Vera Vignes

The Pasadena Unified School District has chosen the first woman to become superintendent of the 22,000-student district. Vera Vignes, 50, will replace Superintendent Philip Linscomb, who is retiring Aug. 30. She has been associate superintendent for personnel at Pasadena Unified for five years.

On Feb. 10 at 9:50 a.m., Washington Middle School teacher Pamela Altea cautioned two adults to leave the area adjacent to the Pasadena school. With a group of students watching, the adults viciously attacked Altea and beat her to a state of near senselessness. It appears that school board President George Van Alstine, Supt. Vera Vignes, district Police Chief Jarado J. Blue, Principal Karen Kommer and United Teachers of Pasadena President Frank Scoonover all agree that the beating was the teacher's fault because she did not lock a gate.

On Feb. 10 at 9:50 a.m., Washington Middle School teacher Pamela Altea cautioned two adults to leave the area adjacent to the Pasadena school. With a group of students watching, the adults viciously attacked Altea and beat her to a state of near senselessness. It appears that school board President George Van Alstine, Supt. Vera Vignes, district Police Chief Jarado J. Blue, Principal Karen Kommer and United Teachers of Pasadena President Frank Scoonover all agree that the beating was the teacher's fault because she did not lock a gate.

One week after a historic meeting aimed at overhauling public education in Pasadena, parents are already asking some hard questions about what comes next. The "Educational Summit" on Nov. 19 drew almost 1,100 participants to 11 sites throughout the Pasadena Unified School District to discuss--via TV monitors--how to improve learning, raise test scores, make schools safer and restructure education.

One week after a historic meeting aimed at overhauling public education in Pasadena, parents are already asking some hard questions about what comes next. The "Educational Summit" on Nov. 19 drew almost 1,100 participants to 11 sites throughout the Pasadena Unified School District to discuss--via TV monitors--how to improve learning, raise test scores, make schools safer and restructure education.

Theresa Lewis 44, Pasadena Homemaker and parent I have 11 children in Pasadena Unified from elementary to junior high and senior high school. Dr Vignes is very caring. I've been to board meetings, and I've seen how she is able to be close with the students. She listens to what you have to say. She doesn't have this 'I'm the professional and you're the lowly student' attitude. There isn't that big empty space there. She can communicate and she's accessible.

Two dozen protesters picketed the Pasadena Unified School District headquarters Friday, charging that there is a shortage of classroom books--an allegations that officials deny. Parents, students and a school board member took part in the demonstration. But district Supt. Vera Vignes challenged the assertion that students do not have books, and cited a $6-million book budget for the current school year.

Concerned about dwindling government monies for public schools, the Pasadena Educational Foundation on Wednesday launched a drive to raise $1.5 million for city schools and urged residents to attend an "Educational Summit" Thursday evening to discuss how the system might be improved. Former California Atty. Gen. John Van De Kamp will chair the drive.

After some school officials and parents in Pasadena expressed concern over district expenditures on alcohol served during its retreats, the Assn. of Pasadena School Administrators has decided to pick up the beverage tab at the annual conferences. Supt. Vera Vignes said alcohol will no longer be served at district retreats, which are attended by about 120 administrators in August.

Several hundred students at Pasadena's John Muir High School left classes Wednesday to protest overcrowded conditions and a dearth of teachers. When the bell sounded at 9 a.m., the students poured out of their classrooms, waving banners and yelling. "I just wanted to say that right now we're all crowded in our classrooms," one student bellowed through a loudspeaker. "We've got 48 people in our classroom. How crowded are we going to get?" The protest lasted about two hours. Dr.

Theresa Lewis 44, Pasadena Homemaker and parent I have 11 children in Pasadena Unified from elementary to junior high and senior high school. Dr Vignes is very caring. I've been to board meetings, and I've seen how she is able to be close with the students. She listens to what you have to say. She doesn't have this 'I'm the professional and you're the lowly student' attitude. There isn't that big empty space there. She can communicate and she's accessible.

The Pasadena Unified School District has chosen the first woman to become superintendent of the 22,000-student district. Vera Vignes, 50, will replace Superintendent Philip Linscomb, who is retiring Aug. 30. She has been associate superintendent for personnel at Pasadena Unified for five years.

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education this week refused to reinstate a seventh-grade science teacher despite pleas from the teacher and about 30 supporters. Peter Connolly, a teacher at Washington Middle School, resigned under pressure March 9 after a parent complained that Connolly had shown his students a nude scene from "The Meaning of Life," an R-rated movie by the British comedy group Monty Python.

A former superintendent for an Orange County school district has been selected by the Pasadena school board to be its interim superintendent. Edgar Seal, superintendent for Brea Olinda School District from 1982 to 1994, will begin July 17 if the board approves his contract Tuesday. In recent years, Seal has worked as a consultant for Los Angeles Unified School District.