Pasadena Education Network Offers Help to Parents on How to Navigate Inner Workings of Pasadena Unified School District

Pasadena Education Network (PEN) is set to hold a program Wednesday evening titled “How does PUSD work?” which aims to inform parents and caregivers about the district’s inner workings. Susan Schwartz, the program director for PEN, said that the program’s main audience is parents and caregivers who are either new to the district or who have entered in the last three years when it was difficult for parents to interact with staff and other parents on campus because of the pandemic.

The virtual program will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is designed to give parents and caregivers some context about the district and how it works, said Schwartz.

Schwartz said that PEN’s mission is to promote family engagement in the district, and this program is one of the ways PEN can achieve that. She added that PEN wants families to be well-informed about the district’s offerings in terms of schools and the basics of how things work, so parents can be positive participants in the system.

“PEN’s mission is to promote family engagement on the part of all families in the community served by the school district,” she said. “What we really mean by that is we want families to be well informed. We want them to be well informed about what the district has to offer in terms of the different schools, as they’re thinking about choosing a school, but we also want them to be really informed about how things work, at least the basics of how things work and who does what so that they can both advocate effectively, as need be for their own children’s needs.”

The program, which will last for about an hour and a half, will not go in-depth into any one thing, but instead aims to give parents and caregivers a general understanding of the different parts of the system and how they fit together. Schwartz said that this is so parents can locate issues in terms of the larger system, know who to talk to first, where to get more information, and where to go from there.

Schwartz also said that the program will have simultaneous interpretation over Zoom for Spanish speakers. The materials presented will be in English, but PEN will translate the materials and post them online for Spanish speakers to access.

When asked if the program is a one-time discussion, Schwartz said that this is the first time they are doing the program in this way, but they have done similar things before, and PEN will probably offer it again in the fall when parents are first starting.

PEN has a follow-up program planned for next month, Schwartz said, which will be an in-person workshop and will be more skill-building. The workshop will be about how to ask questions effectively, how to figure out what you need to know, and how to work constructively with staff and other parents.

The program will be presented by Susan Schwartz and Laura Diaz Allen, who is Schwartz’s coworker and handles the family engagement piece for PEN.

Whether you plan to get more involved or just want to know more about how things work, this is a chance to get your questions answered.

Please register at the above link so that PEN can share the program materials with you. Use this Zoom Link to attend the March 15 program. For more information, visit www.penfamilies.org/calendar/2023/3/15/pen-program-how-does-pusd-work. For more information visit www.penfamilies.org or find PEN on Facebook.