Malibu City Council is fed up with Santa Monica’s “lip service” when it comes to Malibu school independence.
At least those are the words of longtime school separation advocate and council member Laura Rosenthal, who told Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati on Monday “some of this is on you.”
Drati, who took up the position of superintendent following the departure of Sandra Lyon in late 2016, attended the Monday, Feb. 12, Malibu City Council meeting to explain why there was yet another delay in moving the process of separating the two districts.
“We gave you a year—this is your 13th month,” a frustrated Rosenthal told Drati, later adding, “You’re not a newbie anymore. Some of this is on you.”
Years ago, Malibu City Council signed a document as part of a push for separation, intending that it should initiate the county process, but due to urging from experts including School Board Member Craig Foster, the document was halted in the 11th hour. Now, that letter is back on the table.
In good faith, council said, the school district should have an opportunity to analyze the most recent proposal. A new delay from the school district may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“I think people in our community—and you should take it from us—feel let down by the school board,” Council Member Skylar Peak told Drati. “We don’t feel that Santa Monica is participating in that and they don’t really care about us. I hope that at some point in this process, the district decides to let us go and let us get our own school district.
“We would have thought that would happen two years ago, and there are some of us who would have thought it would have happened 20 years ago,” Peak continued. A two-year-long process to create a financial agreement for separation failed after the school board threw away the findings, which were agreed upon by a board of three Santa Monicans and three Malibuites.
“What I’m saying is, we’re not going to wait,” Rosenthal told Drati before requesting a letter be drawn up to the county school board.
In the end, Drati said, “It’s up to the state” whether district separation will be approved, and until that time he is committed to serving both communities.
