PTA forms committee to explore possible district split
SMMUSD HDQTRS Concerns voiced by several Malibu parents regarding an alleged Board of Education favoritism toward Santa Monica High School has led the district’s Parent Teacher Association to form a committee to explore splitting the district along municipal lines.
“We formed an impartial ad hoc informational committee to assess the issues surrounding a possible split,” said PTA President Rebecca Kennerly last week. “This is in response to parents’ requests and concerns in Malibu.”
The news comes less than a week after a group of Malibu parents told the Board of Education at its Nov. 15 meeting that residents of the northern seaside community no longer have trust in the school board potentially placing an upcoming parcel tax renewal measure in an unfavorable predicament. During the meeting, Malibu City Councilmember Andy Stern said he recently received calls from 138 angry constituents, only six of which say they now favor Measure R, the parcel tax renewal measure that will be placed on the February 2008 ballot.
“The PTA Council’s mission is to advocate the health, welfare and education of all children and that means participating in advocacy that benefits all children,” Kennerly said. “We feel it’s beneficial to explore this issue if parents in our district have a desire to do so and the members of the PTA council have a desire to do so.”
The PTA has not taken a position on the issue yet, Kennerly has stressed.
Some Malibu parents say they’re outraged that the Board of Education approved a recommendation by the Measure BB Advisory Committee that they believe shortchanged the Malibu Middle/High School project in favor of funding more improvements at Santa Monica High School.
During its Oct. 18 meeting, the board was expected to approve a staff recommendation that would’ve allocated $38.4 million of Measure BB money to Santa Monica High School while Malibu Middle/High School would’ve seen $27.5 million.
The Measure BB Advisory Committee met before the meeting and proposed a revised plan that would instead increase Samohi’s portion to $57 million while decreasing Malibu’s share to $13.5 million. After hearing from a number of Santa Monica parents about the needs of the high school, the board approved the latter recommendation, which would hold off all elementary and middle school projects — except Edison Language Academy — and leave $38 million, un-earmarked.
Kathy Wisnicki, the only board member representing Malibu, did not return a call seeking comment. During the Nov. 15 meeting, she expressed her disappointment with her colleagues, feeling there is a lack of understanding regarding Malibu’s needs.
School board member Barry Snell welcomed the exploratory committee, believing that at a minimum, it would begin to heal the wounds caused by the fallout. Snell added he wouldn’t like to see a split in the district occur.
“This exploratory committee will show what the difficulties are from dividing the two districts... or what plusses there are,” Snell said. “I think we will find some of the plusses of being a unified school district.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 26, 2007. Read the original PDF.