SMMUSD hires interim financial head
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District this week announced the tentative hiring of Stephen Hodgson as its interim chief financial officer. The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the selection at its meeting in Malibu on Thursday.
Hodgson is currently working for the Pasadena Unified School District as its interim chief financial officer. He will continue to do some work for that school district until it has hired a replacement, according to a press release from the SMMUSD.
Hodgson comes to the district as it looks for a solution to a problematic financial situation. The district has a tentative three-year agreement with the teachers union for a 5 percent raise for all instructors. But when it sent its plan to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the district received a notice back that it must come up with a proposal to pay for the raise while making sure the district maintains the state-required 3 percent budget reserve.
The district has since hired a private company called Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to study the SMMUSD’s financial situation and come up with a solution. A report from Fiscal Crisis was supposed to come at the Jan. 18 school board meeting. But it was delayed because the consultant discovered there was more information that needed to be researched.
Hodgson replaces Winston Braham, who quit his job with the district last November shortly after he refused to support the agreement with the teachers. A permanent replacement for Braham will be hired by June, according to the district’s press release.
City fish saved
The City Hall fish will stay at their home in the second floor aquarium, and Councilmember Jeff Jennings won’t even have to take care of them as he said he would do. Miramar Investment Co., which owns the City Hall building, has agreed to pay for the care of the tropical saltwater fish.
Late last year, a majority of the council members had asked city staff to come up with a solution to rid the city of the $528-per-month cost to maintain the aquarium and feed the fish. The staff came back with a solution last month to either donate the fish to Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School or to the person currently hired to take care of them. But Jennings said he would learn how to take care of the fish, and asked that any vote to evict them be delayed until next month to give him time to become skilled.
Jennings said this week he had not heard if it was official that he would no longer be needed for the fish care, but he said if it is true, he is alright with it.
“I’ll try to bear up under the blow,” said a laughing Jennings.
Young filmmaker seeks creative control of movie
Ten-year-old actor/filmmaker Dominic Scott Kay filed a lawsuit last week in the Malibu Courthouse alleging that his neighbor is trying to take control away from a short film he directed. The neighbor, Conroy Kanter, helped to fund the movie, “Saving Angelo,” with an $11,000 contribution.
Kay told the Los Angeles Times last week that Kanter was trying to control all aspects of the film. Kanter’s attorney, Michael Stoller, told the newspaper that Kay’s mother, Cindy Kay, was behind the suit, and was seeking financial gain.
“That’s a slanderous comment,” Cindy Kay told The Malibu Times this week. She continued, “This is really a sad, sad situation.”
Dominic Kay’s movie features Kevin Bacon, who worked with the young entertainer before when he starred in the Bacon-directed film “Loverboy.”
Juice maker stops
animal testing
The makers of POM Wonderful, the trendy health drink invented in 2002, have agreed to stop testing the health benefits of their product on animals.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had mounted a campaign against the juice. Malibu’s John’s Garden had agreed to stop selling the drink at the request of PETA. Malibu resident Pamela Anderson had also joined the effort against POM.
“POM’s decision to end animal tests is a victory for common sense and consumers as well as for rabbits and mice,” said PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich in a press release.
POM officials could not be reached for comment.
Malibu Film Festival not so Malibu
The Malibu Film Festival has announced that the eighth annual edition of the event will take place in April, but with no screenings in Malibu.
The festivities will begin on April 13 with opening night films at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. Film screenings will continue through April 16 in Santa Monica. The festival will conclude on April 16 in Malibu with an awards ceremony and wrap-up party at Geoffrey’s.
For more information, go to www.malibufilmfestival.com.
Women’s health gets a boost
The Broad Foundation, headed by part-time Malibu resident Eli Broad, recently gave $1 million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to fund a women’s heart research fellowship within its Women’s Heart Center. C. Noel Bairey Merz, an internationally recognized cardiologist specializing in heart disease in women, will direct the Edythe L. Broad Cardiology Research Fellowship. Bairey Merz said the scientists selected for the one-year fellowship will study coronary microvascular function as well as a variety of other women’s heart disease research topics.
Microvascular coronary artery disease affects the small arteries found throughout the heart, reducing their ability to maintain the oxygen needed by the heart muscle to function properly. It affects nearly four times as many women as men-an estimated two to three million women in this country-and often evades detection through traditional diagnostic techniques. In light of this, Cedars-Sinai’s Women’s Heart Center said it is focusing on diagnosing and reducing heart disease through a preventive approach that includes state-of-the-art screening and diagnostic testing.
-Jonathan Friedman