Schools Head Opposes Creation of Malibu Board Rep.

Malibu residents will finally get a response Thursday on their request for the creation of a Malibu advisory position on the Board of Education, but they are probably not going to like the answer. Superintendent Sandra Lyon wrote in a staff report that appointing a Malibu resident to the board would "arguably be engaging in a discriminatory act" and could be seen as a violation of school board policy.

Lyon has recommended that the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District instead form an advisory committee dedicated to Malibu issues.

Regarding Lyon's recommendation, leading Malibu education activist Craig Foster wrote in an email to Patch, "The district's response to this fundamental Malibu issue is deeply disappointing."

Malibu Mayor Pro Tem Lou La Monte, who like Foster addressed the board about creating the Malibu position in October, wrote to Patch, "I am sorry that the SMMUSD staff has found yet another justification to silence Malibu's voice on the dais. Perhaps the board members will be more courageous. In any event, I remain hopeful that the board is concerned enough about the residents and students of both Santa Monica and Malibu to join us in ."

This issue is on the agenda for discussion at Thursday's school board meeting, which will take place at .

"To create such a position for the purpose of allowing Malibu residents an advisory role to the board at the dais would arguably be engaging in a discriminatory act, according to the advice of counsel," Lyon wrote. "Allowing Malibu, a specific segment of our community, to have a greater influence on elected officials opens the Board of Education to charges of discrimination."

She wrote that creating the position could also violate the school board policy that when appointing people to district committees, "every effort shall be made to select committee members in a manner which ensures that the committee represents a cross section of qualified people throughout the district."

Lyon noted that this policy does not apply to appointments to the school board, but she wrote that it could.

"Therefore, if the board created an advisory position, limited only to Malibu residents, it would violate the requirements that all residents of the district are eligible and that such positions be filled in a manner that provides reasonable geographic, socioeconomic and ethnic representation," she wrote.

Several Malibu residents approached the board at an October meeting in Malibu about creating the advisory position for a board that has not included a Malibu resident since 2008. That meeting was controversial because several residents complained they were not given enough time to speak when the board decided to reduce the public comment period from three minutes per person to two due to the extensive amount of speakers.

Those making the request said the appointed person would serve in the same role as the student representatives. The person would be a Malibu resident who would sit on the dais and be allowed to speak for an unlimited amount of time, but this person would not be allowed to vote on agenda items.

While she opposes the creation of this position, Lyon wrote, "it is important to be responsive to the needs of Malibu community members, who feel that the concerns unique to the geographic area of Malibu are not fully considered by the board and district."

To address this issue, she recommended the board consider forming a Malibu District Advisory Committee.  

"This DAC would have a district liaison and board liaison, who would meet monthly with committee members, allowing for regular, ongoing input from Malibu residents to district staff and board members," Lyon wrote.

District voters have not elected a Malibu resident since Kathy Wisnicki won a seat on the board in 2004. She chose not to run for re-election in 2008. No other Malibu resident ran that year. In the 2010 election, Patrick Cady, a Malibu resident and former teacher, placed sixth of eight (the top four candidates earned seats).

Although at least one Malibu resident sat on the board in the three decades that preceded Wisnicki's decision to end her tenure, many people believe the current atmosphere makes it impossible for somebody to be elected from Malibu, which has a significantly smaller population than Santa Monica has (according to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 12,645 people in Malibu and 89,736 in Santa Monica).

"If every single registered voter in Malibu voted for a single candidate, that candidate would still need a like number of Santa Monican votes to win," Foster told the board at the October meeting. "As anyone vaguely familiar with politics knows, this means that candidate suddenly ceases to be a voice for Malibu—even if she or he could get those Santa Monican votes, which hasn't happened in the last two elections."

The meeting on Thursday is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Malibu City Hall is located at 23825 Stuart Ranch Road.