Malibu Unites, a local advocacy group ramping up pressure on the school district over the toxin situation at Malibu High, held a meeting Thursday at Duke’s Restaurant discussing the school district’s handling of MHS and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School.
About 40 people attended the meeting, including advisory council members for Malibu Unites, scientific experts and Malibu leaders like Mayor Skylar Peak. No Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) officials were in attendance.
The group was borne out of frustration with the district earlier this year in the wake of environmental controversy at Malibu High School and Middle School when a group of teachers came forward with several health concerns last October, including three suffering from thyroid cancer, though it’s unknown if the cancer and contamination are linked. Juan Cabrillo Elementary was eventually added to the potential area of concern. Controversy further erupted when it was revealed that toxic soils were found at Malibu High in 2010 and the school district did not notify parents about the situation.
Since October, the school district has hired and fired environmental advisers, been under close watch from the EPA and Calif. Dept. of Toxic Substances Control, performed a first wave of clean-up that Malibu Unites calls inadequate, conducted a controversial round of classroom air testing, and retained a corporate law firm many believe in anticipation of civil litigation.
What has not yet emerged, Malibu Unites President Jennifer deNicola and board members Cami Winikoff, Hope Edelman and Nicole Holland contend, is a plan to solve the problem. Malibu Unites believes the school district is stonewalling.
In its most recent major step, the district retained the D.C.-based firm Environ in March to oversee and manage soil testing and cleanup at Juan Cabrillo and MHS.
“Environ is using industry standards and industry standards are not good enough because of the amount time children and teachers spend at the school,” said DeNicola.
It is not known how much Environ is being paid, but the district has already spent close to half a million dollars on the situation.
But one SMMUSD representative, who asked not to be identified, said Malibu Unites represents a viewpoint that has “lost perspective” and threatens to compromise the quality of district education.
The group is “impossible to please” and some inside the district believe will settle for nothing less than building brand new facilities that the district can’t afford. “How many millions do we spend when the tests are saying the school is safe?” asked one official.
“That’s not true,” deNicola countered, saying the group’s goal is that proper testing be completed and safety standards agreed upon. “We need to comprehensively test the campus. We need to test the soil throughout the campus. We know there was a soil contamination in the middle of the campus. We don’t know about the rest of our campus because they didn’t bother to look and we don’t know the source of the contaminants so we can’t make an assumption it’s not there because we have no idea why it was there in the first place.”
In a statement to The Malibu Times on Monday, SMMUSD Supt. Sandra Lyon agreed that parents, staff members and students deserve assurance that the schools are healthy and clean. The process thus far, she said, has not given her reason to think the schools are unsafe.
“Given the complex nature of the situation, we are relying on experts to guide our work, analysis and action, and so far the experts at government oversight agencies have told us that the schools are safe,” stated SMMUSD Superintendent Sandra Lyon.
Kurt Fehling, a health scientist Malibu Unites is looking to hire for $20,000, was on hand Thursday but refused to speak with the media. If Malibu Unites raises the money necessary for his services, deNicola said he would conduct sample testing of Malibu High and Juan Cabrillo, independent of Environ.
deNicola said more than 100 people have agreed to donate their time and expertise to the group on a regular basis and 900 supporters have signed up on their website. The list of members includes politicians, parents, educators, environmental advisors, toxicologists, celebrities and professors.
The group’s genesis has much to do with the organization’s belief that the only way to assure a full addressing of their concerns was putting pressure on the district at greater volume and intensity.
“The only way to really get this pushed through is to create a massive group of people to bring Malibu together and unite them. If we unite Malibu, we have one voice coming in,” deNicola said.
The SMMUSD Board of Education will hold its own meeting in Malibu on Wed., May 7, for an update on environmental work at the MHS/Juan Cabrillo campuses. Those interested in receiving updates from both the district and Malibu Unites should visit smmusd.org and malibuunites.com.