An 18-Year Tenure Ends And A New Voice Steps In As Pasadena Education Network Heads Into the Future

For 18 years, if a Pasadena or Altadena parent wanted to know which public school to choose — or how to navigate open enrollment, or what a dual language immersion program actually feels like on a Tuesday morning — Nancy Rose Dufford had the answer.

At the end of this school year, Dufford will retire as Executive Director of the Pasadena Education Network, the nonprofit she helped build into a trusted go-between for thousands of local families and the Pasadena Unified School District.

Her successor is Jennifer Allan Goldman, who has chaired PEN’s board for six of the nine years she has served on it.

The transition arrives as PEN marks the 20th anniversary of its 2006 formal incorporation — and as PUSD navigates its most financially pressured period in recent memory, with a proposed school consolidation process and a structural deficit requiring $30 to $35 million in budget reductions for 2026-27, according to the district, reshaping the landscape for exactly the families PEN was built to serve.

PEN was not born in an office. According to the organization, it traces its roots to the summer of 2003, when a group of Pasadena-area preschool parents — skeptical of what they’d heard about local public schools — decided to see the campuses for themselves. What they found changed their assumptions. In 2006, the group formalized its mission by incorporating as a nonprofit, launching school tours and fact sheets at a time when such access was not yet standard practice across the district.

Over the following two decades, the organization grew — according to PEN — to more than 2,000 members and guided more than 6,500 parents through key school transitions. According to the organization, it partnered with PUSD to improve the open enrollment process, helped revise the district’s homework policy, and developed transition frameworks for programs like Dual Language Immersion. Its Rodney E. Goodwin Memorial Scholarship, named for an Altadena resident and PUSD mentor who died in 2014, has awarded a cumulative $10,000 to first-generation college students at PUSD high schools — $1,000 per year since 2015.

Superintendent Elizabeth J. Blanco, Ed.D. acknowledged the organization’s role in a statement provided to PEN.

“Congratulations to PEN on 20 years of partnership and advocacy in support of Pasadena Unified’s students,” Blanco said. “PEN has helped bring families into PUSD, elevated the family voice, and supported opportunities for students.”

Dufford, in a statement provided by the organization, reflected on what the network became.

“What began as a small group of parents asking questions grew into something much bigger,” she said. “PEN has created a community of families who are informed, engaged, and connected, and our schools are better because of that.”

Goldman, who will lead PEN into its third decade, described the transition as a continuation rather than a break.

“I’ve learned so much from Nancy since I joined the Board nine years ago,” Goldman said, in a statement from the organization. “I look forward to putting that knowledge to good use for our communities and public schools.”

Tiffany Hwang, Vice Chair of PEN’s board, offered the perspective of a parent who used the organization’s resources before she became one of its leaders. “PEN helped guide our elementary school decision, and we’ve been so happy with our children’s public school experience,” Hwang said in the organization’s press release. “PEN continues to be our constant, trusted resource for navigating transitions and staying connected to what’s happening in PUSD.”

PEN can be reached at info@penfamilies.org or 866-216-7334. The organization’s website is penfamilies.org.