Dear PUSD Community,

We have so much territory to cover in this week’s update. Dozens of mathletes competed in Math Field Day and hundreds of people cheered them on! We also have several PUSD athletes who completed the 26-mile L.A. Marathon. World-renowned leaders and talented students who spoke at our Women’s History Month celebration inspired us all.

Please take a few moments to enjoy the latest PUSD news and have a great week!

Sincerely,

Brian McDonald, Ed.D.

Superintendent

What do you get when you take dozens of PUSD mathletes, divide them into teams, add in some computational competition, and factor in a fun zone? You’re left with a successful 2023 Math Field Day with over 500 people in attendance. Congratulations to all of the competitors and award winners – they worked so hard and we are #PUSDproud of them!

4th grade Overall:

Gold: Jackson Team A

Silver: Longfellow Team A

Bronze: Field Team A

5th grade Overall:

Gold: Sierra Madre Team A

Silver: Field Team B

Bronze: Longfellow Team A

6th grade Overall:

Gold: Sierra Madre Team A

Silver: Eliot Team A

Bronze: Marshall Team A

7th grade Overall:

Gold: Sierra Madre Team A

Silver: Marshall Team A

Bronze: Octavia Butler Team A

8th grade Overall:

Gold: Sierra Madre Team A

Silver: Octavia E. Butler Team A

Bronze: Blair Team B

Only a small fraction (about 0.17 percent) of the population has run a marathon. But 18 Blair students are now part of the elite few after completing the LA Marathon last weekend. The 10 middle schoolers and eight high school students started training in August with Students Run Los Angeles (SRLA). They started with a 5k in September and increased the distance each month. Breck Sequeira, a 10th-grade runner, says his team was like a family running by his side.

“The hardest part of running is mostly happening mentally,” he said. "You must keep going and that is where it gets really tough. The most rewarding part is saying that you have done something that less than one percent of the world’s population has done and you did it as a student, a teenager.”

This is Breck’s fourth time completing the marathon and he plans to continue until at least senior year. Congratulations to all of the runners and to the PUSD coaches - Veronica Yepez (pictured above, bottom right) and Eric Glenn (above, bottom left) - who inspired them every step of the way!

Upon completion, each runner receives a medal and a sweatshirt that reads: Marathon Finisher 2023.

Recalling the words of Octavia E. Butler, the OEB Magnet Science Fiction Festival transported visitors to a “world that makes more sense than this one.” Last week’s annual event included telescopes, time machines, fantasy fiction, flower pounding, robotics, sculptures, artwork, essays and all things sci-fi. Brooklyn Roffman, an OEB 7th grade student, said the festival “is amazing. I love Octavia Butler! I love her work!” We’re sharing some photos, but we may need to travel back in time to take it all in.

The Sixth Annual Women’s History Celebration will definitely go down in PUSD history. Celebrated Latina labor leader Dolores Huerta and Byllye Avery, founder of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, delivered the keynote speeches at last week’s event. Thank you to our organizers and congratulations to the winners of our student essay and art contests!

Q: Where can you hold dinosaur fossils, touch meteorites, and meet working scientists all in one place?

A: At the 2023 PUSD Science Fest on Saturday, April 22, from 12 noon to 5pm at John Muir High School.

All students and PUSD families are invited to the spectacular Science Fest ‘23. Students will learn about STEM careers. They’ll see demos by the Pasadena Fire Department and meet scientists, engineers, doctors, and environmental experts including industry pros from JPL, Caltech, Carnegie Observatory, and SpaceX, to name a few. See link in flier for more details.

Reminder: on Friday, March 31, 2023, all PUSD schools and offices will be closed in honor of Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez who, along with Dolores Huerta, co-founded what later became the United Farm Workers. The two leaders were instrumental in helping farm workers receive higher wages, family health coverage, pension benefits and other contract protections. The annual school holiday is designed to recognize their service to the communities of California and the entire nation.

Spring break begins next Monday. Schools will be closed from April 3-7. The PUSD Update will take a break that week as well. Classes resume on April 10, 2023.

Starting today, families may submit intradistrict permit, interdistrict permit, and relinquish requests for fall 2023. Interdistrict permits are for out-of-district residents to enter PUSD. Intradistrict permits are needed to apply for a school other than the student's school of residence. Families may also complete a relinquish request to give up a lottery seat and request return to the student's neighborhood school for the following school year. Applications are online pusd.us/forms, log in here pusd.schoolmint.com.

Neighborhood school enrollment continues for:

• TK-12 students who live within PUSD and are entering their school of residence for the first time.

• Current PUSD students who are advancing to 6th or 9th grades and plan to attend their neighborhood school

Please note: registration is not required for TK-12th grade students to continue at the same school. For example, if a child is moving on from 2nd to 3rd grade at their current neighborhood school, parents are not required to re-register. Please visit www.pusd.us/enroll for more information.

The next regular meeting of the PUSD Board of Education will take place on Thursday, April 27, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. in the Elbie J. Hickambottom Board Room (Room 236), 351 S. Hudson Ave, Pasadena. Agenda at www.pusd.us/Page/639

Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) is accepting submissions for the 2023 Academic Scholarship. Each year, PWP honors two outstanding high school seniors in Pasadena with a scholarship to a two- or four-year accredited, post-secondary institution for the upcoming academic year. The first-place scholarship is $5,000, and second place is $2,500. To apply, students must write a minimum 500-word essay about a topic related to the utility industry. This year’s essay prompt focuses on the severe drought conditions, and how to address the drought and protect long-term water supply. Submissions must be received by April 3, 2022. Learn more about the scholarship program.