Pye, Snell forced to acclimate quickly during time on board
SMMUSD HDQTRS The honeymoon was over quickly.
During a Nov. 16 Board of Education meeting last year, fresh faces Kelly McMahon Pye and Barry Snell sat near the back of the City Council Chambers, watching as the board learned that the district could be in financial trouble if it approved a pending five percent teacher salary raise the following month.
Pye and Snell had just been elected to the board a few weeks before and this would be the final meeting before they join their colleagues on the dais.
Then on Nov. 28, former Chief Financial Officer Winston Braham submitted his resignation amid a disagreement over the amount of the proposed teacher salary raise, spurring a string of events that called into question the financial transparency of district officials.
The rest is Santa Monica-Malibu history. It wasn’t the traditional welcome for two new school board members, thrust into a situation in which the board and district were facing intense scrutiny by parents and later the City Council.
“I went right to work!” Pye said. Today, Pye and Snell say they take the past eight months on the Board of Education as a great learning experience and are pleased with the way the administration handled the criticism.
“By all accounts, our district’s finances are more transparent than ever before,” Pye said.
Both were elected to the board with similar backgrounds, having had several years of experience volunteering at their children’s schools and serving on Parent Teacher Associations.
Snell has had two children pass through the Santa Monica- Malibu Unified School District, another expected to graduate from Santa Monica High School in two years. Pye became involved in the school district when her son, Trevor, started kindergarten at Will Rogers Elementary School, working her way through the system, serving on oversight committees and the Community for Excellent Public Schools.
They both decided to put their name in the running for school board for the same reasons, with dreams of helping a district that had been good to their kids, hoping to lend their expertise — Snell an accountant and Pye with executive and managerial experience in the newspaper industry.
Though he comes from an accounting background, Snell said he had very little knowledge of the inner working of public school finances, admitting he felt “a little lost” in the beginning of his term.
“I don’t feel that way now,” Snell said. “After (eight) months under my belt, I have a lot of confidence and ability to direct policy as a school board member.”
Whatever lack of experience Pye and Snell had in public school finances was quickly resolved during a crash course that included AB1200 and FCMAT. Both issues came up during the first few months the pair served on the board.
Submitted to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, AB1200 is a document proving that a school district is able to sustain an employee salary raise. FCMAT, which stands for the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, reviewed district finances earlier this year, ruling that SMMUSD would be able to handle a 5 percent teacher salary raise pending adjustments.
“It was a good learning experience from the financial aspect,” Snell said. “It required Kelly and me to get a handle of what finances are and how the budget is done.”
Not having been on the board when the issues first surfaced, Snell said he tried not to judge, observing the situation as objectively as possible, not dwelling on the past but looking to the future.
Snell adds that the general public seemed understanding that he and Pye didn’t have too much insight into why Braham had resigned since they were not yet board members when the root of some of the issues took hold.
What seems to have come out of the 2006-07 school year is a closer board, relying on each other for support.
“I think that my relationship with everyone of them is a good one, but I also believe that we respect each other enough to have healthy discussions on things we disagree about without making it personal,” Snell said.
LOOKING AHEAD Putting the past few months of their rookie season behind them, Pye and Snell say they would like to focus their attention on addressing other issues.
For Pye, it’s about pushing for early literacy and looking for new ways to challenge every child, from the under achievers to advanced students.
“I believe that ensuring our children are good readers early will pay big dividends throughout their school years and beyond,” Pye said.
Snell would like to look into potential sources of revenue, including leasing out school playing fields.
Much like the foundation benefiting arts education, Snell would like to explore the possibility of forming a similar movement for athletics.
The foundation to raise money for athletics could in turn lead to more revenue for the district, Snell said. The better the teams, the more likely people are to pay for games.
It was a successful year athletically for Santa Monica High School, many teams making it into post season play, including the baseball team which played the CIF Southern Section championship at Dodger Stadium.
“We could build a strong sports program,” Snell said. “Like how people come to see the (high school) concerts, people will see our sporting events.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 2, 2007. Read the original PDF.