What happens when a journalist runs for office?
You get a politician devoted to open communication. In this case, the former reporter is Michael Jordan, communications professor at Pepperdine and the only Malibu-based candidate running for the Santa Monica-Malibu School Board (SMMUSD).
In his view, he is completing a full cycle, from a career as an investigative reporter frustrated by politicians trying to skirt the Brown Act, to discussing the issue in his media law classes and finally, running for office himself.
“I’m finding I have more to give my students now,” said Jordan. “A little better perspective.”
At the same time, his background has colored his campaign. One of his first objectives as member of the school board is to bridge what he believes is a communication gap between the school district and teachers, parents and city leaders.
“I think the board members need to be more accessible and more collaborative,” he said.
Part of the problem, according to Ann Payne, kindergarten teacher at Point Dume Elementary School, is the physical distance between the school board, which is based in Santa Monica, and Malibu residents.
“While meetings are held in Santa Monica once a month,” Payne points out, “they only meet in Malibu once or twice a year.”
With Tom Hess departing, the only current board member elected from Malibu, Jordan feel it important to replace him.
“Since 80 percent of the voters are in Santa Monica and only 20 percent are in Malibu,” Jordan fears, “Malibu might be left without a strong voice on the board. All the people who endorse me recognize how important it is that Malibu have a strong voice, especially when we’re dealing with such important issues.”
The district, according to Jordan, is still recovering from last year’s financial crisis, which he said was due partly to under-funding from Sacramento, and was partly brought about when the district overestimated the number of students expected to enroll last fall.
“The funding in California is determined by the number of pupils,” explained Jordan. “So even if you’re off by a couple hundred students, that’s a lot of money that just isn’t there.”
The discrepancy, Jordan suggests, should inspire the district to explore reasons why those students didn’t show up and try to win back some of the parents who have been sending their kids to private schools.
“Sacramento is the key,” said Jordan. “We have to keep the pressure on the legislators. But we also need to be proactive and look at all the various untapped resources within the community.”
He advocates building partnerships with the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu, and with the Financial Oversight Committee, the private sector, the Education Foundation, individual PTAs and Santa Monica College.
“We need to reach out to the community and make the community more a part of the process,” he said.
In order to realize his vision of a communicative, accessible Board of Education, Jordan hopes to implement town hall meetings for students to talk to board members and half-hour segments before each meeting to “honor segments of our educational community.”
“For instance, one week we might bring in school nurses and the next week it might be the middle school orchestra,” explained Jordan. “We’ll work our way through the entire district that way. Over the course of a couple of years, we’re going to go a long way toward improving communication and access to the district leaders. Up to now, we have not been very good listeners.”
As a Pepperdine professor, Jordan already has access to students who have passed through the system. As the father of six children who have, or are currently attending Malibu schools, he maintains a parent’s view of the state of education. As the husband of Nancy Jordan, first-grade teacher at Juan Cabrillo Elementary, he is privy to educators’ insights.
According to Betty Glass, former principal from Cabrillo and Pt. Dume elementary schools, his position in the community allows him to analyze situations from three different perspectives. Add to that, his former career as a newspaper reporter and editor and a run for Congress in 1996, and you have a man who has observed educational policies from every angle.