Despite $80 million that Proposition X reaped for local school district projects, district staff says more needs to be done.
By Hans Laetz/ Special to The Malibu Times
With an eye toward a possible 2006 bond issue, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District will start compiling a list of buildings that are unsafe, falling apart or inadequate to meet the needs of its 12,545 students, about 20 percent of which are Malibu residents.
In its board meeting last week, the district staff said substandard buildings, inadequate parking and driveways, and overcrowded classrooms that still exist would need repair or replacement.
Gleam Davis, a district parent, said the inventory is different than making a laundry list of deficient structures.
“We need to think outside the box, to come up with ideas that will enhance the experience of all our students,” Davis said.
Nevertheless, district officials said some projects that were not included with the last bond issue still need to be built. At Malibu High School that would include a new multipurpose athletic stadium and a new library and technology center.
Other structures that need replacement or repair at the four Malibu school campuses include “temporary” classrooms that have been in place for more than a decade. Plywood floors in a room at one school, which was full of summer students Friday, sloped to the point that marbles roll toward the wall.
Bigger projects loom in Santa Monica, said district consultant Alison Kendall, including a possible new high school campus in eastern Santa Monica to relieve overcrowding at Santa Monica High. Some overflow students from Santa Monica attend Malibu High, where occasional overcrowding in some classes occurs.
Voters passed the last bond issue, Proposition X, in 1998. By combining it with state school bonds, the district was able to spend $90 million districtwide. Malibu High got a new classroom building, a large new gymnasium, new parking and a multipurpose room converted into an auditorium. Elementary schools were improved, including a new library at Webster.
The district’s follow-up report on Proposition X found that Malibu’s schools got more than the 27 percent share that was promised, as 27 percent of the district’s property tax revenue comes from Malibu. Santa Monica’s campuses received about $6 million less than its voters were promised, the report concluded.
In other action, the school board delayed a self-examination of its actions before and during an April 15 incident at Santa Monica High that cleaved the school along racial lines. The Santa Monica Police Department said School Board Member Oscar de la Torre escalated the incident.
De la Torre vehemently disagreed with that account, and said last week that the district and police should be trained together to handle isolated fights that end up turning into racially oriented incidents.
“There’s a lot of racial tension in the community out there,” de la Torre said. “We didn’t get here in one day and we won’t fix it in one day either.”
De la Torre said asking police to take the same cultural awareness classes as teachers and administrators might avoid future problems.