Two Pasadena neighborhood associations will host a forum Tuesday, Oct. 6, for the two candidates seeking the open District 7 seat on the Pasadena UnifiedSchool Boardd, according to Councilmember Steve Madison’s office.
The forum, set for 7 p.m. at Brookside Golf Club, falls about four weeks before the Nov. 3 general election. District 7 is the only one of three contested Pasadena Unified School District races with no incumbent running, after Dr. Yarma Velázquez, the board’s vice president, did not seek reelection.
The San Rafael Neighborhoods Association and the Linda Vista-Annandale Association are hosting the event in the Arroyo Room at the club, 1133 Rosemont Ave., according to Madison’s office.
The candidates are Dennis McNamara and Cynthia Torres.
Justin Chapman, Madison’s District 6 field representative, will moderate. The newsletter said he is doing so in his personal capacity.
District 7 stretches from the Linda Vista neighborhood in west Pasadena to Madison Heights.
McNamara’s ballot designation is retired finance executive. Torres’ is education services consultant. McNamara qualified for the ballot July 27. Torres qualified Aug. 12, the last day of a filing period that was extended because the incumbent did not run.
McNamara chairs the citizens’ oversight committee for the district’s school bond program, his campaign has said. Torres is president of College Decisions, a Pasadena educational consulting firm she founded in 2010, and has served on the district’s Citizens’ Oversight Committee, according to a Los Angeles County Democratic Party news release announcing its endorsement of her.
McNamara has been endorsed by Assemblymember John Harabedian and Pasadena City Councilmembers Jason Lyon and Justin Jones, his campaign has said.
The seat is decided by plurality. The candidate with the most votes wins, with no runoff. The winner will serve a four-year term on the seven-member board.
The forum is one of three for board candidates in four days. United Teachers of Pasadena has scheduled one for 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3, at First Church of the Nazarene, 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. Seven groups, including the League of Women Voters Pasadena Area, are co-sponsoring another at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, at the Pasadena Unified School District, 351 S. Hudson Ave.
Voters in Districts 1 and 3 will also choose board members Nov. 3. The District 5 race will not appear on the ballot because incumbent Patrice Marshall McKenzie was the only candidate to qualify.
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