Point Dume School To Lose 3 of 13 Teachers, Parents Warn SMMUSD Is Trying To Kill Public Schools In Malibu
Written by 991KBU on May 7, 2020
Layoffs at Malibu Elementary School have parents furious.
First .. one elementary school was closed due to low enrollment.
Then a fire destroyed nearly 500 homes … sending many Malibu school children away.
Then a school district budget crisis .. and ban on out of district kids enrolling.
And then .. the pandemic.
Three of the 13 teaching positions at the public school in western Malibu are proposed for elimination.
Parents at Malibu Elementary School … on Point Dume .. say the Santa Monica school board is ringing the death knell for Malibu schools.
One teacher transferred … two others laid off.
Parents are organizing for tonight’s school board meeting.
Sarah Ryan.
NEWSCART 111 SARAH RYAN
“They are setting us up for failure … there is no way that you can maximize the size of elementary school classes and reduce teachers in the name of the budget, in the year after account burned down and we’re in a pandemic?
“And they promised us that they weren’t going to do this.”
The parents complain that the school district pulled a switcheroo … threatening to end enrollment by students from over the hill … who live outside the district.
By the time that proposal was shelved … many parents who live over the hill had made other plans for their kids to go to school …
And now … by eliminating the three teachers … parent Melissa Solano says the class sizes will be too big to allow any out of district kids to enroll.
NEWSCART 222 MELISSA SOLANO
“They are trying to kill Malibu schools.
“And we cannot allow this to happen We have the fire we have experienced loss.”
The kids have already had multiple traumas … fire … flood … pandemic … social isolation.
Putting them on a computer link with 30 other kids … instead of 20 … is the last thing they need … says parent Nadie Bayat.
NEWSCART 75589 333 NADIE BAYAT
“We can see the issues right now … with this distance learning … and that’s one teacher to 20 students.
“If we maximize the classrooms without extra health we are going to have real issues we are going to have real issues and I think that is going to affect the economy here.
“And I think it is going to affect the economy out here.”
It’s not clear yet how the proposed district wide layoffs of 46 teachers will affect Webster elementary … Malibu middle or Malibu high schools.
16 layoffs have been rescinded.
Of course … it can be assumed that parents at the dozen schools in Santa Monica are also not happy about layoffs at their campuses.
The school district’s agenda does not explain where the layoffs are hitting … or where the layoffs have been rescinded.
The Malibu elementary parents say … in this moment of crisis for our society and our children, we need more educators and more support – not fewer, and not less.
The parents have created a petition … and they want parents to attend tonight’s school board meeting at 5 o’clock on the Internet.
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The local school district operating budget gets a sizable cash inflow from the City of Santa Monica.
Not only money to support parks on school campuses … but direct cash grants.
It’s yet to be seen how that money will fare as the City of Santa Monica deals with a gigantic spending hole.
Unlike Malibu which has a strong property tax revenues … Santa Monica gets two-thirds of it’s general fund revenue came from sales, hotel and parking taxes and fees.
And those have evaporated amid stay-at-home orders.
The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday eliminated nearly 400 full-time positions in the city government.
Santa Monica will issue layoff notices to up to 247 full-time employees this week.
An additional 126 full-time employees will receive buyouts to leave their jobs and nearly 150 as-needed employees have already been let go.
Santa Monica needs to trim more than 86 million dollars in ongoing costs this year.
