Over the protests of parents, the board departed from normal procedure to act immediately on a special education request the superintendent said was urgent.
By Susan Reines/Special to The Malibu Times
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education granted an unusual request from Superintendent John Deasy Thursday, creating a $153,000 special education position on the spot.
The board’s decision gives Deasy the authority to hire an Assistant Superintendent of Special Education to oversee implementation of a parent-written plan for reforming the district’s substandard special education program.
Where the money will come from to pay the new administrator-who was not called for in the parent-written plan-remains to be decided.
The board’s decision to move on Deasy’s proposal was a departure from normal procedure. Unless there is an emergency, the board always holds a public hearing on an important item before taking action at a subsequent meeting.
Deasy’s written recommendation to the board, which appeared as an action item on Thursday’s agenda with no prior public hearing, stated that the creation of the position was necessary and appropriate, but made no mention of urgency.
When pressed by Board Member Mike Jordan, the outgoing Malibu member, to explain why he was asking the board to take the unusual step of voting without holding a discussion first, Deasy said he believed he needed a new administrator immediately to take control of the $3.5 million special education budget.
“Your budget is bleeding uncontrollably in terms of special ed, and we need to stem that as soon as possible,” Deasy said. “There are fiscal issues that need to be addressed right away, and it needs a certain level of expertise.”
He added that the hiring process would “probably not happen as quickly” as people might expect, but he felt he needed board approval immediately.
Parents who were directed by the district last winter to write a plan to bring special education up to government standards said they were surprised and concerned that the board would vote on Deasy’s request without prior discussion.
They noted that hiring a new assistant superintendent was not part of their plan, which the board accepted in June, and said they had no idea that hundreds of thousands of dollars were available.
“My first reaction was, ‘Huh?'” parent Chris Chandler said. “Was this in the strategic plan? No. Was this in the staff reaction to the strategic plan? No. Did someone find a pot of gold somewhere?”
Deasy said there was no new money. The budget will have to be trimmed elsewhere-the board on Thursday did not decide where—to create funding for the position, which was eliminated from the district a few years ago because of budget cuts.
Members of the Special Education District Advisory Committee, the parent body that advises the district on special education issues, said they had not been consulted or notified that new funds might be available.
Although five of the seven board members ultimately voted to create the position, the majority voiced concern about the lack of community input and specific information-noting, for example, that Deasy’s proposal did not include a dollar figure.
Chief Financial Officer Winston Braham cited the $153,000 annual estimate only after being asked twice by Board Member Maria Leon-Vazquez for a specific figure.
Leon-Vazquez cast the lone dissenting vote, saying she wanted to wait until the board’s next meeting to make a decision.
“I want to at least see what we’re talking about in terms of money, not just for this position, but for the support to really get this off the ground,” she said, noting that the person who filled the position in the past had a team of staff helping him.
Board Member Oscar de le Torre abstained, citing concerns about acting without input from the District Advisory Committee.
The five other board members voted for the position.
“It’s really hard to understand how we’re going to drive this larger process when everybody [current staff] is maxed out,” Board Member Emily Bloomfield said.
Jordan cast his vote in favor but said he had doubts about the process.
It was Jordan’s last meeting as he did not run for re-election, and he said he felt awkward both voting against a program he strongly supported or going forward with little community input.
“While I oppose this on procedural grounds,” he said, “and I believe that it’s probably wrong, given that choice, I’m going to support this.”
In other news, the board unanimously approved creation of a new school to serve expelled and struggling students.
The Community Day School will be smaller and more structured than Olympic High, the district’s continuation high school, and will teach core subjects and vocational skills to 7th- through 12th-graders.
It will cost $250,000 annually to run the school.
Also Thursday, teachers who worked to gain national board certification protested the district’s decision, made after the teachers had weathered hundreds of hours of work, to reduce their extra pay from $10,000 a year to $5,000 a year.
The teachers, district and teachers’ union will talk about a resolution, Deasy said.