Lead taking the lead? Surprise? No surprise bobby shriver just says ‘no!’
DIANE TALARICO RESIGNED AFTER LESS than two years as Superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Her tenure was marked with controversy and upheaval.
Within weeks of taking the post in the fall of 2006, she approved a state-required financial document certifying the district had the fiscal wherewithal to pay for a teacher’s raise. The district’s Chief Business Officer disagreed, refused to certify the document and resigned, triggering a fiscal crisis and a public relations nightmare.
Conflict and turmoil over special education programs, gag orders and Malibu’s plans to withdraw from the district, followed. Last month, a Lincoln Middle School teacher was arrested for allegedly molesting his students. Even then, many Lincoln parents claimed it took the district “too long” to disclose policies on handling these incidents and on preventing future abuses.
I met Talarico at an Edison School carnival a couple of years ago. She was charming and gracious — just the opposite of her aloof and indifferent predecessor, John Deasy. Maybe a lack of staff support coupled with the usual poor oversight by the school board of what has become an increasingly dysfunctional school district contributed to the appearance she didn’t have a firm grip on her job. In any case, I wish her well.
I’m encouraged by the formation of a grassroots group composed of parents and school supporters dedicated to ushering in a “new era of leadership” in the SMMUSD. The group called LEAD for “Leadership Effectiveness Accountability Direction,” promises to work toward a higher standard of accountability, openness and effectiveness, according to a statement issued by the group. For years, I’ve been writing about and begging school supporters to pull their heads out of the sand and do something about the problems. Maybe it’s finally happening.
LEAD was formed because of questionable fiscal and management practices leaders say are jeopardizing the district’s status and credibility. LEAD co-chair, Debbie Mulvaney told the Daily Press (June 5, Page 1, “Transparency issues..."), "We want to hold the district leadership accountable." The group will endorse candidates running for four school board seats up for grabs in November.
LEAD’s other co-chair, Laurie Lieberman claims the group has “a shared commitment to outstanding public schools. Our district needs more effective leadership, a higher degree of transparency in its decision-making process and a more responsive ear to parents in the community."
Let’s hope LEAD doesn’t resort to playing petty political games and “sell out” like the cheerleaders running the Committee for Excellent Public Schools. It’s refreshing that LEAD members seem to recognize there’s more to good schools than continually burdening taxpayers with endless funding schemes that discourage accountability and encourage waste.
No great surprises in our recent (second) state primary.
Fran Pavley beat out Lloyd Levine to be the Democratic nominee for the 23rd Senate District. I received eight, glossy, color brochures from Levine (and nothing from Pavley) although I’m registered as an “nonaffiliated “voter. I don’t know who managed his campaign but the sheer volume of increasingly malicious and petty attacks on Pavley must have cost him beaucoup votes. Negative campaigns don’t work here and Levine should have known this.
Proposition 98 failed miserably. The "eminent domain” measure that would’ve phased out rent control statewide was a nasty, mean-spirited piece of crap backed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, right wingers, rental property and trailer park owners and haters.
You’d expect that Proposition 98, with its clear threat to rent control, would have been vigorously opposed by Santa Monica for Renter’s Rights. I heard nothing from the powerful Santa Monica political organization that always brags about how they’ve got tenants’ backs. Other renters I talked to — all Democrats — told me they had received lots of information opposing the measure from SMRR. So whether SMRR itself dropped the ball or just ignored non-Democratic registered renters, I know that many individual SMRR members and just “plain citizens”worked hard to defeat Prop 98. My hat is off to them.
Kudos to city councilman, Bobby Shriver for his lone “no” vote against the development agreement for “The Village” — an overly dense, affordable apartment/market rate condominium complex slated for the Civic Center. Shriver told the Daily Press (May 15, Page 3, The Village clears first hurdle), “The project is much too big and will be much bigger than it looks...." Shriver is right on.
This city-backed development will squeeze 324 housing units, parking for over 600 cars and 20,000 square feet of retail space into a 3.3 acre chunk of property. For the record, council persons Ken Genser, Richard Bloom, Kevin McKeown and Mayor, Herb Katz voted to move forward with the massive project. (Bloom, Genser and Katz will be running for re-election.) Councilman, Bob Holbrook abstained. Abstained! Councilwomen Pam O’Connor was absent.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 9, 2008. Read the original PDF.