Acknowledging its failure to check if staff or volunteers even have driver’s licenses when driving vehicles, with or without children in them, district officials are working on a new policy that would review DMV records of all potential drivers. Also, the new special education director is introduced.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District revealed at its board meeting last week that it fails to check if staff who drive district vehicles, with or without children in them, or volunteers who drive cars containing school children other than their own even have driver’s licenses.
The information came to light as district officials discussed a proposed policy regarding who can drive district vehicles, both those containing students and those that do not. Also, the concern of parents driving children other than their own was brought up.
Although the district has a clear policy regarding volunteers such as parents who drive vehicles, it has not previously dealt with the issue of formalizing requirements for district staff who drive.
“We have a lot of people driving in our district,” Matthews said. “We don’t have any policy where we examine whether they should be driving or not … We haven’t done a good job of checking our actual employees’ [driving] records, and this will do that,” Matthews said.
Among the features of the proposed policy, which the board will vote on at a later meeting, the Department of Motor Vehicle records will be reviewed for all potential drivers, including whether they even have a driver’s license, which currently is not checked. A points system similar to the one used by the DMV will be used to determine a driver’s eligibility. The threshold for drivers transporting children is higher than for those not transporting them. Also, those with a record containing what is determined to be “unacceptable single violations,” such as driving under the influence convictions or leaving the scene of an accident, will be ineligible to drive or have their privileges suspended. However, having these on their records does not require a lifetime ban, except with bus drivers, who are held to a higher standard by state rules.
Regarding parents driving, district policy allows parents to drive their student-athlete children home after off-campus sports games even if the children had taken the school transportation to get to the event. But the parents cannot drive other children. Board of Education Member Kelly Pye said at last Thursday’s board meeting that this policy is often violated.
“It happens all the time,” Pye said. “We have to really communicate the importance of this to our coaches, who are really dedicated. There are all sorts of things that might happen on a sports field, where a parent might want to take the child. But I’ve been able to take other children just by nodding at the coach. I’m concerned about it.”
Assistant Superintendent Mike Matthews admitted that there are violations of the district policy, and said, “We must communicate it clearly and often” what the policy is to the coaches.
“We need to hammer that home all the time with our coaches,” Matthews said. “Because they’re always having to deal with that issue.”
New special education director introduced
Also at the meeting, the district formally introduced Sarah Woolverton as its director of special education. Woolverton, who comes from the Lynnwood Unified School District and who previously worked in Washington state, was hired last month. Woolverton comes to a district that is only a little more than one year removed from a vicious battle over special education issues, including accusations of staff being hostile toward parents. The conflict led to the dismissal of a special education head who was praised by many in Malibu and slammed by many in Santa Monica. The district is currently addressing the various issues and has formed a committee composed of 18 parents and staff members.
In addition, the board was visited by former state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who currently sits on the California Integrated Waste Management Board. She presented the district with a certificate of appreciation for its participation in a pilot program to bring environmental education into the curriculum. Called the Education and the Environment Initiative, it is a program being spearheaded by the Waste Management Board and the California Environmental Protection Agency that stems from a bill sponsored by Sen. Fran Pavley, whose district includes Malibu. The SMMUSD is one of 19 districts that volunteered to test the curriculum. Kuehl noted what she considered to be the importance of including environmental issues in the K-12 curriculum.
“Making sure that our students know how to nurture the complex systems in which we live is a way to ensure that the environment is protected,” Kuehl said. “And their understanding of the influence of the environment, their influence on it, and how it influences them will give them the tools we hope they’ll use to protect the future.”