Guest Opinion | Tarah Kennedy: Pasadena Parents Deserve Honest Questions About Our Schools

As a parent with a child currently enrolled in a Pasadena Unified school, I read the district’s recent community survey carefully. What I found was not a neutral attempt to gather community input, but a series of questions that seem designed to steer respondents toward accepting school closures and mergers.

Community surveys should help leaders understand what residents actually think. But the framing of this survey repeatedly assumes that closing or merging schools will lead to better programs, improved facilities, and more resources for students.

For example, respondents are asked how “open” they are to combining schools if it would “maintain programs,” “improve facilities,” or “invest more funds in programs and supplies.” These are powerful assumptions built directly into the questions. Instead of asking whether the community believes closures will achieve these outcomes, the survey presents those outcomes as likely benefits.

When the same premise is repeated across multiple questions—that merging schools will preserve programs, improve facilities, or expand opportunities—it begins to feel less like a survey and more like an argument.

The structure of the responses also limits genuine disagreement. Many questions ask respondents to rate how “open” they are to closures or mergers. Only one option allows participants to reject the assumption behind the question entirely. This creates an imbalance that could make it appear as though the community is more supportive of closures than it actually is.

For families like mine, these questions are not abstract policy discussions. They affect the schools our children attend, the teachers they know, and the communities built around neighborhood campuses.

PUSD should be committed towards  a transparent process and unbiased questions. Surveys should measure public opinion, not guide it.

Parents, teachers, and residents deserve the chance to weigh the real trade-offs—without being nudged toward a predetermined conclusion.

Pasadena’s parents and residents deserve a voice in decisions that affect our children—not a survey designed to tell us what to think.

Tarah Kennedy is a Pasadena Unified School District Parent