Sierra Madre Could Be Without a School Board Rep Until 2015

The Pasadena Unified School Districting Task Force headed by Sierra Madre's representative Bart Doyle presented an update to City Council Tuesday, and the results were not met with open arms. Due to the proposed sub-districts, Sierra Madre would not be able to vote for a Board of Education member until 2015. 

The presentation came on the heels of a heated Tuesdsay Board of Education meeting where outraged parents blasted the PUSD over their failure to build a promised middle school building at Sierra Madre School. 

The proposed sub-districts, known as Measure A on the June 5 ballot, would change the selection method for PUSD Board of Ed members from the current at-large method to district-based elections. Several district draft maps have been drawn and proposed over the past few months. The final map can be viewed above.

Doyle cited these reasons for carving the PUSD into sub-districts:

• Give the public greater access to elected board members
• Having a small constituent base would equal easier interaction with board members
• Create a higher level of public interest in education
• Lower costs for the PUSD, and
• Avoid potential costly litigation

View Doyle's full presentation above.

But, the current rules set by the PUSD Charter, Section 703 on elections state that school board candidates must live in the appropriate geographic sub-district. Currently there are no school board members living in Sierra Madre's proposed district, leaving the city without a vote for two years. View the PUSD Charter above.

“We have three vacant districts, including ours, and we have a couple districts with two members in them,” Doyle said. “I know that people are concerned that under this framework that Sierra Madre will not be able to vote until 2015. We don’t have a school board member living in this new district, therefore there is no election coming up. This is not an ideal result, but we would have the chance in two years to finally elect a school board member.”

Councilmember Chris Koerber scolded Doyle on the Task Force’s shortcomings.

“Why did our task force representatives sit silently at the March 13 task force meeting and allow Sierra Madre to be thrown under the bus without a representative for the next three years? That’s totally unacceptable sir,” Koerber said.

Doyle responded, “We couldn’t get there. We have no civic school board member in this district.”

“So we don’t have a board member and we have a school that they’re not building and they’re telling us they don’t have the money for it?” Koerber asked.

“We will continue to be represented by at-large members. There is simply no other way to do it,” Doyle replied.

Councilmember John Harabedian thanked Doyle for his presentation, saying "I think in the long term, this will be very good for Sierra Madre and its schools. Having direct representation is much better than having at-large representation."

Doyle stated that he didn’t feel having school board representation even two years ago would have made a difference for Sierra Madre in getting its middle school built.

“Things are so off the rails in a lot of different ways,” he said. “Putting an elected school board member in back in 2013 will not get us out of the situation we are in.”

Voters will decide whether or not to pass Measure A during the June 5 elections. For more information, visit http://measurea.pasadenausd.org.

Earlier Coverage: