This story has been updated. Please see editor’s note below.
A group of concerned parents, led by Malibu High School (MHS) Parent Teacher Association President Karen Farrer, came to speak before the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) Board of Education during its Thursday, Oct. 1 meeting, complaining about the “deplorable” conditions of showers at the MHS pool.
The issue, Farrer said, is not so much the showers themselves as it is the root of the issue: that school site administrators, such as new MHS Principal Brandon Gallagher, do not have the power to make requests to custodial staff, and must instead make requests through the district, based in Santa Monica.
Other parents stated that the locker room is “grimy and nasty” and “only three of 10 spigots are functioning.”
“Our campus is in a crisis,” Farrer told board members. “How it got to this point, I have no idea.”
Farrer was first alerted to the “mold, sludge [and] bacteria” by an unnamed Malibu resident who was using the showers as part of the joint agreement between MHS and the City of Malibu, who leases use of the pool for citizens.
At the meeting, Farrer showed pictures of conditions at the high school and challenged board members: “I’d be willing to bet not one person in this room would want to use those showers or let their children use them.”
“While SMMUSD principals are responsible for the conditions at their respective sites, they do not have authority over any of the facilities or custodial employees,” Farrer said in an email to The Malibu Times.
According to Farrer, the site has since been cleaned, but the administrative issues remain.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misquoted Karen Farrer. The story has been updated to reflect a correction on the quote.
