Thursday, August 27, 2026

PUSD Board to Consider 30% Shade Goal for Student Areas Thursday

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education will consider a resolution Thursday, Aug. 27, that would set a goal of covering 30% of the outdoor areas designated for student learning, play and circulation with mature tree canopy by 2035.

Resolution No. 2901 would establish a “long range goal” to preserve the district’s existing canopy and work toward 30% through phased implementation. It carries no appropriation. District school sites range between 8% and 15% coverage, according to a 2023 California Schoolyard Tree Canopy Equity study cited in the resolution, which also cites research that canopy reduces urban heat, improves air quality and supports student concentration and academic performance.

Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco or a designee would have six months to present a draft implementation plan and 12 months to bring a detailed plan to the seven-member board.

Pasadena Unified manages approximately 5,000 trees. Recent budget reductions have cut grounds staffing by approximately 50%, “affecting the District’s ability to maintain its existing tree inventory and any additional trees planted under this Resolution,”

Thursday, August 27, 2026

John Muir High School Plans Centennial Celebration, Launches $100,000 Legacy Fund

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

John Muir High School will celebrate its 100th anniversary in November with a centennial gathering honoring generations of students and alumni while launching a $100,000 fundraising campaign to support the school’s future.

The Centennial Celebration is scheduled for Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. at the Rufus Mead Auditorium, 1905 Lincoln Ave. Pasadena Federal Credit Union has donated $10,000 as the event’s first presenting sponsor, according to the John Muir High School Alumni Association.

“We are honored to support John Muir High School’s Centennial Celebration,” Pasadena Federal Credit Union Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Chang said. “This is a celebration of a proud legacy, the generations of students and educators who have made a lasting impact, and the bright future that lies ahead.”

The celebration will include ceremonies honoring distinguished alumni, including Jackie Robinson, author Octavia Butler and several Olympic champions. Current Muir students will perform, and organizers are planning a Homecoming Alumni Picnic in the school’s “M”

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Local Nonprofit to Fill a Truck for Gary, Indiana, Repaying Eaton Fire Aid

Project Passion, Inc., the Pasadena nonprofit that grew out of the Eaton Fire relief effort, will collect hygiene supplies, diapers, cleaning products, gift cards and cash for storm-damaged Gary, Indiana, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 1609 Navarro Ave. in Pasadena.

The event is being held in partnership with Relief Gang and a
coalition of local organizations like Victory Bible Church, Neighborhood Survants, Juicy Little Society, Its Bigger Than Us, and The Source LA.

The drive comes on the heels of Project Passion Founder Brandon Lamar’s recent trip to Gary, Indiana, where he spent two and a half days on the ground meeting with residents and community leaders, sharing best practices from the response to the Eaton Fire.

Gary, Indiana is recovering from severe storms that caused extended power outages and exposed infrastructure challenges, which caused the city, whose population is 85% African American, to be without power for over 14 days.

“I just got back from spending two and a half days in Gary,

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Four Pasadena Unified Schools to Be Honored at State PBIS Conference in October

Four Pasadena Unified schools will be recognized at the annual California PBIS Conference in October, the district announced.

James Madison Elementary School, John Muir High School Early College Magnet and Rose City High School earned Platinum, the highest level in California’s statewide recognition system.

Pasadena High School earned Gold, the district said.

The California PBIS Coalition named nearly 2,700 award recipients for the 2025-26 school year, recognizing schools for supportive, inclusive and positive learning environments.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports is a multi-tiered framework rather than a curriculum. Schools set clear behavioral expectations, then teach and recognize those behaviors, an approach the district says helps students feel supported, reduces disciplinary incidents and improves academic outcomes.

In Pasadena Unified the work runs through Behavior Response to Intervention, which the district describes as a proactive, comprehensive and data-driven system that identifies students needing help early and adds increasing tiers of support, with lessons on life skills and evidence-based interventions.

“These awards honor the model work happening in our schools to support students’

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Board of Education to Consider Resolution on Elementary School Screen Time

Measure would direct superintendent to study reductions; follows action by Los Angeles and San Diego districts

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is scheduled to vote Thursday on a resolution directing Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco to review elementary school technology practices and to recommend ways to significantly reduce what the document calls non-essential screen-based instructional time.

Resolution 2899, titled “Supporting Developmentally Appropriate Limits on Screen-Based Instruction in Elementary Schools,” would not itself set limits on classroom technology use. It directs Blanco to conduct the review and return with recommendations while maintaining compliance with state and federal requirements, and directs the district to explore developing guidelines for screen use in elementary classrooms.

The measure comes four months after the Los Angeles Unified School District voted to direct staff to develop grade-specific limits on classroom devices and two months after San Diego Unified took up a resolution on its own technology practices.

The resolution states that educators and families have expressed concerns about the amount of time elementary students spend on screen-based activities during the school day.

Thursday, August 27, 2026

PUSD Board Weighs Capital Plan That Defers Five Campuses, Shifts $121 Million

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is consider at its Thursday, Aug. 27 meeting whether to approve a capital program update that would reallocate $23.8 million in bond money, move planned modernization work at five campuses into master planning review, and recognize that the Measure O capital projects fund is committed $121 million beyond its own proceeds.

Board Report 2010-F would replace the planning assumptions in the five-year bond plan the board adopted in November 2023 under BR 1685-F. The report attributes the update to construction escalation, fire-related impacts, project delivery timing, swing space needs, Measure R planning and updated campus priorities.

The item requests no new bond authorization and does not increase the total Measure O or Measure R authorization approved by voters. 

Rather, It reallocates existing bond planning allocations, updates project schedules, and would authorize the superintendent or designee to implement and administer the updated framework within approved bond purposes, available funding, cash flow, procurement requirements and board policy.

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Power Morphicon Opens Badge Counter at Noon Thursday for Day Zero in Pasadena

Power Morphicon’s badge counter opens at noon Thursday at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St., beginning an eight-hour badge window on Day Zero, a day before the Power Rangers convention itself opens.

Pickup runs to 8 p.m. and is open to every membership level, including single-day passes. Gold Ranger memberships include early registration pickup on Day Zero.

A chartered bus to “Power Rangers” filming locations left at 8 a.m. from downtown Pasadena and returned after dusk. Seats were limited and sold per seat at extra cost. The route includes a privately booked stop at the House of the Book, which the organizer identifies as the Command Center.

Thursday carries no panels on the published program, which opens Friday with a 4:30 p.m. ceremony in the Main Hall. The organizer describes Day Zero as badge pickup plus limited programming, and says programming is subject to change.

Scott Zillner has staged the convention nearly every two years since 2010. “Saban had this idea,

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Nearly Total Lunar Eclipse to Be Visible Across Southland

Southern California skywatchers will have a chance Thursday evening to see a nearly total lunar eclipse, with 96% of the moon expected to slip into Earth’s shadow at the height of the celestial event.

Griffith Observatory will open its grounds for public viewing of the partial lunar eclipse beginning at 7:25 p.m. Thursday, weather permitting, and will broadcast the event online from 7:25 p.m. until 12:05 a.m. Friday.

If skies are clear, the eclipse will be visible to the unaided eye throughout Southern California, according to the observatory. No telescope or special eye protection is needed to view a lunar eclipse.

The moon will rise on the southeastern horizon at 7:18 p.m., with the partial, or umbral, phase of the eclipse beginning at 7:34 p.m.

The eclipse will become visible from the Griffith Observatory lawn around 8:15 p.m. and reach its peak at 9:13 p.m., when about 96% of the moon will be covered by Earth’s shadow, officials said.

With nearly the entire lunar surface in Earth’s shadow,

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

County Officials to Join El Patrón Grand Re-Opening in Altadena Thursday

El Patrón Mexican Food Restaurant will hold a grand re-opening celebration at noon Thursday at 2555 N. Lake Ave., 19 months after the Eaton Fire spared the building but emptied the neighborhood around it.

Those expected to attend include owner Margarita “Maggie” Cortez; Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose district covers Altadena; Kelly LoBianco, director of the county Department of Economic Opportunity; Roberto Barragán, executive director of ICON CDC; and representatives of the Altadena Chamber of Commerce, according to the event announcement.

The celebration marks the restaurant’s return and the continuing recovery of Altadena’s business district.

El Patrón was supported in part by a grant from ICON CDC, which, working with the county, helped provide grants to 18 brick-and-mortar businesses in Altadena, according to the event announcement.

El Patrón’s building was not damaged in the January 2025 fire, but Cortez has said she lost 85 percent of her regular customers, many of whom were forced to relocate away after their homes burned.

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

LA84 Foundation Grant Will Fund Swim Instruction for Every Third Grader at 14 Pasadena Unified Schools

Every third grader at 14 Pasadena Unified School District schools will receive swim instruction through the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center under a new Learn to Swim grant from the LA84 Foundation, the foundation announced in a news release. The grant will support more than 1,000 youth.

The Pasadena award is part of $330,000 the foundation distributed to eight organizations across Southern California, an investment the foundation said will bring water safety education to 10,000 young people. Pasadena is one of seven cities named in the round, along with Bell Gardens, El Centro, El Monte, Rialto, Riverside and National City, spanning Los Angeles, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.

“Our partnership with Pasadena Unified School District and alignment with the LA84 Foundation have made it possible to bring this life-saving intervention to over 30,000 youth throughout our history,” Arvin Varma, chief operating officer of the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, said in the release. “This year, we’re on track to save lives, strengthen our community, and empower future generations.”