided a sudden handful of alternative, incumbent-friendly maps unseen by public eyes. Many people used public comment time to support the task force's consensus map while also questioning the existence of the other maps, or even the intentions of the board itself. "These maps are an outrage," said Peter Dreier, a resident and Occidental professor who called the alternative maps an example of blatant gerrymandering. "This is after 50 meetings, 10 months of work and community …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Rankings for public high schools across the country were released Tuesday. See how PUSD's high schools fared and what determined its ranking.
Three of the Pasadena Unified School District's high schools were ranked in the listings of the top schools in California, according to U.S. News and World Report’s 2012 rankings released Tuesday. According to the magazine, Marshall Fundamental High School ranked as the 162nd best in California, Pasadena High ranked at 345, and Blair High listed as number 355. John Muir High School was listed as unranked in the report. In individual categories, Marshall and Pasadena both were listed as having class to teacher ratios above California average, while Blair and John Muir were listed as having near average ratios. Marshall was listed as having above average readiness for college, Blair and Pasadena were listed as near average, and John Muir …
Monday, May 7, 2012
The PUSD Board will consider six alternatives to a task force's suggested map for introducing electoral districts for the board at a Tuesday hearing. Five of those alternatives would benefit incumbent board members.
A district report released just days prior to a Tuesday hearing on drawing new electoral subdistricts for the PUSD Board includes new map alternatives that benefit incumbents on the board, including four that haven't been seen before. At its Tuesday 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 geographic subdistricts that would each elect one school board member. The plan will go on the June ballot as Measure A for Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre voters to consider. Tuesday's hearing will focus on seven potential maps for how to draw the new districts, all of which are variations on a map suggested by a task force appointed by …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The videos below show the John Muir High School jazz band competing in an Orange County music festival.
John Muir High School parent and Altadena Patch reader Nadine Isenberg sent in the following videos of the Muir jazz band performing at the Heritage Festival in Anaheim on April 20. Per Isenberg, the group placed at the 'Silver' level rating and competed alongside approximately 10 bands from across the country. Her daughter, Thai, is in the band. The kids raised money to travel and stay in Orange County to participate in the festival and also went to Disneyland, according to Isenberg.
The Pasadena Unified School District will have to cut back on infrastructure improvements because of state funding issues, according to the Pasadena Sun.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
John Muir High School was locked down briefly on Tuesday when a student was reported to have a gun on campus. The gun ended up being a replica.
A 16-year-old John Muir High School student was arrested for bringing a replica handgun to school on Tuesday, according to a release sent out by the Pasadena Police Department. A teacher saw what appeared to be a hand gun stuck in the waist band of a male student and she notified school security, who in turn called the police, according to the release. Teachers were then asked to keep the students sheltered in the classroom. Police on scene detained the student, searched his bag, and found the replica handgun. According to the release the replica gun resembled a "black semi-automatic handgun." The replica gun is "possibly" an airsoft gun that shoots pellets, according to the release. The District Attorney Office's juvenile division will …
Friday, April 27, 2012
St. Rita School new program will focus include language, art and music as areas of development
Jenny Shepard, a representative of the private St. Rita School in Sierra Madre has the following announcement about a new junior kindergarten program. Shepard wrote Altadena Patch that she believes it will be of interest to Altadena members because the church associated with the school has many Altadena parioshiners. Registration is now open for admission into the new Junior Kindergarten program at St. Rita School for the 2012-2013 academic year. The full-day program, available to 4- and 5-year-olds, will prepare students for classroom routines with plenty of time for free-exploration. The developmentally-based curriculum is designed for the “early 5-year old” who is ready to move beyond pre-school. Teacher-directed and child-initiated …
Elaine Burn - Machorro
4:53 pm on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
It seems interesting that a school, San Rafael, which is 95 years old, and has withstood several California earthquakes could be scheduled for closure. The older buildings were built to last! I am a LAUSD teacher working at a brand new school where the ceiling just collapsed two weeks ago. Let's face it, the older buildings were built better, with stronger materials and better labor, if it wasn't… more ›