Students at Franklin Elementary. – Courtesy photo / @FranklinFoxesPUSD

Franklin, Jefferson and Roosevelt to shutter by end of school year

By Terry Miller

Declining enrollment considered, the Pasadena Unified School Board voted Sept. 26 to close three elementary schools at the end of the school year.

In an unusually long board meeting, the decision was handed down late Thursday night: 4-3 vote margin to close Franklin, Jefferson and Roosevelt elementary schools.

“School consolidation, closures, is the most difficult thing a school board member has to do,” PUSD Board President Lawrence Torres told the audience Thursday night.

In a letter posted Tuesday, PUSD Interim Superintendent Dr. David Verdugo said the proposal was spurred by lower enrollment and budgetary issues.

The district also pointed to lower birthrates and rising housing costs as contributing to the lower enrollment.