Emails and text messages obtained through public records requests document communications among PUSD board members about school consolidation including Thurgood Marshall High School months before any public process began.
See the Timeline →Public records requests produced emails, text messages, and internal documents showing board member communications about school consolidation stretching back to Fall 2025 months before any public process began.
At 11:21 PM on a Friday, Fredericks emails Trustee Kenne asking for research on which positions would be "duplicative" in a consolidation before any public process exists. The next day, Kenne sends the data and forwards the entire exchange to Harden: "FYI A Tina request and my response." (CPRA 26-084)
The night before a TSS meeting, Fredericks forwards Superintendent Blanco's AB 1912 memo marked "Attorney Client Privilege" to Harden, writing: "If you want to know what Dr. Blanco is thinking about school consolidation, she lays it out plainly in the attachments." In the same email, she writes that TSS was referred to her by a "Mr. Dunning" connected to LACOE. (CPRA 26-084)
TSS President Tahir Ahad not yet formally hired emails Fredericks: "I think it would be best to not mention our discussions to the superintendent and let her own the process." He also recommends she use "School Reconfiguration" rather than "closures."
"I think it would be best to not mention our discussions to the superintendent and let her own the process."Tahir Ahad, TSS President, email to Tina Fredericks, December 1, 2025
The board votes 5–2 to retain Total School Solutions as the consolidation consultant. Colorado Boulevard reported that Fredericks publicly described the process as "transparent and unbiased with no predetermined outcome."
Fredericks publicly described the process as "transparent and unbiased with no predetermined outcome."Colorado Boulevard, May 11, 2026
Harden texts about school closures. Colorado Boulevard reported he had told concerned parents at public meetings that Marshall was "fine."
"I'm plotting to close San Raf because I think locating schools where kids live is important and we tricked her into voting for the resolution so we could make changes to it after the fact."Scott Harden, text message, February 4, 2026 (CPRA 26-084)
TSS designs and administers a community survey that does not name the schools under consideration and uses "merging" framing throughout. On March 10, a parent emails all seven board members documenting concerns about the survey's structure. The survey closes March 19 with TSS presenting "65% support" a figure drawn from a conditional question; 29–30% of respondents indicated they did not believe the stated benefits would materialize.
↗ Full documented timeline every verified date ↗ Colorado Boulevard investigative report, May 11, 2026
These four board members appear in the public records emails, text messages, and CPRA documents communicating about school consolidation before any public process began. Colorado Boulevard, May 11, 2026
Documents show communications involving individuals outside the board in the months before the formal consolidation process began.
Internal emails obtained through public records requests show Board President Tina Fredericks built a secret consolidation plan weeks before any public process, privately coordinated with consultant Tahir Ahad before TSS was hired, and participated in a series of private communications with fellow board members raising Brown Act questions.
Thurgood Marshall Secondary School leads PUSD in test scores, AP enrollment, and graduation rates yet remains a primary target in the district's school consolidation plan. A PUSD teacher and parent of Marshall graduates examines how a high-performing school ended up on the closure list.
At the April 27 SCAC meeting, TSS Executive Vice President Joseph Pandolfo conceded that his projected cost savings for each proposed school closure were inaccurate using wrong data and failing to account for $24.5 million in budget cuts already passed by the board in November 2025.
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