Letter addressed to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
As a lifelong Malibu resident and parent of students who attended SM-MUSD schools who has advocated for an independent Malibu school district for many years, I am saddened, confused and outraged at the video you released recently. Why would you do this and what do you hope to gain?
We’ve been asking you to come back and negotiate with us and had not heard back from you in months until this highly inappropriate and inflammatory attack. Is this what the leadership of SM-MUSD looks like? Do you believe that this is the way to treat members of the community that feel they have legitimate reasons to form their own independent school district to serve their children’s educational needs?Â
Your actions, at all times, define you. You can’t walk this back. And your actions will always be part of your legacy. And in my opinion, this is a horrible look for your school board and for each of the board members personally, except Craig Foster, the only representative on the board from Malibu. From my perspective, it seems you’ve lost your way and all the video did was galvanize people against you.
You’ve said publicly that you agree that Malibu and SM-MUSD need to separate and that we just need to come to equitable terms. Your actions do not reflect this. Instead, you do not reply when we reach out. Instead, you attack. Instead, you waste more time and taxpayer money and resources, including those of Malibu parents, which should be spent educating our children and improving our facilities.
I’ve had brief talks in the past with several of you and a couple of you said you would contact me so that we could talk. But to this day, the only time I’ve heard from any of you is when you were seeking an endorsement for your election campaign. My offer still stands to talk, but I suspect it will be a more difficult conversation now. True leaders would continue to work together. You have my phone number. The next move is up to you.
Mikke Pierson
Malibu City Council