Pasadena Unified School District

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Pasadena Unified School District is a unified school district that is responsible for the schools of Pasadena, California. As of 2005, it has 5 high schools, 3 middle schools, and 24 elementary schools.

The district also serves the city of Sierra Madre and the unincorporated community of Altadena.

1 History
2 High Schools
3 Middle schools
4 Elementary schools
5 External links

[edit] History

In its early history, Pasadena had some of the highest performing schools in the state, largely due to a strong affiliation with the California Institute of Technology. Two schools in the area, Noyes Elementary (now closed) and Hale Elementary (now Norma Coombs Alternative School) were named after Caltech professors.

In 1972, busing was ordered in the district after the federal court ordered desegregation of the public schools in Pasadena. This was a result of the city demographics of the time, which resulted in a "de-facto" segregation, with a large proportion of the African American population attending schools in the northwest area of the city (which was largely African American), and the white students attending schools in the east and southern parts.

Before the busing plan was implemented, the proportion of white students in public schools reflected the proportion of whites in the community (54 percent and 53 percent, respectively). Shortly after busing began, a significant segment of upper and middle class families who could afford private schooling, pulled their children out of the public school system to avoid sending their children to schools on the opposite end of the city from their homes. The result was a boom of private schooling available in the city, and the reduction of state funding for Pasadena public schools as enrollment was reduced. The effect was a drastic downturn in educational quality during the 1970s (with the exception of a few "Blue Ribbon" schools, such as Marshall Fundamental), which continued throughout the rest of the century.

In 2002, Superintendent Percy Clark ended the practice of busing altogether, and reinstated a policy of neighborhood schools.^{[citation needed]} Since this change, the district has dramatically improved, with five elementary schools now achieving an Academic Performance Index or API of greater than 800. Secondary education quality has remained around the state API average.

Recent school board elections in March 2007 attracted a record number of candidates and voters.

[edit] High Schools

Blair International Baccalaureate School — Zoned, grades 7-12
John Muir High School — Zoned, grades 9-12
Marshall Fundamental Secondary School — Alternative, grades 6-12 (middle and high school)
Pasadena High School — Zoned, grades 9-12
Rose City High School — Continuation High School