By Anna Buss
Scott Phelps is the new Pasadena Unified School District’s board president for the 2014-2015 year.
Phelps was elected with a 5-1 vote, with one board member abstaining, during the PUSD Board of Education’s annual organizational meeting Monday, May 5.
“As Board President, I hope to foster greater understanding between district staff and the community, which includes parents and the board,” Phelps said. “We need to work together in the most productive and collaborative way possible in order to achieve the goals we all have for the education of children in Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre.”
PUSD’s Superintendent Jon R. Gundry reacted positively to Phelps’ new role.
“I look forward to working closely with Mr. Phelps addressing topics of concern to the district and the community,” Gundry said. “We have had a good working relationship that I know will continue during his tenure as board president.”
Also at the organizational meeting, Kim Kenne was elected vice president and Tyron Hampton was elected clerk. The board elects officers for one year terms.
Phelps served as coordinator of the Science, Engineering and Technology Academy at John Muir High School and taught high school chemistry, physics, planetary science (astronomy), physical science, and math during the course of 15 years of teaching in PUSD schools before being elected to the PUSD Board of Education in 2005. He seems to have overcome the scandal that caused school administrators to put him on leave from his John Muir teaching post in 2002, when he referred to African American students as the cause of most of the misbehavior at the school, and as contributors to low test scores.
With his extensive experience in developing hands-on science and project-based integrated curricula, Phelps was a member of the founding staff of Learning Works Charter School in Pasadena, teaching science labs.
Phelps is currently teaching math and astronomy at the University of La Verne, Mt. San Antonio College and Chaffey College and is a consultant for external evaluations of federal and state school reform grants received by school districts. He lives in Northwest Pasadena with his wife Lisa and their two children who attend PUSD’s McKinley School.