One Parent's Decision to Go Public

The following is edited from a testimonial we received from a new PUSD parent…

At my child's preschool, most parents applied to private school so we just followed the crowd. When my child didn't get into our preferred school, we went to a local charter school. I started to talk to parents who left the charter school for Pasadena Unified schools, so I started following PEN and a number of schools on Facebook. Through the Summer Research Connection at Caltech, I had a couple of PUSD students, plus my child played sports with children who went to PUSD. All of those kids and their families were pretty great. And, they were happy with their schools! As a result, I went to some PEN programs. I began to think more about social issues and what happens when people don't support public education. I kept being told that you have to do what's best for your own child. However, they never talked about how these kinds of choices affect the society that my child will grow up in. I got really fed up with the lack of critical thinking about schooling. Finally, I did some tours and just decided to go for it. We are excited to now be part of the PUSD community!