A staff of seven city employees and two outside consultants labored last week over the ballot count from the April 11 Malibu City Council election.

City Clerk Virginia Bloom supervised a staff that counted provisional and absentee ballots and performed a manual accuracy check on the computerized count of precinct 208, Bluffs Park.

Provisional ballots were generated from Malibu residents who showed up at polling places without their voter registration cards but still wished to vote. The ballot was later sent to the county registrar’s office in Norwalk for verification of address and eligibility, allowing the resident to vote at that location.

Of 126 provisional ballots, only 94 were approved. According to Bloom, 32 of the votes were disqualified for either of two reasons: residents failed to register by the cut-off date or residents were not registered at all.

Polling places changed slightly from recent county elections. Several precincts were combined, lowering the number from 13 locations to 10.

The detailed process began when city employees opened individually sealed provisional and absentee ballots, counted them and cleared each one from punch holes that could cause the counting machine to malfunction. The ballots were then fed into the counting machine operated by Eric Grahm and Doug Marshal of the election consulting firm, Martin and Chapman. The number was added to the amount of votes received on election night.

Each candidate’s name was read off the ballot and marked on a dry-erase board by two employees performing their own separate count. After five votes for each candidate were recorded, a “tally” was called from the employees at the board. The tally confirmed that they both arrived at the same number of votes.

To ensure accuracy, another employee sitting next to the employee reading the names confirmed the names being called off the ballots. Clerk Bloom oversaw the entire process. The accuracy check was determined to be error free, after the results of the manual count correctly matched the computer count.

New state legislation requires that the results must be certified by the City Counci the second Tuesday after an election l and announced at the next meeting, which was set for April 25.

More than 50 people crammed into the small conference room at City Hall Saturday to watch the old council decide how to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Harry Barovsky.

Some just came to watch, but many came to push for a candidate. Two names were put forward during the public comment period: Sharon Barovsky, Harry Barovsky’s widow, a former member of the General Plan Task Force and Civic Center Specific Plan Advisory Committee; and Ted Vaill, a Santa Monica attorney appointed by Walt Keller to the Parks and Recreation Commission and by Tom Hasse to the committee that selected the current City Attorney, Steven Amerikaner.

Hasse said longtime community activist Frank Basso, co-president of the Malibu Township Council, was also interested.

Rather than appoint someone, though they had been inclined to do so the night before the election, the council voted 3-1, Councilwoman Joan House dissenting, to let voters choose the fifth councilmember in a special election in November.

“My thinking on the vacancy has evolved,” said Hasse, referring to the perceived backpedaling on the council’s night-before-the-election decision.

“The five council seats belong to the public,” said Hasse, noting that voters often oust an appointment at a general election, as was the case with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who defeated then Gov. Pete Wilson’s appointee in 1992.

Hasse said although he was initially concerned about deadlocked 2-2 votes until November, he could not decide on the pros and cons of Barovsky, Vaill and Basso.

“This is a no-win situation because of a decision by a lame-duck city council,” said Hasse, noting that an appointment by the old or new council could be challenged in court. “We don’t want to go down that road,” he said. “An election throws legitimacy on the people that govern.”

Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn, who finished fourth and sixth in the six-candidate race, appeared to be relieved not to have to do battle in November.

Keller said, “It will be fun to watch,” and Van Horn remarked, “The community can handle it.”

Joan House, whose motion to appoint Barovsky did not receive a second, wanted a full council because it faces a “huge plate of activities” and she wanted it to focus on priorities.

Van Horn noted that her decision against appointing Barovsky was no reflection on Barovsky.

Water, wetlands

In its final action, the old council voted 4-0 to oppose state Assembly bills dealing with water quality (AB 2492) and coastal development of wetlands (AB 2310).

Surprisingly, the city is opposing a bill authored by Democrat Sheila Kuehl, who has represented Malibu in the state Assembly since 1994 and was just elected to the state Senate.

City Manager Harry Peacock, noting the California Storm Water Quality Task Force and the League of California Cities oppose the bill, said AB 2492 on numeric effluent limits is “another effort to increase standards to a level beyond the requirements of federal law at an extreme cost to state and local government without commensurate environmental benefit or offsetting revenue.”

AB 2310, authored by Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego County), should be opposed “in the strongest possible language,” said Peacock and Van Horn, quoting an e-mail from City Biologist Marti Witter.

The bill, sponsored by the Building Industry Association to respond to prohibitions in Bolsa Chica Land Trust v. Superior Court, is an effort to circumvent the California Coastal Act’s wetland protections upheld in the Bolsa Chica case, Peacock and Witter said.

Actor Pierce Brosnan’s 16-year-old son, Sean, is recovering from serious injuries suffered when the car in which the teen-ager was riding skidded out of control on Dume Canyon Motorway at 3:45 a.m. Saturday, and tumbled more than 150 feet to the bottom of the canyon.

Sean, who was unconscious when he was helicoptered with his father to the UCLA Trauma Center after the crash, was moved to a private room at UCLA Medical Center Monday. According to Brosnan spokesperson Dick Guttman, Sean should be released within a week and is expected to recover fully. Guttman confirmed that the injuries to Sean were pelvic fractures and a ruptured bladder. He said a vertebral fracture was minor, and there is no spinal cord injury.

Five others in the car were cut and bruised as they were either thrown out of the vehicle or rode it down. According to California Highway Patrol Officer Lydia Martinez Prows, Sean and Morgan Meyer, 20, of Malibu, were thrown from the vehicle. Meyer received a gash on the forehead.

Passenger Cory Escobar, 19, of Malibu, used his cell phone to summon help. Several of those in the 1982 gray Chevrolet Blazer had climbed up to the road by the time rescuers arrived. Rescue squads used litters and ropes to bring up Sean and passenger Anthony Hall, 16, of Malibu.

Sean had been sitting in the front passenger’s seat.

The driver and owner of the Blazer was James P. Hall, 19, of Malibu, brother of Anthony. James Hall, a 1999 graduate of Malibu High School, was booked Saturday at Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of felony drunk driving. He was released Monday afternoon after posting $50,000 bail. An arraignment set for the same day at Malibu Municipal Court was postponed to May 30.

The sixth passenger was Robert Laird, 18, of England.

James Hall told officers that he was traveling at “about 30 miles an hour” and swerved to avoid a large rock.

“We found no evidence of that (large rock),” said Prows. CHP investigators said others in the vehicle had been drinking, but it is not clear who. Some had not fastened their seat belts.

Dume Canyon Motorway (reported elsewhere as Mountainway) is a quiet private road, the entrance of which is on the east side of Kanan Dume Road, 2.6 miles north of Pacific Coast Highway. It was built to provide access for Fire Department vehicles, and it connects with other motorways — Murphy and Ramera — snaking through the mountains roughly between Kanan Dume Road and Latigo Canyon Road. One side of the road drops off precipitously hundreds of feet to creeks, sycamores and lush vegetation. It is no longer officially a Los Angeles County motorway. After it was paved 10 years ago in anticipation of development, the County was no longer required to maintain it. The asphalted road itself is in fair shape, but it narrows at some points to 10 feet. Overgrowth is crowding the sides and pushing up through tarred-over cracks. Loose gravel scatters below shale slides. There are no lights and no houses for miles. Sheriff’s traffic investigator Sergeant Kevin Mauch said, “You don’t want to drive up there at night.” There is no gate. A sign near the entrance reads: “Private Road. Not Maintained. Use At Your Own Risk. Speed 15 m.p.h.” Friendly pictographs show a horseback rider and a hiker. Local youngsters know there are many places to pull off the road and kick back.

The ’82 Blazer — modified with 6-inch lift and 36-inch wheels — flew off this road near the bottom of a steep curving grade, heading west, about half a mile from the entrance at Kanan Dume. As the vehicle lost traction coming out of one curve and going into a sharper turn, the front axle caught on the 6-inch high asphalt curb, taking several inches off the top of the curb for four or five feet, and the Blazer somersaulted to the bottom.

The elder Brosnan, who has lived in Malibu for 15 years, released a statement expressing “our deepest thanks to the Search and Rescue teams in Malibu and to the devoted members of the Sheriff’s Department there for taking my son and his friends from the jaws of death.” He also commended the doctors and nursing staff at the UCLA Trauma Center.

Sean, who attended Our Lady of Malibu and Malibu Middle School, attends a boarding school in England and is home for spring break.

Sean’s mother, Cassie, died in Brosnan’s arms in 1991 of ovarian cancer.

According to a recent listing of America’s “top ranked high schools” in Newsweek magazine — though it swims with tens of thousands of other public high schools, in a pond as enormous as the United States itself — Malibu High School is one very big Shark.

Newsweek ranked the top schools according to each school’s ratio of the number of Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate exams taken per graduating senior in 1999. With a reported score of 1,712, Malibu came in 118th out of roughly 25,000 schools. The ranking suggests that, compared to other public schools, 8-year-old Malibu offers a challenging curriculum that provides students with strong preparation for college.

Newsweek writer Jay Mathews conducted the study and authored the March 13 article, “The Best High Schools.”

“It’s a very nice symbol of achievement,” said Malibu Principal Michael Matthews. “Any time we get that kind of notoriety, everyone likes it; I’ve received notes of congratulations.

“For a small school [around 150 per class], we have a huge number of AP courses — eight or nine,” said Matthews. “I would put our school up against any in the area.”

“Instruments for social and educational change,” according to Newsweek, AP exams evaluate students’ aptitude for grasping college-level concepts in more than 15 different subjects. Students generally prepare for the standardized, nationwide exams through rigorous, accelerated courses that have become de facto requirements for admission to selective colleges. (California schools do not offer International Baccalaureate courses.)

Newsweek’s top-ranked school, Stanton College Prep in Jacksonville, Fla., administered more than four tests per student in 1999; Irvine University, the highest ranked California school, scored just over 2.5, while Santa Monica High’s score of 1.49 placed it at 357th. By contrast, Viewpoint, a selective private school in Calabasas with fewer than 100 per class, offers more than 12 AP courses.

“Certainly being No. 118 out of [25,000] schools is excellent,” said Patricia McDonough, chair of the Department of Education at UCLA. But, she said, because schools in relatively affluent communities tend to focus on college preparation, “It’s no surprise that a school like Malibu is near the top.”

Even in light of the community’s affluence, Malibu achieved its ranking in the midst of budget struggles. Shortfalls have recently taken a toll on programs throughout the Santa Monica-Malibu School district, but faculty and administrators at Malibu have, according to Matthews, endeavored to “keep the academic status quo” regardless of budgetary pressures.

“Hopefully we keep the budget something adults worry about,” said Matthews. “Kids worry about their homework, not a $2.1 million shortfall.”

Though pronouncements of academic superiority may generate excitement and pride at Malibu and other highly ranked schools, UCLA’s McDonough said any study claiming to identify the “best” high schools is “not particularly responsible.” The surging popularity of school rankings, including U.S. News and World Report’s annual college rankings, has roused consternation among educators such as McDonough, who likens them to popular “swimsuit issues.”

A high ranking “allows people to feel good, but it doesn’t do anything for the schools not on the list,” said McDonough. “The danger is that it reinforces the notion of bragging rights … rather than a quality education.”

“Clearly the ranking will look good,” said John Rogers, director of research at Center X at the UCLA Graduate School of Education. “But I would encourage Malibu community members and educators to think about how they can promote democratic citizenship and serious intellectual life.”

According to the article, Newsweek focused on AP enrollment — as opposed to other statistics like grades or college admission — because “what matters … is how rigorous and challenging students’ high school courses are, no matter what grades they receive.”

“I like [the study] because it doesn’t just list the scores,” said Matthews, adding he advocates access to AP courses because “teachers and students work together — in kind of a player-coach relationship — to achieve a goal. It’s a wonderful situation.”

The Newsweek data indicates the average Malibu student takes at least one AP class during his or her high school career. “I think that kind of rating fits perfectly with what our school is,” said Matthews. “One of the good things about our school is that any student who wants the challenge of AP … gets to take those courses.”

Despite the emphasis on advanced placement courses in certain schools, profound disparities among the nation’s public schools all but negate the relevance of AP standards to all but a handful of top schools, according to McDonough. “I can’t think of a rating system that could take into account the myriad factors that schools like Inglewood and [other inner-city schools] are dealing with that Malibu isn’t,” said McDonough.

Comparisons among schools may be complicated by inherent environmental situations that can dictate the character of public schools, many of which are hampered by conditions — including tight budgets and overcrowding — that may relegate AP and honors courses to unattainable luxuries.

Among public schools in general, “the critical issue is access to quality,” said Guilbert Hentschke, Dean of USC’s Rossier School of Education. “If they could, [many] people would send their kids to Malibu, and I’m sure people recognize that Malibu is a good school and have worked hard to send their kids there. With all respect to Malibu, it’s a pretty good environment in which to work.”

While Rogers noted only about half of California’s high schools offer any AP courses at all, in Malibu, “AP is just a fact of life right now in high school,” said PTA Executive Vice President Karen Farrer. “Kids applying to colleges have to have it.”

Though high schools and colleges may embrace AP curricula as the highest denominator of achievement, the AP system still draws criticism.

“It’s important for the Santa Monica-Malibu School District to take into account what its goals are,” said Rogers. He said those goals may include character, citizenship and critical thinking, in addition to “serious intellectual work,” adding “AP doesn’t call upon the creativity and imaginative thinking that I look for in the best high school and the best college students.”

And even at Malibu, the rigorous AP offerings that placed it on Newsweek’s list do not necessarily apply to all students. In fact, the apparent benefits of being ranked 118th may elude entirely some students who remain in lower-level courses the study did not take into account.

“What this doesn’t capture is how the school deals with other students” who may not be so highly motivated or accelerated, said Matthews. “We can’t just be a school of high achievers. It has to be meaningful and successful for all students.”

McDonough said every community presents individual needs and challenges, and “being responsive to parents is the most important” factor in creating successful schools. “Parents have never waited for rankings” to lobby for high academic standards, said McDonough. She said, however, she is troubled by rising academic pressures that may lead schools and parents to pile AP courses on students. “If it takes a 4.3 and a 1400 on the SAT and 14 honors courses to be an average student [among UC admittees],” said McDonough, “what kind of teen-agers are we creating?”