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Pasadena Waldorf asks Duarte Unified to temporarily host displaced students; board directs superintendent to study feasibility and costs
Summary
Public speakers from the Pasadena Waldorf School asked Duarte Unified to temporarily host their displaced students at the vacant Andres Duarte campus after a Jan. 7 fire destroyed the Waldorf site; the board directed the superintendent to study legal and financial feasibility and return with a cost estimate before authorizing outside counsel or expenditures.
Public speakers from the Pasadena Waldorf School (PWS) asked the Duarte Unified School District board on Feb. 13 to allow PWS to temporarily use the vacant Andres Duarte Elementary campus after a Jan. 7 fire destroyed PWS’s main Altadena campus.
The school’s representatives — including Pasadena Waldorf Board President David Volstead, pedagogical administrator Erin Shemin Walsh and several parents and alumni — described a community displaced across multiple sites and said they sought a short-term (roughly six to 12 month) site where children could re-establish a single daily hub for classes and social supports. Several parents said the school community’s social-emotional services and continuity of instruction depend on students having one site to gather each day.
Board members asked district staff questions about legal and financial constraints tied to a separately negotiated agreement affecting the Andres Duarte property. Superintendent Dr. Hillman told the board the district is in an exclusive negotiation phase with a developer and that the developer was conducting entitlements and other due-diligence work. She also said the developer had made escrow payments to the district (described in the meeting record as a $200,000 payment plus a $500,000 escrow payment) as part of that process.
After discussion, the board voted to direct the superintendent and staff to evaluate the feasibility of temporarily housing Pasadena Waldorf on the Andres Duarte campus, including legal, financial and maintenance implications and the costs of outside legal review. Board members amended the direction to ask staff to return with an estimate of those costs before the district authorizes any spending on legal counsel; the board asked that the district seek one unified cost estimate for consideration before committing funds. Following the amended motion, the board voted to proceed with that analysis and to provide the cost estimate to the board for review before engaging outside counsel or entering further agreements.
Board members repeatedly said any temporary occupancy would have to impose no negative fiscal or legal impacts on Duarte Unified and that, if feasible, the arrangement should include clear funding or reimbursement from the prospective occupant for legal and site-preparation costs. Staff noted that parts of the Andres Duarte campus and adjacent modulars are included in an ongoing facilities modernization plan and that site assessments would be required.
Public-comment speakers who addressed the board included: Michelle Mondia, Amanda Gish, AJ Lambert, Danielle Steiner, Brooke Richards, David McGrath, Harut Dimitian, Jillian Coleman, Miranda Russo and others; several described the Waldorf community’s needs and offered volunteer and contractor support to help remediate or prepare spaces if the district approved a temporary use.
No lease or temporary-occupancy agreement was approved at the meeting. Instead the board asked the superintendent to return with the feasibility assessment and an estimate of legal and site costs for the board’s consideration at a future meeting.
