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# School board to consider new, smaller SM schools
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/school-board-to-consider-new-smaller-sm-schools/
- Published: 2005-02-04T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:03:48.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Education, Malibu, #archive-import

*New schools might have specialized themes*

DISTRICT HDQRTRS. — The joint Santa Monica- Malibu school board this weekend will begin a discussion over whether up to 1,000 students deserve an alternative to Santa Monica’s flagship high school, which now accommodates some 3,500 students.

A plan to create as many as five new schools in Santa Monica, each serving 200 to 300 students, already has the enthusiastic backing of Schools Superintendent John Deasy and Samohi Principal Ilene Straus. Both of the top educators argue Samohi is overcrowded and new, smaller schools could be tailored to offer a diverse portfolio of options.

“They’d have their own name, their own place, their own graduation,” Deasy said Thursday. “It’s very common. There are small schools in every major city in California, and around the country.”

Where to put the schools will be a major question if the school board decides at its weekend work session to pursue the idea. Deasy said he hopes to make the small schools open to all students, space permitting. He added the schools likely would have their own themes.

Examples of possible themes, Deasy said, range from schools focused on internships around subjects such as social justice or the environment, to schools with a curricular focus on the sciences, mass media or other academic fields. Though no details have been set, Deasy said there might be possibilities of partnering small schools with local businesses.

One possibility would be to establish an internship school at the Colorado Center in eastern Santa Monica, where Yahoo! will set up a major presence this summer. Another option would be to make an arrangement with Pixar Animation or other studios.

“It’s very symbiotic,” Deasy said. “Both sides benefit tremendously.

“The students would all go to college, but they will have already gotten the work experience, so that when you go to college you are already on the fast track to get you into that type of work,” he added. “I think colleges would find it very desirable.”

Asked what might happen if demand exceeded available desks, Deasy said he hoped the district would consider waiting lists and lotteries, with the goal of being equitable.

Although the smaller schools would offer a more intimate and focused learning environment, they would not be the best option for all students, educators said. The smaller schools would not be able to match Samohi’s variety of elective courses, such as sports, theater, music and language.

Straus, who said she hoped the smaller schools could be open by fall of 2006, said they would alleviate the physical burden on Samohi, while expanding options for students. Samohi last year split into six different “houses,” each with its own principal and counselors, but Straus said the full benefits of that transition will take years to be realized.

“Thirty-five hundred students is too much for a large campus,” said Straus, adding even a school of 2,500 students is large. “Houses are beginning to make an impact in some areas of knowing students better, but you still put 3,500 people on a campus and add that number of different people, and the interactions, and it creates more energy than smaller communities.

“Research has proven that small schools provide many opportunities for students — in knowing kids better, safe environment, positive spirit and morale, better academic achievement,” she added. “I think I’d like different options. So I wouldn’t like one structure to be the same for all of us.”

While the school board prepares to discuss the idea and decide if a formal proposal should be put forward, at least some parents expressed optimism it would proceed.

“Santa Monica High School has so many great programs to offer because of its size, but a large, comprehensive high school isn’t for everyone,” said Cheri Orgel, co-president of the Samohi Parent Teacher Student Association, who spoke as an individual because the PTSA has not discussed the idea.

“Samohi is a small city with over 3,400 students and 200 adults on the campus every day, not to mention the use it gets from the community at large,” Orgel added. “The wear and tear is tremendous. I welcome this current thinking.”

> “Samohi is a small city with over 3,400 students and 200 adults on the campus every day, not to mention the use it gets from the community at large. The wear and tear is tremendous.” — - CHERI ORGEL PTSA co-president, Samohi

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 4, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020405.pdf?ref=smdp.com)