> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Parents wait for healing to begin - URL: https://www.smdp.com/parents-wait-for-healing-to-begin/ - Published: 2006-04-08T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T17:32:27.000Z - Author: Kevin Herrera - Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import *What, no piccolo? Schools tout better scores* SMMUSD HDQTRS. — Both black and Latino parents on Thursday expressed their continued frustration with school officials, who they feel have not adequately addressed institutionalized racism, leading to poor academic performance and youth violence. In response, the Santa Monica- Malibu School Board instructed district staff to identify dates suitable for holding community forums to address the issue at length and in detail. “We need to keep this dialogue going throughout the year … and keep our kids from self-destruct-ing on our streets,” said school board member Oscar de la Torre. “We need to be proactive instead of reactive.” Members of the Unity Coalition — a group of minority parents, students and concerned residents — pointed to an increase in racial tension at Santa Monica High School. Safety plans also show that more students at Samohi and others schools have been disciplined for fighting and drug possession in the last year. Coalition members use those increases as evidence that core problems have not been addressed. While standardized test scores are up, coalition members drew attention to data showing more students of color are earning less than a 2.0 grade point average, which has raised many questions for parents and board members. In spring of 2005, the coalition presented the board with a “Ten Point Plan for Student Success” to address the root causes of poor performance and youth violence among students of color. The plan was in response to a brawl that broke out between several African- American and Latino students, which the coalition said was caused by conditions on campus, such as overcrowding and a lack of intercultural relations. “I have mixed emotions,” Jules Bagneris, moderator for the coalition, told the board about its efforts in implementing the plan. “It’s like a man who watches his mother-in-law drive off a cliff in his brand new Mercedes Benz. On one hand, I’m pleased there is this effort to have accountability on whether (district policies are) having an impact on reducing racial tension and violence … but you still have not addressed that … The increase in drugs, graffiti and fighting all indicate problems that are related to violence.” The plan called for new protocols for school staff that would address intercultural conflict with peer mediation so that students can help lead the effort. The plan also included diversity in hiring, more community involvement on campus, and developing a culturally-relevant curriculum to make learning more accessible and engaging. SMMUSD officials have worked for the last year on implementing aspects of the plan and reported to the board on their efforts. Interim Superintendent Mike Matthews said the achievement gap still exists for students of color and those who are economically disadvantaged, however, a new focus on instruction has helped raise standardized tests scores significantly in the last three years — 52 points for Latinos, 46 for blacks, and 56 points for economically-disadvantaged students. “Certainly, there are issues of racism in our society, issues of inequality, violence — all of which affect our students’ ability to learn,” Matthews said. “That is why we have focused on closing the achievement gap.” Matthews said the district is a leader in breaking down all of its data by race, income and other characteristics to better identify which students are in need of tutoring or other support services. District staff is constantly developing new outreach strategies and intervention plans, including AVID and Xinachtli tutoring programs, which help students of color get into college, Matthews said. The plan also called for new approaches to student discipline which would focus less on punishment and more on transformation, with a recommendation for in-house instead of at-home suspensions so that students do not fall behind in their classes. Matthews said Samohi has instituted in-house suspensions, serving three to 10 students a day. The classes provide academic support and some counseling to identify why the student is suspended and how they can prevent it from occurring again. De la Torre said one Samohi student told him that the in-house suspensions consist of being shut in a room and forced to face the wall and do homework, much like detention. No counseling was provided, de la Torre said. That prompted school board member Shane McLoud to direct staff to come back with more detailed information on in-school suspensions, including whether or not curriculum could be designed specifically for students on in-house suspension. “I don’t want this to go untouched,” McLoud said. In the area of cultural celebration, Matthews said the district has responded to the Ten Point Plan’s demands by hosting world music week at Samohi, a peace rally last year, and continually supporting the Black Student Union and MeCha, the Chicano Student Organization. The district also has created a freshman seminar called “Facing History,” which forces students to confront the complexities of history by analyzing the Holocaust, the American eugenics movement, and race relations in Los Angeles. That analysis is used as a lens for exploring student’s own identity and sense of community. On the issue of a diverse faculty, Matthews said the district saw “a significant” increase in the percentage of black and Latino teachers hired last year. “We cannot say we are only going to hire minority candidates, but we will get the best pool of applicants out there, and we think the best pool is a diverse pool,” Matthews said. All of those things are great, parents said, but they still don’t make up for the fact that a hate crime was committed at Samohi earlier this year as someone spray-painted graffiti targeting blacks. The district’s efforts also don’t explain why Samohi does not have a black person in a certificated position of authority, according to the coalition. “It’s frustrating because we’ve been asking the district for more than 15 years to address these same issues, and they still haven’t done so fully,” said Ana Marie Jara, a member of the coalition. “We came to the board in 1990, and several times after that, not as the coalition, but as other groups still concerned about the same issues. It feels as if by addressing some of the items, the district hopes we’ll be happy and just fade away. But as you can see, we’re still here.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/040806-02_01.jpg) RatzClique, a 30-person fife-and-drum corps from Basel, Switzerland, did their thing on the Third Street Promenade on Thursday. (Photo: Fabian Lewkowicz/Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 8, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040806.pdf?ref=smdp.com)