The following was addressed to Dianne Talarico, superintendent, Santa Monica-Malibu United School District.
Thank you for sending me what is perhaps the most disingenuous e-mail I have ever received. My three children have been in Malibu schools for over ten years, and this is the first time I have received any direct correspondence from a SMMUSD superintendent. What’s more, over the years Santa Monica has continually made grabs for Malibu money, first with your appropriation of privately raised funds for our schools, and now with your reneging on promised funds for our middle and high school improvements. You can imagine my dismay that your first direct correspondence with me in over a decade is now, hand out, and asking for money, money which you will undoubtedly not share fairly with the children enrolled in schools here in Malibu.
Santa Monica seems intent on marginalizing Malibu at every turn. It is patterned behavior that has not gone unnoticed in our community. My only advice to you is to make good on your financial commitments to the Malibu portion of your district prior to the next election cycle, then we’ll see about passing a future Measure R proposal.
As the saying goes: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
Bill Brown