Things to Know

What is PUSD?

Pasadena Unified School District serves roughly 13,000 students across Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre. It is governed by a seven-member elected Board of Education. Board members represent individual geographic districts and serve four-year terms.

What is the consolidation plan?

A plan developed by Board President Tina Fredericks, privately, beginning in Fall 2025, to close seven PUSD schools and eliminate Thurgood Marshall as a high school. The plan was titled "Consolidation 2027" and was not intended for public release. It was obtained through a California Public Records Act request.

The schools on the list: Don Benito, Norma Coombs, Altadena Arts, McKinley, Blair, and Eliot Arts, closed. Thurgood Marshall, converted from a 6–12 school to a middle school only, eliminating high school entirely.

What is the Brown Act?

California's Brown Act (Government Code § 54950) requires that public bodies, including school boards, conduct their business in public. Board members cannot discuss public business privately among a majority of the board outside of a noticed meeting.

Internal emails and texts obtained through CPRA requests show Fredericks, Harden, Velázquez, and Kenne engaged in a "daisy chain" of private communications about the consolidation resolution, a textbook Brown Act violation. A formal Cure and Correct demand was delivered to PUSD on May 15, 2026.

Who is Tina Fredericks?

Tina Fredericks is the PUSD Board President representing District 6. She ran on a platform opposing school closures. Once elected, she privately built a plan to close seven schools, coordinated with a consultant before any public process began, and told the community the process was "transparent and unbiased with no predetermined outcome", while internal documents show she was driving the outcome from the start.

What does the research say about school closures?

A May 2026 Stanford University brief found that school closures in California do not generate expected fiscal savings, enrollment loss, fixed costs, and community disruption routinely offset any savings. Research also shows that every forced school transition causes measurable drops in student achievement that persist through high school, and that students from standalone middle schools are 18% more likely to drop out before 10th grade.

What is a recall, and how does it work?

A recall is a voter-initiated process to remove an elected official before their term ends. In California, a recall of a school board member requires gathering signatures from registered voters equal to at least 20% of the votes cast in the last election for that seat.

Because Fredericks represents District 6, only registered voters in District 6 can sign the recall petition. Signatures must be collected in person, ink on paper. No online signature counts.

When is the board vote?

The PUSD Board is scheduled to vote on school closures on June 25, 2026. The Superintendent's Consolidation Advisory Committee (SCAC), a community body, voted against every closure on the list. The board can still override that recommendation.