Santa Monica Man (Surprise!) Appointed To Vacant SM-Malibu School Board, As Local Schools See Small Number Of Covid Cases
Written by 991KBU on January 18, 2021
Malibu has a new school board member … another resident from two cities away …
Keith Coleman will serve out the term of Oscar de la Torre … who was elected to the Santa Monica city council.
Coleman is the current co-chair of the district’s intercultural equity and excellence district advisory committee. and parent.
Coleman is described as a senior advisor for Capitol Partners … but the district press release does not describe what that is.
It says he also served as a executive vice president of public policy, chief strategy officer emeritus, for the Tesla Foundation.
Last Thursday … the school board interviewed more than a dozen applicants for the empty seat.
One of them .. Seth Jacobsen … a Malibu parent who has long been active in the school district.
Given the battle between Santa Monica’s school board and Malibu residents … the possibility of a second Malibu resident being seated on the school board was dim at best.
School board president Jon Kean says Coleman … quoting now … “has a powerful personal story that speaks to the need for more awareness of all students whose voices have not traditionally been heard or represented, whether that be in special education or through the lens of social justice.”
People who wish to view the school board meeting … where the candidates were interviewed by the school board in public … are out of luck.
The meeting was held on Zoom … and unless you were up late watching it Thursday night … it’s not on the Internet.
The school board is unable to post the video record of the meeting … a spokesperson says … because it relies on the City of Santa Monica to handle that task … and they are backlogged.
= =
Four children in Malibu High School or Malibu Middle School have tested positive for the coronavirus … and are in isolation.
And another five kids are in quarantine … presumably for being exposed to the disease.
One child from each Webster and Malibu elementary schools are in quarantine right now.
There are about 12 hundred kids enrolled in local schools.
This …according to a new internet report posted by the local school district.
The COVID dashboard shows the level of the disease as reported at each campus in the district.
And while the governor would like schools to reopen as soon as possible … Santa Monica-Malibu superintendent Ben Drati says that won’t happen soon.
In a letter sent to parents late last week … Drati said the Los Angeles Department of Public Health has put all requests from school districts to reopen on hold until further notice.
The criteria for opening is based on the adjusted daily case rate that must be below 28 cases per 100,000 residents.
L A County is currently about five times that rate.
