Confidentiality pacts were problematic for City Council members
SMMUSD HDQTRS In an effort to demonstrate good faith and cash in on $530,000 for the upcoming fiscal year, the Board of Education temporarily pulled the plug on controversial confidentiality agreements related to the special education program.
In authorizing a moratorium effective Thursday, the school board is accepting one of several conditions placed upon it by the City Council last month on the Master Facility Use Agreement between City Hall and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.
“The school board is responsive and we will today place a moratorium,” said School Board Vice President Oscar de la Torre, before he made a motion to institute an immediate halt to the pacts. “We can at least take that action today.”
The use agreement is a contract where City Hall provides revenue to the district in exchange for the use of school facilities. The district could receive an additional $530,000 during fiscal year 2007-08 — on top of the annual $6.5 million already included in the contract — if it complies with provisions imposed by the council.
Another provision includes hiring an independent third party to conduct a full analysis of the district’s special education program by the end of March 2008, which the board has already pledged to do. Superintendent Dianne Talarico contacted several superintendents in the state to determine if it is common to conduct a review of a special education program, discovering that many of the districts had indeed gone through a similar review during the past two years.
The agency that many of these administrators suggested was the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, which conducted a review of the school district’s finances earlier this year.
“When they do the audit, they assemble experts to come in and we identify what it is we want them to look at,” Talarico said, mentioning that FCMAT would look at the financial data of the special education program, as well as the policies and practices in place.
The moratorium is to stay in place until the independent review is completed and the Board of Education plans out its next steps.
After a tough year in which the district administration was criticized by the public over the practice of confidentiality agreements — both in special education and in high-level management contracts — school officials hope to finally move on, closing the chapter on an unusual and contentious situation.
Talarico reiterated her commitment to accountability in all levels of the school district at the board meeting on Thursday, stressing that it would be the “overarching theme for the next school year” and throughout the duration of her tenure.
At the center of the dispute is the practice of confidentiality agreements in specialized programs for students whose parents are dissatisfied with the development of their child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). If a disagreement exists, parents and district officials meet as part of a dispute resolution process, from which a new agreement is drafted wherein a confidentiality clause could exist.
Those parents whose children are tied under the confidentiality agreement are barred from speaking to a third party about the services outlined in the IEP.
The moratorium came as good news to those who have spoken out against what has been derided as “gag orders.”
“I think they took the responsible and really the only action they should’ve taken and it’s a big step forward,” said Mayor Pro Tem Herb Katz, who along with City Council member Bob Holbrook have stated that they were disturbed by parent’s fears because they had to stay tight-lipped on IEP matters.
On top of placing a moratorium, the Board of Education authorized Talarico to meet with City Manager P. Lamont Ewell to schedule another session of the Adjustment Conference Committee to discuss the language of the stipulations under the facilities use agreement. The committee is a subgroup of the City Council and Board of Education that determined the funding formula under the use agreement.
The board originally intended to send a letter to the City Council, accepting the provisions with a few clarifications related to the confidentiality clauses, but decided to reconvene the adjustment committee instead after several members of the public spoke out during a recent school board meeting. They blasted the clarifications as confusing, filled with holes, and not in spirit with the wishes of the Council.
“From what I heard from people I spoke to, it doesn’t read in a trusting way,” said Sheila Forsander, referring to a clarification that the confidentiality agreements would be suspended unless requested by a parent.
The language in the agreement is city language, said Board President Kathy Wisnicki, adding that administrators were not trying to be underhanded or sneaky.
The school board members in attendance unanimously supported the moratorium, but two in particular — de la Torre and Maria Leon-Vazquez — favored a temporary halt on confidentiality agreements even before the City Council meeting in June. The two had decided not to bring the matter before the school board, feeling they did not have enough support to push it forward.
“I supported the moratorium before this discussion and I still support it now,” de la Torre said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 14, 2007. Read the original PDF.