• The Publisher’s Notebook •

School Board Inclusiveness: Does Malibu Matter?

BY ANNE SOBLE

The candidates for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board in last week’s election made Malibuites think that their votes mattered. Now we will see whether those who were elected will act as if Malibu views matter on planning issues inside the classroom, as well as outside of it, in terms of school site improvement and development.
The issues regarding the design proposals for Malibu High School are already front and center. The debate is not just about physical improvements, but whether the district can be counted on to keep its word to school neighbors, and whether the district is going to take local concerns, such as traffic and public safety, into account when proposing changes.
One of the first things the new board should do if it really wants more Malibu awareness and involvement is to Webcast all of its meetings live, not just the ones held in the Santa Monica City Council chambers. Also, more meetings than the usual three to four per year should take place in Malibu.
While working on live transmission, given the often late schedules of Malibu commuting parents and others interested in public education, the district should ensure that videos of all meetings are posted on the district Web site by the next day, instead of the one-to-two-week delay that has been the norm.
The previous school district administration did not consider making district workings transparent to be an important priority. That is probably an understatement, in that the then administration appeared to regard the public as an impediment to being able to do things whichever way it wanted to do them.
The new board should state unequivocally that it values inclusive citizen participation, and a way to accomplish this is to make its meetings accessible in a timely manner to the Malibuite who lives as far away as Leo Carrillo Beach, as well as to the Santa Monican who dwells two blocks from the district offices.
Malibu does not require a representative with a 90265 zip code if the board truly wants all of the parents and other concerned individuals west of the McClure Tunnel to be able to see firsthand what it is doing for their children and all of the other children in the district. This transparency would be a major step toward healing wounds, real and perceived.