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# New high school proposed for district Campus would have environmental theme
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-high-school-proposed-for-district-campus-would-have-environmental-theme/
- Published: 2008-06-09T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:52:27.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*Proposed high school may feature alternative instruction curriculum*

SMMUSD HDQTRS District officials are considering establishing an intimately-sized high school that would cater to the ecologically-savvy student populations of Santa Monica and Malibu, the secondary institution a possible natural transition for pupils of the popular Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH).

A task force that spent the past half-year studying various small school options presented its recommendation to the Board of Education on Thursday, a proposal to form a high school that would have a Global Environmental Science Sustainability and Technology theme.

The secondary school, which would be constructed, would start with only 100 students in the freshman class, adding 100 students every year, staffed by four teachers, several advisers and a principal.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is also home to SMASH, a K- 8 school that focuses on alternative methods of learning.

“Who doesn’t want another alternative school in this city,” Small Schools Task Force member Anthony Fuller asked the board. “What other city in California can really do it. Who is in a better position to do it than us?”

Fuller teaches science and world history at Olympic High School.

The proposed educational institution would have a number of differences from a conventional high school like Santa Monica or Malibu high schools, namely lacking activities like a football team or marching band.

But the school will have unique programs, including required service-learning activities and internships.

“We think about global warming, we think about climate change, we think about things to come,” Fuller said.

The school could be jump-started with grants and help from partners in the community, including a number of local environmental non-profit organizations, nearby colleges and universities and Santa Monica businesses, Fuller said.

Jose Escarce, the board vice president, said the community flirted with the idea of a small high school years ago, but it never materialized due to funding issues.

Mike Bone, a father of two children at SMASH, said he favored a small secondary school, adding that the alternative school is more like a community where students and teachers know each other on a personal level.

“This whole movement toward a smaller high school is not to denigrate Samohi, I think it’s too big for my kids,” Bone said. “Hopefully you guys will approve some form of SMASH-like high school and have this experiential learning that my children have started.”

School board members in general supported the concept of a new high school, directing staff to develop a plan to help move the idea to reality.

“I’m a big proponent of it,” board member Barry Snell said.“Although I have a lot of respect for the three high schools, both Malibu, Santa Monica and Olympic.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 9, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/060908.pdf?ref=smdp.com)