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# New Samohi design nears completion
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-samohi-design-nears-completion/
- Published: 2003-07-31T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:39:54.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Announcement expected in Samohi grievance*

Officials are expected tonight to spend $170,000 to split Santa Monica High School into six campuses by the end of August.

Samohi administrators will move into newly built offices in the next few weeks, and classrooms will be unpacked and set up before the fall semester begins on Sept. 3.

More than 150 teachers, counselors and administrators will be relocated to fit the new design, which is expected to boost test scores and allow teachers to spend more one-on-one time with students because class sizes will be reduced.

Samohi is following a national trend of high school reform that involves redesigning large campuses with the goal of giving students a better, more personalized education.

By redesigning large campuses into smaller, individual ones, schools have higher attendance rates, higher grade point averages, lower dropout rates and students and teachers report being more satisfied with the experience, school administrators say.

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy said the move is going smoothly and described the process as a team-based community effort.

School board members are expected tonight to approve a $48,162 contract for King Relocation Services for this summer’s moving costs. Another $123,935 contract will likely go to Sierra School Equipment Company for partitions, office furniture, blackboards and other materials.

Though the money for moving comes out of the district’s general fund, Deasy said some of the costs will be offset by private donations by alumni and other benefactors. The equipment costs will be paid with money from Proposition X, a city-approved building bond for local schools that was approved in 1998.

Under the new plan, Samohi’s 3,400 students will be divided into six schools, each with its own principal, teacher leader, two advisors and dozens of teachers educating more than 500 students. Each house will have a different name — “S” “A” “M” “O” “H” “I” to keep them distinct from one another.

Two of the houses will be located in the history building on campus and one will be located in each of the English, technology, business and foreign language buildings. The music, art, science and physical education programs will be shared by all Samohi students.

Each Samohi student has been assigned to a house, where he or she will stay for the remainder of their high school career. Though the idea is to have students taking all of their academic courses in their respective houses, Samohi assistant principal Ruth Esseln said it may not happen right away.

The short-term goal, Esseln said, is to have as many lower classmen as possible taking all of their academic courses in their respective houses this fall. She said the scheduling details will be dealt with over the next few weeks and she’s hoping that almost all lower classmen will achieve that goal.

“We’re in the middle of that puzzle right now,” Esseln said, adding that the courses for all freshmen and sophomores will be scheduled by hand.

It may take a little longer to have upper classmen taking their classes entirely in their respective houses, Esseln added. Administrators will begin this fall by placing as many juniors and seniors in separate houses for their English and social studies courses.

“We don’t have the resources right now to have kids take 100 percent of their classes in their houses,” Esseln said. “And I don’t know that there will ever be a time at Samohi where there won’t be some classes (shared by all of the houses).”

> “We don’t have the resources right now to have kids take 100 percent of their classes in their houses.” — — RUTH ESSELN Assistant principal, Samohi

With Ilene Straus, Samohi’s principal, on vacation this week and the scheduling details being hammered out, Esseln said Samohi also is in the process of hiring about 30 new teachers for next year.

Mark Kelly, Samohi associate principal, said there is a handful of veteran teachers who will still have to move their classrooms next summer to complete the new design.

But Deasy said moving those teachers won’t cost the district any money.

Harry Keiley, president of the local chapter of the Classroom Teachers Association, the local union that represents teachers and some staff, said his group will watch closely the ongoing expenses of the new design.

“We don’t know yet and we won’t know until we’re able to look at some data in the months ahead,” Keiley said. “But schools that have undergone similar redesigns that have not been successful, one of the reasons they have not been successful is because of financial limitations.”

The union filed a formal grievance against the school district in May, alleging the district failed to properly include teachers in its plan to split up the campus.

With the grievance pending, Samohi administrators decided to go ahead with the move. Officials expect to make a public announcement about the grievance next week.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/073103-01_01-7.jpg)

(Photo: Del Pastrana/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 31, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/073103.pdf?ref=smdp.com)