Publications
Summer 2001 Newsletter
Community Based Site Selection Leads To Joint-Use: Elementary
School/Community Center
In October 2000, the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Unified
School District embarked on a six-month long process to decide
where the best location for a new elementary school/community
center would be located in the most densely populated area of
the City--Northwest Pasadena. The process began with a small planning
team from Concordia Inc. leading the way for a network of nearly
400 community members, who identified 19 potential sites and built
consensus to achieve the final recommendation. NSBN is pleased
to present this article detailing the process.
By: Steven Bingler, Bobbie Hill & Jessica Berman
Background
According to the Pasadena Unified School District's (PUSD) Demographic
Fact Sheet 2000-2001, over 6800 of PUSD students take bus transportation
to school. Approximately 2300 of these students are K-6 students
who live in Northwest Pasadena who must be bussed because of the...lack
of sufficient capacity for this population in the neighborhoods'
existing schools. "Neighborhood Schools," a report prepared
for the City of Pasadena's Charter Reform Task Force on School
District Governance in Feb. 2000, maintained that these 2300 students
are the only K-6 students...who do not rely on busses by choice
in order to attend magnet schools.
The PUSD's March '99 draft of the Master Plan recommended the
development of two new 500-student elementary schools...In April
'99, a month after these draft recommendations were made, the
District reconfigured their elementary schools to move 6th grade
to Middle School and turn all elementary schools into K-5's. This
reorganization was said to eliminate the need for new school construction,
thus altering the recommendations from the March version of the
Master Plan. Northwest residents...began a campaign to reinstate
the plans to build a new elementary school in Northwest Pasadena.
The Master Plan was eventually amended to include the construction
of one new K-5 school.
In "Why Not the Best?" the Charter Reform Task Force
on School District Governance's Final Report and Recommendations
encourages the Board to utilize new methods for site selection
and exploration of joint use in planning for the new school in
Northwest. The Task Force encouraged the School District to use
the methods of New Schools-Better Neighborhoods (NSBN) as a model.
Using the case study of the Cahuenga Neighborhood in L.A., facilitated
by Concordia, Inc., the Task Force reported:
"The NSBN philosophy calls for the construction of smaller
schools, which can share uses with community and governmental
agencies. The NSBN model also calls for a high degree of community
involvement in school site location, design, and construction..."
--"Why Not the Best?" p. 63
Concordia, Inc. first came to Pasadena at the invitation of
the Charter Reform Task Force in Feb. 2000 to discuss the Cahuenga
case study. Concordia was invited back by the District's Joint
Use of Facilities Task Force...in September 2000. In October,
Concordia received a contract from the Board of Education to engage
the community in prioritizing two sites for the new elementary
school/community center in Northwest Pasadena by April 2001...
Research & Organizing
Concordia, Inc. began the process with a research phase to familiarize
our team with the area, familiarize the community with our team,
and collect data. With the help of the Joint Use of Facilities
Task Force, particularly with the New Schools Subcommittee, key
individuals with local leadership capacities were identified...
...From this group, eighteen people (including the five members
of the Joint Use of Facilities Task Force New Schools Subcommittee)
were identified to serve as the Planning Team. Members of the
Planning Team represented community organizations, neighborhood
associations, the Joint Use Task Force, business, real estate,
educators, youth programs, and the School District.
Simultaneously with the selection of the Planning Team process,
baseline GIS data for the project were being collected...
Planning Team
The Planning Team worked from November 2000 to January 2001 to
develop a mailing list of individuals to invite to participate
on the Steering Committee. The Planning Team worked to achieve
a balance among parents, students, school staff, and community
members. [And] looked for equal representation between business,
labor and industry, education, religious organizations, government,
civic and service organizations, health and human services, and
the community at large. The Planning Team determined the start
date for the site selection process and endorsed the decision
to hold meetings on Thursdays, three weeks apart, from 6:00-9:00
PM. Team members also agreed to a location structure in which
one meeting would be held at each of the four schools in Northwest
and one at each of the two community centers...
Over the course of six months, meetings were held with the steering
committee as outlined earlier by the Planning Team. Concordia
assisted the steering committee with facilitating the process
and with gathering and analyzing data related to the community's
assets and needs in a broad range of categories...All nominated
sites were given equal consideration. An initial list of 19 sites
was narrowed to five and eventually to a prioritized list of three
final recommendations that were presented to the Board of Education
by the Steering Committee...
Community Outreach and Engagement
A strong community outreach and engagement infrastructure was
created as a result of this planning process. The Steering Commmittee's
Communications Task Force and the Subcommittee Facilitators will
continue to lead a concerted communications effort. This Task
Force or an outgrowth of these efforts will be ongoing to assure
open lines of communication for all community members. It is the
intent of the both PUSD and the City of Pasadena that the ideas
and opinions of all Pasadena citizens will continue to be valued
and respected. They understand that people will invest in programs
and projects where they have ownership and participation. This
is the key to building a more dynamic community and a stronger
democracy.
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