Voters in three of the Pasadena Unified School District’s seven board districts are choosing school board members Tuesday, with incumbents Kimberly Kenne and Michelle Richardson Bailey facing challengers in Districts 1 and 3 and two candidates competing for an open seat in District 7.
The winners will join a seven-member Board of Education that hires and fires the superintendent, sets District policy and votes on whether to consolidate or close schools.
Last year the Board voted 4-3 to cut $24.5 million from this school year’s budget to confront deficits, and on June 25 it voted 4-3 to begin a “District Transformation Process” replacing an earlier resolution establishing optimal school sizes. The District is also still recovering from the 2025 Eaton Fire, which displaced hundreds of families and burned or damaged District school buildings.
A fourth seat, in District 5, will not appear on the ballot.
Incumbent Patrice Marshall McKenzie was the only candidate to qualify there and will be appointed to the seat instead.
Each board member is elected by registered voters who live in that member’s sub-district, so only voters in Districts 1, 3 and 7 have a Pasadena Unified Board race on their ballots this year. The District covers areas in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre and unincorporated pockets of Los Angeles County. Board members serve four-year terms with no term limits, and the part-time positions carry a $4,800 annual stipend.
The candidates are listed below in ballot order, which was set by random drawing.
District 1
Kimberly Kenne, whose ballot designation is “Board of Education Member, Pasadena Unified School District,” has served on the Board since 2011 and has twice been board president. An Altadena resident for 32 years whose children attended District schools, she has a professional background in information technology for the banking sector and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University.
Kenne voted for both last year’s $24.5 million in cuts and the District Transformation Process.
“My top priority is that our spending is aligned with our values,” she has written. On the budget, she wrote that “for now the district’s budget has stabilized,” but that enrollment “has continued to decline.” On consolidation, she wrote, “Now is the time to evaluate how we move forward so that we are maximizing our spending on services and supports for students. This may mean having fewer schools open.”
Challenger Felita Kealing, whose ballot designation is “School Student Recruiter,” works in marketing and student recruitment at Thurgood Marshall Secondary School. She grew up in northwest Pasadena and Altadena, attended Hamilton Elementary and Blair High School, and serves on the leadership advisory committee of the Pasadena Educational Foundation, which supports the District’s schools. Her campaign says she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from California State University, Los Angeles, and that her family lost its home in the Eaton Fire.
Kealing named student achievement as her top priority. She said she would have voted against last year’s $24.5 million in cuts, citing “the deep cuts to staffing and student services,” and against the District Transformation Process. “Historically, [Pasadena Unified School District] has proven that mass closures fail to fix our structural issues,” she wrote. Her campaign website says, “As we continue rebuilding District 1, I believe our schools can help lead that healing.”
District 3
Michelle Richardson Bailey, whose ballot designation is “Board Member, Pasadena Unified School District,” was first elected to the Board in March 2017 and has served as board president. A Pasadena native and a graduate of District schools, she spent more than 20 years in public education before her election, including as secretary to the District superintendent, according to her District biography, which also lists bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Pacific Oaks College and doctoral studies at Walden University. She serves on the Board of Governors of the California Association of Black School Educators.
Richardson Bailey was among the three board members who voted against last year’s $24.5 million in cuts and against starting the District Transformation Process. Her campaign platform lists three priorities: elevating student voice, accountability and prioritizing the classroom.
“Our community deserves experienced, accountable leadership that listens, follows through, and delivers meaningful results,” the platform says. It adds, “Every dollar we spend and every policy we adopt should improve the educational experience our students receive each day.”
Veronica Elias, whose ballot designation is “Educator/Parent,” is a District parent who has served as principal of a Los Angeles charter school. She spent 14 years as a teacher and more than 10 years in administration, and her campaign says she holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Southern California.
Elias says that her top priority is “stabilizing the district’s budget while protecting classroom instruction,” and said she would call for an independent audit of the District office before additional cuts reach school sites. She said she would have voted against last year’s cuts because “too much of the burden fell on teachers, school staff and student programs,” but wrote that “a no vote alone is not a financial plan.” She said she would have voted for the District Transformation Process, writing, “[Pasadena Unified School District] cannot ignore declining enrollment and continuing deficits, but the process must not begin with a predetermined outcome.”
District 7
District 7 incumbent Yarma Velázquez is not on the ballot, leaving the seat open.
Dennis J. McNamara, whose ballot designation is “Retired Finance Executive,” chairs the District’s Citizens’ Oversight Committee for its school bond program and retired after nearly 40 years in investment management. He volunteers as a math tutor for second graders at Washington Elementary School, and his campaign says he holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.
McNamara’s top priority is “raising academic achievement in core academic subjects.” He said he would have voted for last year’s cuts, writing that without them the Los Angeles County Office of Education “was poised to take over the district,” but that “the cuts hit classroom and school services too hard.” He said he also would have voted for the District Transformation Process, while describing the earlier consolidation process as “an accounting exercise, not one based on an educational vision.”
Cynthia Torres, whose ballot designation is “Education Services Consultant,” is a certified educational planner who advises students and families on college admissions. Her campaign says she founded the Pasadena-based consulting firm College Decisions LLC in 2010, served on the District’s Citizens’ Oversight Committee, spent 11 years on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s Financial Oversight Committee, two of them as chair, and graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School.
Torres proposes “a middle path which would be framed by three considerations: budget realities, community concerns and revenue strategies.” She did not say how she would have voted on last year’s cuts but said no schools were closed during her years on the Santa Monica-Malibu committee. On consolidation, she wrote that she is persuaded by a 2026 Stanford Graduate School of Education study “that concludes that closing schools may not actually improve a school district’s financial standing.”
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Voters may cast ballots in person at any vote center in Los Angeles County, and same-day voter registration is available at any vote center in the County. Completed mail ballots may be returned to any vote center or ballot drop box by 8 p.m. Tuesday. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the County by Nov. 10 to be counted. District maps and election information are available from the Pasadena City Clerk’s Office at cityofpasadena.net/city-clerk/
Los Angeles County election officials begin reporting results after the polls close at 8 p.m. The results are scheduled to be declared to the Pasadena Unified Board of Education on Dec. 7.
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