Pasadena : $1.2 Million to Aid Schools

Responding to the needs of the city’s financially squeezed public schools, the Pasadena Educational Foundation has raised more than $1.2 million to support special programs.

“It is very clear people care about the school system and want to help,” said campaign Chairman John K. Van de Kamp, a former state attorney general who graduated from John Muir High School.

“We are looking to the community to put us over our goal, the $1.5-million mark, by June 30,” he said.

President Kent Lawrence said foundation grants make up $1.1 million of the donations. Among the major donors are the Weingart Foundation, $300,000; the Riordan Foundation, $200,000; the Milken Family Foundation, $50,000, and an anonymous foundation that provided more than $300,000.

A letter appeal to the community yielded $32,362, four times as much as previous efforts, Lawrence said.

Charles McKenney, a foundation member, said local businesses such as Avery Dennison had chipped in $7,500, while Ralph M. Parsons Corp. gave $5,000. Two restaurants, Mi Piace and Pasadena Baking Co., are giving a percentage of their proceeds from the first Monday of each month.

The money will be used to help fund a preschool program for disadvantaged 4-year-olds, a Parent Resource Center, teacher grants and a special elementary science curriculum designed by Caltech.