PUSD Announces New District Athletic Director

The Pasadena Unified School District is pleased to announce the selection of Pasadena High School’s Principal Gilbert Barraza, as the new District Athletic Director.

“Principal Barraza is the perfect fit for this position. He is an experienced educational administrator who has an excellent track record in leading schools and implementing programs, which has ultimately led to student success. His strong leadership along with the support and involvement of our families, stellar teaching team, and the range of academic, enrichment and extracurricular activities available to our students resulted in PHS becoming a high achieving school,” stated Superintendent Brian McDonald.

During his six year career at PHS, Barraza experienced many successes including increasing the Advanced Placement course offerings from 6 to 21, introducing a Teen Court in the Law and Public Service Academy, creating a successful Annual Fund resulting in a significant increase in parent and community donations and building over 40 active sport teams and 40 extracurricular clubs and organizations for students to participate in.

As a result of funding provided by the Pasadena Educational Foundation, the new District Athletic Director position was created. With this position, the District plans to develop a comprehensive athletic program that will provide opportunities for our middle and high school students to pursue their passion of playing organized sports. Athletic Director Barraza plans to align the myriad of sports programs in order to establish a clear pathway from the community’s sports organizations to the junior high and high school athletic programs. Barraza will oversee all District athletic sports programs from swimming to tennis and will work closely with school principals, staff, and community partners.

Barraza stated, “while I will deeply miss the students and staff at PHS, I am proud of what we have accomplished together and I am equally excited to lead the district’s effort in building a world class athletic program. In my new role, I will work closely with the coaching staff across the district to develop quality sports programs and strengthen existing programs in order to provide more opportunities for our student athletes.”

Principal Barraza will continue to lead Pasadena High School (PHS) for the remainder of the academic year and will transition to his new assignment in the summer of 2016. Beginning in March, meetings will be held with PHS stakeholders, students, employees and parents to solicit input in developing a new Principal profile. These discussions will inform the recruitment and selection process.

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