Cushon Bell Files as Official Write-In Candidate for PUSD Board Election

Cushon Bell, an 18-year veteran teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, has belatedly decided to enter the race for a school board seat at the Pasadena Unified School District election on March 8. She is also room mother at and a well-known community and schools volunteer.

Bell is one of 51 delegates to Parenting Magazine’s Moms Congress in Washington, selected from essays espousing their passionate advocacy for improving schools.

Bell says she made the decision at the insistence of her son. After a conversation with her third-grade son Devan, a student at Sierra Madre Elementary school, Bell decided to go for it. When Bell counseled her son, telling him he could do anything with his life, the 9-year-old challenged her to do the same and run for the school board.

Last Saturday, Bell’s husband, Adam, began garnering the minimum 100 signatures at a Little League function. By Monday, Bell had 155 signatures to submit in order to be an official write-in candidate.

By Tuesday afternoon, the 100 minimum voter signatures had been verified by the City Clerk, and she can now be elected in the upcoming vote, less than two weeks away.

She’s running now against incumbent Renatta Cooper, who until now was unopposed in the race. Definitely planning to run in 2013, Bell said she initially didn’t run due to the “thousands of dollars” financial investment involved.

Enthusiastic endorsements flew this reporter’s way as soon as locals heard she’d made the decision to run, touting her as “an intelligent, organized, committed, passionate and fair-minded advocate for children and public school” by Steven Cole, former Longfellow Elementary PTA president.

Gina Long, a Sierra Madre Elementary parent, said Bell is “a tireless advocate for better schools and a committed volunteer who gives countless hours to the PUSD.  Her voice is one of reason and her demeanor is cooperative.”

PUSD teacher and resident Ann Palmer added, “Professionally speaking, I am thrilled that a public school teacher will have an opportunity to be a strong voice for Pasadena’s students, parents, teachers and the community as a whole on the school board.”

A 1993 UCLA graduate, Bell taught in Los Angeles Unified for 18 years and has been on leave for the past four. She and husband Adam moved to Altadena 10 years ago. She is currently the Sierra Madre site ambassador for the African-American Parents Council. She and her husband have two children in the district, aged 9 and 6, with a 4 year old headed to PUSD soon.

In addition, Bell has also been active in the last PUSD ballot measure CC, with various children’s programs, and participated in the district’s strategic plan last year.

Bell said she feels it’s important to share the successes achieved in top performing, Sierra Madre School with the rest of the district as it slowly reaches toward the school’s high ranking test scores.

“Budget issues will be at the forefront of every discussion at the board level,” she said. “That’s a reality in our state, but it’s still critical to have our students well prepared, well informed and all on board.”

An excerpt from Cushon’s candidate statement reads:

         If elected, I will dedicate myself to:

• Placing the interest of the children of Altadena, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre above all other issues.

• Making the “PUSD Strategic Plan”

  (http://pusdstrategicplan.org/assets/docs/report/PUSD_Strategic_Plan_Final.pdf )

  work, in spite of the challenges we face as a district.

A write-in winner in the recent state election in Alaska shows it’s not at all impossible. In that election, special instructions required the correct spelling of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski's name. Here, the spelling isn’t as lengthy. But if you’re going to write in your vote for this candidate, spell it right: CUSHON BELL.