Sierra Madre Parents Lose Round in Bid to Leave Pasadena Schools

A petition by a group of Sierra Madre parents who want to leave the Pasadena school system in order to join the more affluent Arcadia district should be denied, a State Board of Education subcommittee recommended Thursday.

But the subcommittee, whose recommendation goes before the State Board of Education today, questioned Pasadena administrators about the district’s dropout rate and academic performance. The committee also urged the Sierra Madre parents, some of whom had pleaded their case in tears, to put pressure on Pasadena officials to improve the city’s schools.

“These concerns have not fallen on deaf ears . . . but there are other methods of resolution” than secession, board member Kathryn Dronenburg told the 30 Sierra Madre parents and children who traveled to the Capitol for the hearing. “Schools have to be held accountable. And I hope these parents will stay there and insist on accountability.”

The Sierra Madre petition has been closely watched by parents contemplating similar action in other districts--including Rowland Unified School District in the southeastern San Gabriel Valley--and by school administrators, who said such moves further segregate urban districts and decrease state funding based on student enrollment.

In Pasadena’s case, the 632 Sierra Madre public school students make up 11% of the district’s total white enrollment. The Pasadena district is already 79% minority--38% black, 35% Latino and 6% Asian and others.

But the parents say they are motivated not by racial issues but by what’s best for their children. They are concerned, they say, that Pasadena scores near the lowest third on standardized state achievement tests in reading and in the lowest quarter in math.

By contrast, Arcadia Unified School District scores in the top 15%, or better, in both tests.

Quoting Plato and Susan B. Anthony, the parents told the committee they have been unable to improve the quality of education in Pasadena schools, despite working as teachers’ aides and joining the PTA.

“We don’t want to abandon the school district, but we can’t put our kids at risk any more,” said Suzanne Levoe, one of the organizers of the secession drive.

Parents also claim that the campuses in Pasadena are dangerous. The district, which strongly opposes the secession, contests that claim, pointing out that the number of assaults have declined in the past year from 285 to 133. That gives the 21,590-student district one of the lowest crime rates in the San Gabriel Valley, according to a recent State Board of Education survey.

By contrast, Arcadia Unified, with 7,546 students, logged 52 assaults on campuses last year, which gives it a slightly higher assault rate per student than Pasadena.

Hearings Thursday and today bring near an end a process that has gone on for more than a year. The parents began collecting signatures on petitions in the spring of 1989.

In November, the Los Angeles County Committee on School District Reorganization rejected the petition. The State Board of Education staff also recommended that it be rejected, and Thursday, the committee, composed of five of the 11 members of the state board, voted unanimously to recommend that it be rejected.