Schools Sink Into Disagreements Amongst Parents, Amongst Teachers, Amongst Cities
Written by 991KBU on March 6, 2020
The wheels may be coming off the wagon … at the Malibu schools.
First … the parent fund raising effort has some major disagreements.
Second … the school board appears to be heading towards slowly phasing out enrollment from students from outside the district.
And third … teachers are unhappy about layoff notices being sent out to 45 teachers..
The district faces 11 point 5 million in money shortages this year … more next year.
Teacher layoff notices are going out.
And now comes word that a critical parent fundraising effort in Malibu … has collapsed.
Disagreements between the Shark Fund at Malibu High School … and the PTAs at Webster and malibu elementary schools … may have derailed critical fund raising for Malibu schools.
Or maybe not.
The president of the Shark Fund … Gardia Fox … wrote in a letter to the school board that the PTAs at the elementary schools were not in agreement with the Shark Fund to create a Malibu wide fundraising effort …. called Malibu LEAD.
Fox wrote thatMalibu LEAD will dissolve and The Shark Fund will convert back into an organization that fundraises only for Malibu Middle and Malibu High School, rather than all SMMUSD schools in Malibu.
Here is part of her letter … voiced by a KBUU reporter.
NEWSCART 75464 GARDIA LETTER
“In addition to the decisions made by Webster and Malibu elementary PTAs, the involvement of Santa Monica PTA council has played a monumental role in the demise of Malibu LEAD.
“Webster and Malibu Elementary reported that the Santa Monica PTA Council made it clear on numerous occasions that it did not support their participation or partnership with Malibu LEAD, and actively discouraged it.”
The item was on the school board agenda last night … but removed at the request of g Foster … the loan school board member from Malibu.
He called it a bizarre and premature …
The head of the district’s teachers union said the failure of Malibu parents to raise money … like parents in Santa Monica do … is bad news.
Sarah Braff last night said that means even more operations money will flow from Santa Monica … to subsidize Malibu.
Braff said the collapse of fundraising efforts in Malibu will endangers special programs in Malibu … like arts and science classes … that are subsidized by the City of Santa Monica.
NEWSCART 75462 BRAFF DEMAND
“We understand the district will once again be asked to backfill significant amounts of money that Malibu LEAD has failed to raise.
“Knowing the City of Santa Monica contributes at least 25 million dollars every year to SMMUSD’s general fund … which we find disproportionately spent in Malibu … we feel the district teachers and the Malibu community should ask the City of Malibu to make a significant monetary contribution to the district to support the continuation of permits in Malibu … and to fund gaps in funding related to Malibu LEAD or other fund raising that was created to support Malibu.”
Braff charges in effect that Santa Monica tax money is underwriting the costs of educating students ftom Ventura County … and over th ehill along Mulholland … who attend Malibu aschools.
And that lead to a lengthy discussion about gradually phasing out such interdistrict permit transfers.
School board memmber Loru Lieberman assued students and paraents int he audience … that currenly entolled ids would not be affected.
NEWSCART 75463 LIEBERMAN EJECT
“We’re not going to do that.
“If you’re already here you are our student and we are not do anything about that, even though it would save us money.
“But the reason we’re doing this is not going to go away right away, we are going to have to revisit it in the future.
“Because if we continue to add the same number of students year after year after year … we won’t — because of the way we are funded at least now — be able to afford that, or to be able to afford — frankly — raises.”
A vote on the permits issue will come in two weeks.
But teacher layoff notices will be going out before that.
More than 45 teachers in Malibu and Santa Monica may get pink slips.
Most will still have a job next fall … but the uncertainty gnaws at a teacher’s pride and sense of responsibility to their kids.
And last night … an overflow crowd of teachers stayed until well past 11 o’clock on a school night to voice opposition.
One of them … Malibu High School P E teacher Lisa Lambert.
NEWSCART 75461 LISA LAMBERT
“I find it hard to believe that after 14 years of service as the only female physical educator at Malibu High School … that next year the girls in Malibu may not have a female physical education teacher to support them in their needs at our school.”
One of the major issues is a district policy to skip over teachers with more seniority to protect new teachers … like coaches … who have specialized teaching skills.
Teachers with seniority … and more experience … fear that they will be bumped to make way for cheaper young teachers.
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And negotiations between Malibu and Santa Monica about divorcing are continuing.
But there’s a hiccup.
Santa Monica board members are not willing – yet – to go to the state legisalture for a special bill to make the divorce happen.
A majority of the board from Santa Monica feels they want a signed and sealed deal with Malibu before they ask for the special legislation.
What does this mean?
Possible delays … but even at best … a split int he Santa Monica Malibu school district is still at least two years away.
