Four SMMUSD Board Members Get Notice Of Recall Election

Four members of the Santa Monica Malibu school board have been served notice that they face a possible recall election.

Craig Foster … the only Malibu resident on the board … is -NOT- one of them.

But the recall notice has been served to board president Jon Kean … as well as members Laurie Lieberman, Maria Leon-Vasquez, and Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein.

And only one Malibu resident signed on to the notice of recall.

Beth Lucas of Malibu released a statement … that claimed “no matter how many times Santa Monica parents and Malibu parents remind them to focus on what’s best for the students, the board continues to ignore us.

Lucas goes on to say … “Now Santa Monica and Malibu parents stand together to say ‘no more’.”

Lucas was an activist supporting Malibu Unites five years ago … when some Malibu parents sued the school board over its failure to remove minute amounts of PCB from the Malibu High campus.

One elephant in the room is not mentioned at all in the notice of recall … that would be the nasty divorce battle between Malibu and Santa Monica

The notices accuse board member Maria Leon Vazquez of corruption … claims that the district attorney has investigated but never filed charges on.

The notice accuses Jon Kean and Laurie Lieberman of violating the Open Meetings Act … of belittling parents during board meetings … asnd of misusing school district funds.

Purchase of a 21 million dollar office building in Santa Monica is singled out as a waste of money at a time the district budget is tight.

And Lieberman is accused of steering business to her husband.

In an email to the Santa Monica Lookout newspaper … Lieberman said “The petition against me is based on malicious lies against me and my family.”

Three board members …. Craig Foster, Jen Smith and Keith Coleman … are not targeted in the recall effort.

Members of the recall committee have declined to respond to KBUU requests for an interview.

Sponsors have 160 days after the petitions have been approved by the County Registrar to gather signatures from 15 percent of the registered voters in the District, which amounts to some 12,500 signatures.