Guest Opinion | Tina Fredericks: Yes on Measure R + Measure EE; Yes to Greener Cooler, Safe Schools and Competitive Salaries

As a Pasadena Unified School District Trustee, I humbly ask for your vote YES on Measure R and Measure EE to prioritize our public schools this November 2024. Investing in today’s children means many generations return on our investment. This month we witnessed the death and devastation of families and communities caused by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton throughout our nation’s southern states, underscoring the importance of preparing for the extreme weather conditions caused by climate change. At the other extreme, our communities in southern California have experienced record high temperatures, longer and dryer summers in recent years. Extreme heat creates increasingly hazardous conditions in outdoor areas and structures where the 14,000 students of our district learn and play. Even the California legislature is taking the extreme heat conditions seriously. On October 1, 2024, California passed Senate Bill 1248, a bill requiring local schools to implement protocols for extreme weather situations. The bill was nicknamed Yahushua’s Law, in honor of the 12-year-old boy who died during P.E. during a summer 2023 heatwave. Unfortunately, weather protocols which typically means keeping students inside creates other problems and challenges. Firstly, not all of our facilities have air-conditioning systems or they need upgrading, so keeping students inside on an extremely hot day may not be feasible for some schools and students would need to be sent home, losing instructional time. Keeping students indoors is not a long-term solution as we already know the detrimental effects on the mental health of children (and adults) of quarantine during the height of the COVID pandemic. Especially our young learners, they need to learn by playing and staying active.

The simple answer is to make our school’s outdoor spaces cooler. The temperature of today’s playgrounds are not like what we grew up with in elementary school. For example, on a 91 degree day this year, the asphalt measured 157 degrees without shade and 119 degrees with shade, and a plastic slide measured 166 degrees, while the grass under an oak tree measured 82 degrees. According to the California Schoolyard Tree Canopy Equity study of 2023, PUSD school sites tree canopy coverage ranges between 8% and 15%, well below the 30% recommended by urban forestry experts. This is why I introduced this week at the PUSD Facilities Committee meeting, the Resolution to Increase Tree Canopy Levels and Reduce Asphalt in Outdoor Areas of Pasadena Unified School District in order to Enhance Student Learning Environment and Safety.

Our schools are between fifty and one hundred and twenty-five years old. Many of the heating and air cooling systems are beyond repair simply because they no longer make the parts. This is why with Measure O funds of 2020, the district has chose to modernize many of its facilities rather than simply repair. At some sites it is a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars to invest in construction that lasts. In November 2023, the Board approved a 5-Year Bond Program, with a construction timeline and the cost of each project. The plan includes modernizing 7 elementary, middle, and high schools across the district, for a cost between $21 million and $63 million depending on the site. Additionally, many schools have received or will receive wet utility repair, electrical service, new restrooms, accessibility/walkway repair, field reconditioning, and HVAC repair and upgrades. The total cost of the 5 Year Bond Program Plan is about $470M. We would save $124M in state matching funds if State Measure 2 passes (so please VOTE YES on Measure 2)

You can find the 5-Year Bond Program at pusd.us/departments/measure-o/master-plan[a]

Additional projects beyond this $470 million include district wide security lock replacement so that teachers can easily lock doors from the inside in an emergency situation, as well as security cameras and secure front entry way at each school. An additional $40 million budget is reserved specifically for urgent health and safety projects including HVAC, fire alarm systems, structural building integrity, accessibility (elevators and ramps), window replacement, roofing, asphalt repair/reduction, lighting, classroom repairs.

For more detail on the current status and expenditure of construction projects, please go to PUSD Facilities & Capital Projects Committee webpage for the agenda containing the most recent Construction Project Status Reports. In summary, while $140 million in bonds have been issued and $84 million has been spent to date, the remaining balance of the $516 million of Measure O has been earmarked according to the 5-Year Bond Program plan.

PUSD’s Measure R is a unique bond that a local community group called PUSD Green Schoolyard Coalition helped to craft. In addition to the traditional upgrades, this bond includes outdoor greening projects, language which was Board approved May 23, 2024. Founded by a few Sierra Madre Elementary school parents, this group successfully convinced the district to include student-accessible green space as an allowable use of Measure R funds. These include asphalt removal, stormwater retention systems, bioswales, heat-mitigating surfaces, shade trees, facilities infrastructure to support carbon-free energy sources and waste management systems, composting, pedestrian and bicycle paths, electric bicycle stations and parking.

While Measure R funds building improvements, PUSD’s Measure EE will help to fund the competitive salaries our teachers and staff deserve. Some of our teachers work multiple jobs and often pay for classroom supplies out of their own pocket. They deserve to be fully supported for the quality instruction they provide for our students. Given that 85% of our public school funding comes from the state and the state budget is only giving a 1.07% cost of living adjustment this year, our district will need to make up the difference to keep our quality teachers and staff.

There are many choices on this November ballot. This is an opportunity to invest in the 14,000 students of Pasadena Unified School District, our emerging leaders for our community. I humbly ask for your YES vote on Measure R, Measure EE, and Measure 2.

Tina Fredericks is a former high school math teacher, and computer engineer, living in East Pasadena with her husband and two daughters since 2010. Running for re-election in November 2024, she was elected to the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education in 2020 and represents District 6, covering Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Her campaign website is www.votetina4pusd.com

She is speaking solely as an individual member of the Board.