School District’s Goals Top Meeting Agenda

PASADENA —  School officials are inviting the community to an education summit meeting Thursday that will help set goals for the Pasadena Unified School District next year.

The 7 p.m. meeting at the auditorium of Pasadena High School, 2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., is expected to draw together civic leaders, school officials, parents and teachers to develop a plan for the future of the area’s struggling schools.

The conference will be the culmination of four months of community meetings and a Nov. 19 summit in which 1,200 participants discussed how to improve the district’s schools in Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Altadena.

“We want to get as many people as possible to participate. We want everybody to get involved in the schools,” said former California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who is helping to raise funds for the school district.

Supt. Vera Vignes said: “The summit is the second step in what will be a turning point in the life of the district. I strongly urge the community to come pledge their support to the public schools.”

Vignes, appointed superintendent of the 22,500-student district in August, said volunteers will be invited to join committees on academic achievement, school safety, school and community communications, accountability, curriculum, school autonomy, and multicultural awareness.

Vignes will head a coordinating committee for the seven groups. Co-chairs will include Vice Mayor Kathryn Nack; Chamber of Commerce President Steve Ralph; the Rev. George Van Alstine, school board vice president, and Ellen Pais, president of Community Coalition for Better Schools.

The groups will develop an overall plan for the school district that the Board of Education aims to implement for the 1993-94 school year.

The plan will establish educational and graduation targets and consider school-based management, improvements in district instruction methods and better ways to link the district with the community.