Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy

Muir Principal Lawton Gray dispels the fake news on social media.

http://www.pasadenanow.com//guest-opinion-eileen-white-r/

Thousands of Pasadena taxpayers were shocked last month to read that $65,000 of money we have paid in federal, state, and local taxes was being moved from the PUSD schools budget to two attorneys because of a legal technicality involving an allegedly troubled teacher at James Madison Elementary School. These attorneys then attempted to force PUSD to fire Madison Principal Juan Ruelas on the pretense of a $20,000 gift that they would then make to the school. From our tax mon...ey. What a neat trick! Next, these lawyers released an obviously faux survey of Madison’s teachers, with the requisite slamming of Mr. Ruelas. Credulity was strained irremediably: Missing were an indication of how many of Madison’s more than 30 teachers were surveyed along with any mention of an unbiased, independent, certified polling company having been hired to conduct the survey. It’s very tempting for Pasadena’s non-public-school intelligentsia to find such shenanigans tres amusant and to look away, tisk-tisking that here’s another example of tipplers at Pasadena’s public trough. After all, it doesn’t affect us or does it? First of all, in the pocketbook; my family hands over a painful $35,000 in property taxes to the Golden State each year, and I’d like to think that at least a few of those dollars benefit the commonweal. Secondarily, in the old-fashioned concept of pro bono publico. Pasadena’s public-school families are our neighbors, and their children’s futures matter. Frequent and well-publicized rigamarole instead of a tightly focused campaign to boost students’ grades is exactly why Pasadena bears the shame of having the largest (30% or more) proportion of school-age children attending private schools in the United States. Surely it’s time for PUSD Superintendent Brian McDonald and the elected Pasadena School Board to reward Mr. Ruelas for his campaign to reverse Madison’s decades of poor student performance and tighten its lax standards for teachers. I served as Principal for a Day at Madison this year and heard dozens of teachers praise his efforts. They told me his reforms included such common-sense items as forbidding Madison teachers to use their cell phones while they are supposed to be teaching, discouraging them from eating while they are teaching, and requiring them to report for duty before their students arrive each morning. As for the teacher whose discipline by Mr. Ruelas was the proximate cause of the lawyers’ energetic and creative litigation, I was with several friends attending a recent Pasadena School Board meeting. Three of us turned away from the podium after speaking together in favor of Mr. Ruelas. We noticed among the audience members, the very teacher championed by those creative lawyers. We watched, horrified, as this purported pillar of educational excellence grimaced at us while she raised her middle finger. from today's Pasadena Now http://www.pasadenanow.com//guest-opinion-eileen-white-r/

The smear campaign against Madison Principal Juan Ruelas must stop! http://www.pasadenanow.com//guest-opinion-eileen-white-r/

http://www.pasadenanow.com//guest-opinion-keep-principal/

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"Franklin Fox Garden"

Second Graders from Madison Elementary visit the Huntington Botanical Center to identify parts of plants under microscopes.

Jim Folsom and Courtney Allen from the Huntington visit Madison School to discuss partnerships with PUSD and PCGC.

Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy Awards $70,000 to PUSD for Educational Garden Projects SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 - Pasadena Community Gardens Conservancy today awarded $70,000 in grants to the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) to support school gardens to improve family health and nutrition, enhance science education, and help increase parental involvement in the schools....Continue reading

http://www.pasadenanow.com//pasadena-community-gardens-co/