Monday, July 27, 2026

The Window to Run for the Pasadena School Board Closes Aug. 7

Nomination papers are available at the City Clerk’s Office through 5:00 p.m. Friday; four district seats are on this year’s ballot.

[Updated]   Anyone who has sat through a Pasadena Unified School District board meeting since the Eaton Fire — replete with soil remediation, enrollment, campus rebuilding, consolidations, budget shortfalls, a protected tree ordinance — and thought the job could be done better has until 5:00 p.m. Aug. 7 to say so on paper.

Nomination papers for candidates seeking open seats on the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education in November are available now through that deadline at the Office of the City Clerk, 100 North Garfield Avenue, Room S228, in Pasadena, according to the City Clerk’s Office.

The nomination period opened Monday, July 13. Voters will elect representatives in Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 this year, each for a full four-year term, in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.

Papers are issued only to registered voters who live in the specific sub-district they are seeking to represent. The seats are decided by plurality, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins outright, with no runoff.

City Clerk staff will walk prospective candidates through the process during the nomination period at the same office. Appointments are available.

The filing window is the practical gate on the entire race. Miss it and the seat is contested without you, regardless of how strong the case.

For most of the four seats the Aug. 7 deadline is firm. But in any district where the incumbent does not file or fails to qualify, that seat’s deadline extends to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12. That condition is already in play in District 7, where the seat is being vacated.

Several candidates have already begun the process. In District 1, incumbent Kimberly Kenne has pulled papers to defend her seat against challenger Felita Kealing and Dianne Lewis. In District 3, incumbent Michelle Richardson Bailey has pulled papers and is expected to face Veronica Elias. In District 5, incumbent Patrice Marshall McKenzie is so far unopposed. In the open District 7 race to fill the seat to be vacated by Yarma Velásquez, Dennis McNamara has pulled papers.

Pulling papers does not place a candidate on the ballot. To qualify, a candidate must gather the required voter signatures and complete filing with the City Clerk by the deadline.

The board oversees a district still working through the aftermath of the January 2025 fire, which displaced students and families across Pasadena and Altadena and left several campuses and thousands of households in extended recovery.

Nomination papers for the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education are available through Friday, Aug. 7 at 5:00 p.m. at the Office of the City Clerk, 100 North Garfield Avenue, Room S228 in Pasadena. To schedule an appointment, call (626) 744-4124 or email cityclerk@cityofpasadena.net.