Guest Opinion | By Rick Cole: Coming Together to Support our Community’s Schools

On Monday, I attended the opening of school at Thurgood Marshall Secondary School in my Council District. All the apprehension, excitement, pride and potential of the teenage years was on display from the incoming sixth graders to the soon-to-be-graduating seniors. Staff, teachers, parents, and grandparents mingled at the entrance as cheerleaders welcomed back their classmates.

What I experienced wasn’t some abstract milestone as “Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) begins another year.” I was watching hundreds of young Pasadenans begin another consequential year of their lives.

They shouldn’t have to attend school in San Marino, South Pasadena, La Cañada, or Arcadia to know that the community where they live is behind them. They shouldn’t have to attend one of Pasadena’s private schools to feel they are getting the best education available.

Bob Bartlett, Monrovia’s longtime mayor, used to boast that when another team came to play Monrovia High, “they aren’t up against Monrovia High in the stands, they are up against Monrovia in the stands.”

That’s the spirit Pasadena needs. Championing public education should not rely only on the families who send their children there, the teachers who work there, or the seven people we elect to the School Board.

Championing public education is a job for all of us.

Yet our commitment to that cause — as a nation and as a community — has never been more precarious.

Public schools are one of America’s greatest assets. As a young democracy, we pioneered the right of every child to an education—and recognized that an informed citizenry is foundational to democracy itself.

That ideal has always been contested. Here in Pasadena, our schools endured a bitter and long-running battle over racial segregation, spawning divisive recalls and litigation. Across the nation, public schools have long been the center of controversy as critics from the left and right debated school choice, charter schools, homeschooling, teaching methods, and curriculum. Through it all, Pasadena public schools have educated generation after generation, providing students not only knowledge and skills, but exposure to the diversity that is key to lifelong success.

The School District is far from perfect, but the successful graduates of Pasadena’s public schools continue to demonstrate the profound importance of public education.

Pasadena voters have recognized that value. They have invested more than a billion dollars in bonds to rebuild and modernize our schools and two years ago approved a parcel tax for operations. In 2018, voters approved Measures I and J, raising the local sales tax with one-third allocated to the school district.

But as vital as funding is, the key to public education’s success is intangible: whether we regard the success of our public schools as inseparable from the success of Pasadena itself.

A world-class city needs world-class public education — and that takes a deep commitment by our whole community. The pressures on public education cannot be overcome by the School District alone.

It’s election time and leadership matters. Yet whoever serves on the School Board will face daunting challenges: declining enrollment, rising special education costs, the needs of students from low-income families, high housing costs for teachers and staff, and the continuing disruption from the Eaton Fire. None can be solved by PUSD alone.

Our neighboring suburban communities seem to understand this instinctively. In South Pasadena, La Cañada, San Marino, and Arcadia, public schools are not merely another government service. They are central to community identity.

These communities rally support for everything from academic scholarships to athletic programs. Their business and real estate interests champion their schools instead of casting aspersions. They preceded Pasadena in adopting parcel taxes to support their schools — and at higher rates.

Of course, there are heroic efforts to support our schools, including the Pasadena Education Foundation, Pasadena Education Network, and Collaborate PASadena, along with countless volunteers. Yet unlike in surrounding communities, these draw much of their strength from parents and older community leaders. There does not seem to be as high a commitment from those without kids in our schools.

Without deep community commitment to public education, Pasadena public schools are often perceived as something families use if they cannot—or choose not to—send their children somewhere else. That perception becomes self-reinforcing. As people with resources and influence disengage, the schools lose not only students, but advocates, volunteers, connections, and civic clout.

How do we build that support? It starts with each of us assessing how our resources and interests can better support our public schools. Businesses should regard PUSD students as their future workforce. Pasadena’s colleges and universities should regard PUSD as part of our educational ecosystem. Civic organizations should involve students in community life. Realtors and business leaders should talk about the strengths of our schools rather than perpetuating their second-tier reputation.

The city and PUSD should work together as partners and get past fingerpointing. Even when we disagree, we can look for common ground because we have deeply shared interests.

I’m a grateful graduate of our public schools, as are our Mayor and two of my Council colleagues. Pasadena is home to Caltech, Pasadena City College (PCC), ArtCenter, Fuller Seminary and Pacific Oaks. Few communities anywhere possess greater educational resources.

What we need is the conviction to match those resources: the conviction that the children attending our public schools aren’t somebody else’s children, and their schools aren’t somebody else’s responsibility. When they walk through the gates at Marshall and every other public school in our city, they should know who is in the stands behind them.

Pasadena.

Rick Cole attended Sierra Madre and San Rafael Elementary, McKinley Junior High and is a graduate of Blair High. He represents District 2 on the City Council.