JULY
• The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District brought in two experienced educators/administrators as interim co-superintendents, to share the job while the district searched for a new superintendent. They selected Sylvia Rousseau, a former principal at Santa Monica High School from 1993-2000 and Chris King, an experienced former superintendent in other districts.
• The PCH death toll kept climbing. A pedestrian on vacation from Peoria, Ariz. was crossing PCH near El Matador State Beach with his girlfriend when both were struck. She was injured and he was killed.
• Malibu rehab center founder Christopher Bathum who, over his business life, has founded more than 20 rehab and sober living houses, was arrested by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and charged, ironically enough, with possession and offering of a controlled substance.
• With the advent of social media sites, many areas of Malibu have become very hip and attractive — and also quite dangerous to visitors. Authorities have had trouble trying to keep up with the soaring web-driven popularity of some of the sites. Recently, authorities closed the caves at the top of Corral Canyon and the Rindge Dam area.
• In what seemingly is looking like a local tradition, the principal of Malibu High School decided to resign after one year on the job. In the last four years, four different principals have had the job. Perhaps it’s time to begin to ask, “Why?”