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Thousands More Students Return to Pasadena Unified Campuses on Thursday

All schools pass environmental testing requirements, says District

Published on Friday, January 31, 2025 | 6:38 am
 

Pasadena Unified opens more campuses and is on track to have all students back in school on Monday. [Pasadena Unified photo]
As many as 7,111 TK-12th grade students, in addition to students in children’s centers, returned to Pasadena public school campuses on Thursday following closures caused by the Eaton Fire.

Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco, Ed.D., Board President Jennifer Hall Lee, and other officials welcomed students, families, and staff from Eliot Arts Magnet Academy – one of the District’s schools lost to the Eaton Fire – to the McKinley School campus.

Elsewhere students returned to Altadena Arts Magnet at Allendale; Jackson STEM Elementary, Longfellow Magnet Elementary, Webster Elementary Elementary, John Muir Early College Magnet High School; Marshall Fundamental, Octavia E Butler, Magnet Middle School, and Pasadena High School.

“I’m so excited to see all the students returning to McKinley,” said a beaming Jennifer Hall Lee, PUSD Board President.

“They are the ‘Tiger Nation,’” she said. “These kids are wonderful, and it was just lovely to hear their principal engaging with them.”

Echoing Lee, McKinley Principal Dr. Maria Toliver said, “It feels wonderful to have our students back. They were excited to be back at school, and we were excited to receive them back. Our students are excited to welcome Eliot Magnet Students to McKinley.”

Programs also reopened at Longfellow Children’s Center, Cleveland Early Childhood Education (ECE) at Webster Elementary, and the Jefferson ECE program at Jefferson Elementary. The Odyssey Charter at Audubon is also expected to reopen.

PUSD also announced that schools had passed environmental testing. Envirocheck, hired by PUSD, conducted extensive tests at various locations within the affected school buildings, including door handles, lobby desktops, cabinet tops, tops of storage shelves, center carpets, and cabinet tops at windows.

The approach ensured a thorough assessment of potential contamination, said a recent PUSD announcement. The testing followed industry-standard protocols and used state-of-the-art equipment to measure fire-related contaminants with high precision.

“All our schools are actually cleaner than they have ever been,” said PUSD Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco. “We recognize the concerns about wildfire impacts and are committed to providing transparent and timely information. We encourage everyone to review the test results and FAQs on our website.”

The report also makes note of “other” components observed in the sample, if present. These can include everyday indoor dust elements like skin cells, insect fragments, pollen, mold spores, sand, fibers from construction materials and paint.

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