Parents to Rally at PUSD Headquarters Thursday Ahead of First Public Hearing on School-Closure Analysis

Parents and students opposed to potential school closures plan to rally outside Pasadena Unified School District headquarters at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, ahead of a 6:45 p.m. Board of Education meeting at which the district’s outside consultant is scheduled to present the draft Equity Impact Analysis required before any campus can be closed.

The rally at 351 S. Hudson Ave. converges multiple parent-led campaigns —the broader Save Our Schools coalition and groups focused in specific campuses— ahead of the board’s first public hearing on consolidation since the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee voted May 11 against all six closure scenarios it had been asked to consider. The session also falls amid Brown Act allegations against four trustees and a recall campaign targeting Board President Tina Fredericks.

The Save Our Schools rally series began with a March 31 demonstration that drew nearly 100 participants outside the district office.

Warren Bleeker, president of the Thurgood Marshall Secondary School Parent-Teacher-Student Association and a principal organizer of that earlier rally, said at the time the effort was not limited to one school.

“I’m the president of the Marshall PTSA, and we’re organizing (this) rally to save schools in PUSD, all the schools in PUSD,” he said.

Stephanie Weir, a Marshall parent who joined the March rally, said her family’s stake was both personal and programmatic.

“I have a sophomore who’s highly engaged in school and loves the six through 12 program that’s at Marshall and he’s invested in his final years,” she said. “I think (we’re) understanding that these budget cuts have to happen, and I know it’s such a difficult situation that we’re in. I would prefer that no schools are closing.”

Save Blair, which describes itself as a parent-led campaign not officially affiliated with Blair High School or its administration, has called supporters to gather on the sidewalk by the north parking lot at PUSD headquarters before the meeting.

A separate flyer circulating ahead of the same gathering advertises a “Rally for PUSD Schools, Ethical Leadership, Community Visioning,” also at 4:30 p.m. at the same meeting point. A Change.org petition organized by Save Blair urging the board to reject closure proposals and pause major decisions had gathered more than 1,500 signatures as of late May.

Tonight’s board agenda calls for Total School Solutions, the consulting firm the board hired in a 5-2 vote Jan. 22 under a contract not to exceed $233,300, to present the draft Equity Impact Analysis required by state law Assembly Bill 1912. The board is also scheduled to take up Resolution 2882, formally receiving the draft, and to discuss next steps. A second public hearing on the analysis is scheduled for June 11, and a vote on any closures is currently scheduled for June 25. Any approved closures would take effect in the 2027-28 school year.

The advisory committee — a 33-member panel of district stakeholders — voted against all six scenarios at its May 11 final meeting. The proposal to close Blair High School failed on a 10-19 vote; a proposal to close Norma Coombs Elementary failed 8-21; two McKinley scenarios failed 13-16 and 12-17. In a community update issued the next day, the district said: “The committee’s feedback is that there is no recommendation to consolidate schools at this time. No consolidation or closure decisions have been made by the Board of Education.”

Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco, in an earlier community message, told families: “It is important to note that no school is slated to be closed or consolidated at this point in time, and that it is possible that the Committee may not recommend any schools for closure.”

A district spokesperson, in a statement reported by LAist on April 28, said: “PUSD remains committed to an unbiased process, guided at every step by Total School Solutions (TSS), the District’s independent consultant.”

The consolidation review was driven by a budget shortfall the district projects at $30 million to $35 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year, an enrollment decline of approximately 23 percent over roughly a decade.