The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) claim that it is not in PCB violations was categorically rejected by a federal judge last Monday, March 28. Speaking out and showing the judge declarations of fact made a difference and will save lives.
Kudos to Jennifer deNicola and America Unites, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and the teachers, custodians, parents and alumni who had the courage to say that President Laurie Lieberman and the school board she controls are wrong and that Superintendent Sandra Lyon and her SMMUSD administrators are lying.Â
It made a difference when the judge saw the declaration of facts from person after person — teachers, custodians, parents, alumni — standing up for the truth in the face of threats that they would be fired or that the District Attorney would charge them with a felony. Lieberman and Lyon’s actions are those of bullies and thieves, not people who care about kids, teachers and communities. Malibu needs and deserves good schools run by good people.
This is a significant win for health and safety, and for Malibu taxpayers. I urge the public to contact SMMUSD school board members and demand accountability for wasting public money on crony lawyers and phony charges while kids and teachers get sick. $10 million of public money was given to lawyers by the SMMUSD — $3.38 million to the Pillsbury Law Firm alone — and there has not even been a trial yet. That 10 million dollars could have been spent to fix schools, but instead the SMMUSD wasted it to fight parents and teachers in a lawsuit that doesn’t even ask for monetary compensation. It just asks that the school board fix sick schools.
Cindy Vandor