Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Altadena Elementary School Campus Renovation Buoys Hopes for Boosted Student Enrollment

“We all know that the cause for our celebrations on a regular basis are not these walls, but it’s what happens inside of our buildings. Tonight we celebrate what happens inside of our school and our students who come to this building everyday full of feelings, full of dreams and full of hope,” said Altadena Elementary School Principal Ria Apodaca.

Altadena Elementary School currently serves 275 pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade students and will be home to the Pasadena Unified School District’s new French Dual Language Immersion program starting Fall 2017.

The just finished $8.1 million makeover included modernization of three school buildings, construction of a new entrance, and painting.

“Altadena is going up. We’re going up in enrollment, we’re going up in diversity through our French Dual Immersion Language Program, we’re going up in student engagement by building capacity and strengthening their artistic skillsets and, finally, through the hard work of our dedicated staff that’s committed to the success of these programs, we’re going up in our academic performance and achievement,” said Altadena Elementary School parent and PTA member Allisonne Crawford.

The Pasadena Educational Foundation presented a $1,000 check at the ceremony, bringing Altadena Elementary’s annual fund balance to $9,500, which it hopes to reach its $15,000 goal by July to fund additional music and art programs.

Altadena Elementary School applied for an Arts Magnet grant earlier this year and is currently waiting for approval.

Construction of the sports complex was funded by Measure TT, the $350 million school bond initiative approved by voters in 2008.

The project was designed by PBWS Architects with Chalmers Construction Services, Inc. as the general contractor.