Thursday, August 13, 2026

Pasadena Unified Kicks Off New School Year With Awards, Optimism

By EDDIE RIVERA

PUSD award recipients gather at PUSD ‘Welcome Back’ event. Left to right: Pasadena High School Principal Eric Barba, Eliot Arts Principal Lanisha McKenzie, McKinley School Principal Maria Toliver, PUSD Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco, Teacher of the Year Michael Birnbryer-Lao, Community Clergy Coalition Representative Eric Johnson, Keynote Speaker Courtney Linsey, Night Custodian Dorsett Mannings, and Pasadena Education Foundation President Patrick Conyers.

Superintendent Blanco calls on staff to build district’s own future

Coffee cups and breakfast burritos disappeared quickly under a hot morning sun as Pasadena Unified School District employees gathered at Pasadena High School Wednesday for the district’s annual Welcome Back event, an all-staff gathering that mixed celebration with a call to action ahead of the 2026-27 school year. 

Baskets of apples greeted arriving teachers, and a student drum line kept the mood upbeat as staff filed into a packed auditorium for the program, themed “The Power of Us: Forward Together.” Student musicians, singers and Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets opened the event, before district administrators spoke. 

Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco addressed the full house, telling employees the district was focused on academic success, stronger operational systems and building a vision for what comes next. 

“This year, we’re building on what we have accomplished, learning from what we’ve been through, and creating our own future instead of waiting for it to happen,” Blanco said. 

Blanco described the “Power of PUSD” as the hundreds of people who choose daily to put students first, and she asked the audience to consider what could happen if that collective effort moved in the same direction. She reported a 91% graduation rate, which she said outpaced the state average, and pointed to gains in mathematics as reason for optimism. Literacy, multilingual learners and students with disabilities remain district priorities heading into the new year, Blanco added.

She also addressed the district’s continuing recovery from the Eaton Fire, recognizing employees who supported students and colleagues through what she called an extraordinary year. 

Pasadena-based educator, creative leader and storyteller Courtney Linsey delivered the event’s keynote address, pointing to himself as a “miracle” of the school district. “Every miracle leaves fingerprints,” he told the teachers. “Make sure you leave some of your own.” 

Finally, the District presented five awards recognizing PUSD teachers, staff and community partners. 

Michael Birnbryer-Lao, who has taught at Blair Middle and High School since 2008, was named Teacher of the Year. Eric Barba, Ed.D., principal of Pasadena High School since 2024, received the Principal of the Year award for what the district called collaborative leadership. Dorsett Mannings, a night custodian who spent the previous year at Marshall Secondary School and has since moved to Jackson STEM Elementary School, was honored as Classified Employee of the Year for his overnight work that keeps campuses ready each morning. 

Dr. Maria Toliver and Lanisha McKenzie, principals of McKinley School and Eliot Arts Magnet, shared the Superintendent’s Hero Award. The Eaton Fire damaged the Eliot Arts campus, and McKinley opened its doors to house both school communities, an arrangement the two principals navigated together. 

The Community Clergy Coalition, represented by Eric Johnson, received the Superintendent’s Above and Beyond Award for its continuing partnership with the district and support of students and families. 

PUSD students return to class August 17.