Tuesday, March 3, 2026

UCLA Historian Keynotes African American Parent Council Event Honoring Six PUSD Black Educators in Altadena

Robin D.G. Kelley [photo credit: PUSD]

The parent council’s “Black Educators Matter” gathering takes place tonight at the Eaton Fire Collaborative

The Pasadena Unified School District’s African American Parent Council tonight will honor six Black educators tonight at a gathering in Altadena featuring Robin D.G. Kelley, a UCLA Distinguished Professor whose scholarship on Black history and social movements has earned him a Guggenheim Fellowship and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Tuesday event, called “Black Educators Matter,” reflects the AAPC’s ongoing work to recognize the educators who serve Black students across the district. The AAPC, chartered by the PUSD Board of Education since 2010, has been a driving force behind the district’s equity initiatives, including Board Resolution 2566, adopted in 2020, which committed PUSD to addressing disparities affecting Black students. Kelley’s appearance brings a nationally prominent voice to a community-level celebration — one held at a venue that doubles as a recovery hub for families affected by the Eaton Fire.

The six honorees span the district’s schools and administrative offices. Dr. Lawton Gray, principal of John Muir High School Early College Magnet, is a Muir alumnus who returned to lead his alma mater in 2017 and was honored with the NAACP Pasadena Ruby McKnight Williams Excellent Educator Award in 2024. Dr. Shannon Malone, PUSD’s Senior Director of TK-12 Principals, recently received the Association of California School Administrators’ Region XV Valuing Diversity Award for her leadership in advancing equity across the district, according to a PUSD announcement.

Dr. Manuel Rustin, an Ethnic Studies teacher and history department chair at John Muir, has taught at the Pasadena school since 2008. He is a recipient of the Milken Educator Award and has served as chair of the California Department of Education’s Instructional Quality Commission. Lanisha McKenzie, principal of Eliot Arts Magnet Academy — an Altadena school whose campus was damaged by the Eaton Fire — brings more than 20 years of experience as an educator, according to a PUSD announcement when she was appointed.

The honorees also include Jody Simmons, a counselor at Eliot Arts Magnet who was born and raised in Altadena, attended Eliot as a student, and graduated from John Muir, according to her school biography; and John Pointer, who serves at Octavia E. Butler Magnet.

Kelley, the Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, is the author of several books, including “Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination” and a biography of Thelonious Monk that received the PEN Open Book Award. His research spans African American history, social movements, labor, and music.

The AAPC describes its mission as honoring the identity and experiences of PUSD’s African American families and mobilizing stakeholders to ensure a high-quality education for every student, according to the group’s page on PUSD’s website. In 2023, the AAPC helped launch the Black Student and Family Task Force alongside PUSD and the consulting firm Equation 2 Success, aimed at developing a plan to support Black students in line with Resolution 2566.

The event takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Eaton Fire Collaborative, 540 W. Woodbury Rd., Altadena. Refreshments will be served. RSVP is available at the AAPC’s registration link. The event is free and open to PUSD families and community members.

“As an African American Parent Council, we are proud of the advocacy work that we have done, and will continue to do, to push for programs, systems and policies that improve the educational success of Black students and families in Pasadena,” AAPC Chair John Lynch said in a 2023 statement about the group’s work with the district.