Three hours of heated debate at Malibu City Hall Monday ended in “no decision” after a plan to make pest fumigation standard practice at Malibu schools met opposition last week.
The classic cast of characters was on scene, with members of the nonprofit Poison Free Malibu, parents of school children and Malibu city officials all speaking out against the use of pesticides to kill termites in Malibu schools, while members of the school district staff and school board from Santa Monica appeared bemused by Malibu’s strong—and, for all appearances, united—stance against the use of poisons.
This battle is just one in a years-long war over the use of chemicals at Malibu schools. For many years, public opinion in town has been against the use of chemicals, and they are banned by the City of Malibu for use in city buildings and parks.
According to school district staff, fumigation would cost tens of thousands of dollars less than nontoxic termite control, such as heat treatment.
“We find as far as effectiveness, the fumigation, the use of the pesticide, is more effective than the heat treatment, as a primary source,” District Chief Operations Officer Carey Upton told the board. “The heat treatment we still find is a usable secondary source.”
School Board Member Craig Foster, Malibu’s only representative, questioned the district’s expert, Mario David Bazan, a chemical engineer with the company IPM Tech.
“Is it your understanding of IPM, that you start with poison and then work your way to less invasive methods?” Foster asked Bazan.
“No, it’s totally reversed,” Bazan replied. Bazan said his company, which does work with other districts across the state, does not fumigate.
Local activist and MHS mom Jennifer deNicola presented data claiming that tenting for termites in California schools is extremely rare.
“Today, I called six school districts: LAUSD, San Francisco, San Diego, Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento—the biggest districts in the state. None of them do tenting; they all do spot treatment. Fresno laughed at me,” deNicola disclosed, adding that she secured a “list of every school in the past 14 years that’s tented.
“There’s 92 of them,” deNicola claimed. “There’s over 11,000 schools in the state.”
Many in Malibu also used the dispute as an opportunity to highlight perceived differences in values between the two cities of Malibu and Santa Monica.
“The thing that strikes me here is that this item and many, many others over many years that I’ve been going to school board meetings demonstrates that we have two very different communities,” attorney Kevin Shenkman told the board. “The problems from this rear their head all the time.”
School Board Member Laurie Lieberman did not want to hear it.
“I think this constant harping on the difference between the two communities is not getting us too far,” Lieberman contended. “That’s not to say there aren’t differences—there are.” But Lieberman said a divide over the use of poison isn’t one of them.
“Santa Monica’s been looking at all this stuff since before Malibu was even a city, and it’s silly to pretend one city cares and the other one doesn’t,” she said.
In the end, the board requested more information from staff for a later meeting. Member Oscar de la Torre complained that the board was only receiving information from one side.
“It’s important in times when we have controversial items or controversial opinions, that staff come in with really unbiased options,” de la Torre said, asking that they be as “objective as possible.”
Later, de la Torre stressed the importance of safety before cost considerations.
“The principle that’s really important for me is to make sure we don’t [put financial concerns first]—we look at health and safety first, first and foremost, the most important thing we put forward,” the board member asked.
Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati responded.
“There isn’t anybody on staff that isn’t considering children’s safety first,” he said.
“Do I believe in fumigation? Yes,” Drati told the board following hours of back-and-forth. He then drew a comparison between those who don’t believe in pesticide use and those who refuse to immunize their children.
“I have a … sister-in-law; we constantly argue over immunization. She doesn’t immunize. I do. She can’t convince me that not immunizing is the right thing, I can’t convince her,” Drati said. “She has science, I have science. We kind of balance each other out.”
Lieberman seemed to agree in statements made later in the meeting.
“I do want to say, with all due respect, there’s science and then there’s what people want to be science,” Lieberman said. “You can find a study or a scientist to support anything.”
Drati said that he would respect “everybody’s views on these things,” when bringing the item back before the board next time.