Born and raised in Malibu, Wade Major is working to make the city an even better place
While he doesn’t like being called an activist, Wade Major is certainly active working on behalf of Malibu. The Malibu native is a busy volunteer helping to improve the quality of life here and for the city to get local control over its public schools.
“When I hear the word activist I think of people marching with signs, walking across bridges, and leading protests trying to make changes,” Major said. “I’m not that far different from a lot of other people that I work with in the community who are born and raised here or have lived here long enough to feel, you know, Malibu gets its hooks in you. It’s a beautiful place and it’s a precious place. You want to take care of it. This is home and I’m just working to make it a better place for everybody.”
Major is currently serving in two positions for Malibu. The 59-year-old is president of AMPS (Advocates for Malibu Public Schools) and is on the Public Works Commission.
AMPS was started more than a decade ago, Major said, “By some of our most amazing local leaders — Craig Foster, Karen Farrer, and Seth Jacobson who started the fight for a Malibu Unified School District. Now it falls to those of us who have younger kids … with their guidance and support we’re keeping the fight going and we’re very close.”
Major’s child attends Webster Elementary, the same school he attended as a youngster.
“That’s a very touching thing,” he commented.
Major is hopeful on wrapping up the drawn-out process of separating from the Santa Monica district in what is called “unification” for a Malibu Unified School District. He stated the revenue sharing agreement is complete, and an operational and joint powers agreement is still being finalized.
“In April there will be outreach in Malibu and Santa Monica to educate the communities on what is in that agreement,” he said. “There presumably will be a town hall to make sure everybody completely knows what’s in it, what it means for the community at large. My hope is that by no later than May we get it ratified by City Council and by the school board.”
Major’s ambition is to have a separate Malibu school system ratified by July of next year, but realistically it could take longer.
“We are literally the last non-contiguous school district in the state,” he said. “The law says you have to have contiguous communities if you’re going to share a school district.”
Once Malibu Unified is official, it will be a trustee district with school board candidates elected from five separate geographical areas, unlike the at-large voting system currently employed by the Malibu City Council and SMMUSD. “Because we have people who attend different schools, it makes the most sense for this community,” Major said.
Major was appointed four years ago to the Public Works Commission. “It’s been incredibly rewarding and very educational,” he said, praising city Public Works employees Rob DuBoux and Travis Hart for getting the job done when faced with challenges, especially during recent local rains causing road troubles. “They do a great job.” He pointed to Caltrans regarding lingering road work projects.
The Public Works Commission just teamed up with Public Safety on a project to restore and reconfigure part of Westward Beach that suffered erosion especially after last year’s heavy rains. The commissions helped to preserve “one of the last old school Malibu spots” while keeping public safety in mind too.
“Residents weighed in,” the commissioner commented. “That’s always a good thing when residents are vocal because it helps us know where the community stands.”
Major reminded that those who serve on Malibu commissions are unpaid volunteers. As a screenwriter, film critic, and father his life is busy but he said, “You have to make time. It’s not like Los Angeles, where a lot of these commission positions are paid. Malibu is a volunteer community. When we became a city not a lot of people who were born and raised here were serving in these positions. It’s incredibly rewarding to me now to see so many of us who were born and raised here and we’re still here and they’re all stepping up.” He name-checked “Skylar Peak, his sister Alicia, Carl Randall, Marianne Riggins on City Council.”
“There are people with deep roots here. The fact that these are volunteer positions is heartening,” Major said. “That’s what Malibu, a small community, needs: people to step up and help us turn the corner. Once we have our own school district, that’s almost like cityhood all over again. Now we’ve taken hold of one more piece of our destiny it’s just going to be an even better community than it was before.”