Superintendent Selection Heads List of
Concerns at Candidate Forum
The five candidates running for seats on
the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board met on
Monday in Santa Monica for their first public forum, which was
sponsored by a new advocacy group called LEAD, Leadership,
Effectiveness, Accountability, Direction for Santa
Monica-Malibu Public Schools, and CEPS, Community for Excellent
Public Schools.
Incumbents Jose Escarce and Maria
Leon-Vasquez are both seeking a third four-year term, Ralph
Mechur, who was appointed two years ago to fill a vacancy, is
running unopposed for a two-year term. Newcomers Ben Allen and
Chris Bley, both Santa Monica natives and alumni of Samohi, are
running for the first time. Kathy Wisnicki, the only Malibu
resident on the board, decided not to run for reelection,
leaving Malibu without a representative for the first time in
decades.
Each candidate was given a minute for an
opening statement, a minute to answer each question and a
minute for a closing statement. The participants in the forum
were polite and appeared relaxed. No mud was slung, no tempers
lost. But there was also little disagreement and not much
difference of opinion.
Priority issues for all of the candidates
are the upcoming selection of a permanent superintendent,
special education, the budget, addressing the so-called
achievement gap and the issue of transparency. Malibu was only
mentioned by newcomers Allen and Bley, who both advocated
greater outreach and participation.
Allen was the only candidate to allude to
tensions between the two communities. He suggested sending
board members to PTA meetings at all district schools,
including Malibu, and to events like Malibu High School
football games, but neither he, nor any of the other candidates
address the growing Malibu separatist movement that wants a
Malibu school district that is not attached to Santa Monica.
Allen, a recent graduate of law school at
Berkeley, has spent the past year serving as the
University of California student regent.
Bley, the only district teacher running for
the board, stated that he entered the election because of the
special education issue. Bley said, “[The board] needs
new faces, new way of thinking, and new community
outreach.”
Incumbent Escarce, a professor of medicine
at UCLA who has been a researcher at RAND, acknowledged
that there have been problems, but that he has learned from his
mistakes. He cited two areas of improvement for the board:
improvement in leadership and transparency. “It is clear
to me there hasn’t been satisfaction.”
Incumbent Leon-Vasquez also
acknowledged that there have been problems. “We have to
do a better job,” she said.
Ralph Mechur, who is running unopposed and
is consequently not on the ballot, had no apologies to make.
“We are in excellent shape, students are doing
well,” he said.
The hiring of a new superintendent was the
first issue the candidates addressed.
Allen stated that a potential
superintendent should demonstrate educational leadership,
manage relationships, and be skilled at politics. He said that
an argument can be made for a closed process in the search, but
that “we need an open process.”
Bley said the superintendent needs
experience with finance and with a district the same size or
larger, and should be “someone who enjoys kids and have
more than just a broad vision.”
Escarce prefaced his remarks by saying that
it is “an incredibly hard job. The core
thing,” he said, is “an incredibly strong leader,
conveying vision, honesty, transparency and relishing working
in a diverse district.”
Leon-Vasquez stressed the importance of
communicating with the community, and the need to find a
candidate with the “longevity to stay for more than
three or four years.”
All the candidates agreed that math and
reading should be priorities. The closest thing to a
disagreement during the forum occurred over the issue of
beginning algebra in the eighth grade, a policy that recently
came out of Sacramento.
Bley came out strongly in favor of
eight-grade algebra, “algebra teaches logical thinking
skills. We have some amazing students. We should continue to
work for algebra.” Mechur appeared to agree, and stated
that “We are ahead of other districts.”
Escarce, Leon-Vasquez and Allen found fault
in the state recommendations. Escarce said, “Algebra in
the eighth grade is a problem now,” adding that
“equality of access did not equal equality of
mastery.”
Leon-Vasquez expressed concern that
“all it does is put more pressure on students. We need a
foundation before we can do algebra in eighth grade.”
“The rules are overly ridged,”
Allen said. “We haven’t got the
foundation.”
All of the candidates endorse the upcoming
Santa Monica College bond issue, Proposition AA, which is the
third college bond issue in six years. Opponents of the bond
charge that Santa Monica College still has unspent funds from
the previous bonds, and warn that this bond, which, they say,
will be used to recruit the students from outside of the Santa
Monica-Malibu area, will hurt the school district's chances of
raising future bond money.
The candidates disagreed with the claim
that the bond could hurt future school district funding. All
five were optimistic about future bond issues for the school
district, despite the current economic crisis, and expressed
enthusiasm for a proposed joint project with the Santa Monica
Civic Center that is currently being discussed.
“The Community always supports bonds
in Malibu and Santa Monica,” said Bley, “as long as
we put forward projects that show sustainability.”
Leon-Vasquez stated that the board needs to
make sure “we get a lot of our construction started [on
Measure BB projects] within a year. We need to get going, have
results, and move on to a second phase.”
“Facilities are a big concern,”
Allen said, adding that on a recent visit to Samohi he observed
areas of the campus hadn’t changed since he was a
student. “They looked just the same as they did in the
early ’90’s and they didn't look good back
then.” Allen called the proposed Civic Center project
“exciting,” and also praised the Measure BB plans
for Malibu High School.
“We’re at a historic point
rebuilding from Prop. 13,” Mechur said. He added that he
was “looking forward to combining with the Civic Center
into a public space.”
The candidates were also asked about
out-of-district permits that allow a limited number of
students, such as the children of city and school employees, to
attend district schools. The permits have also been used
to fill empty seats when class sizes shrink, a problem that the
district has been facing recently. Most viewed the permits as a
positive asset.
“It helps to create diversity,”
Leon-Vasquez said.
“We’re fortunate to be able to
tweak the numbers. It’s an advantage on budget
day,” Allen said. Bley agreed that the permits are a tool
for both diversity and budgeting. “It’s an
advantage,” Bley said. Escarce warned that the practice
can lead to overcrowding, which is what led to a district
moratorium on the permits.
The forum ended with as much civility as it
began. Mechur said he was “honored and humbled to
serve,” and acknowledged that there were “a lot of
issues to resolve.” Escarce called the opportunity to
serve on the board “a remarkable responsibility,”
Leon Vasquez said “I had no idea what I was getting into.
I’ve learned a lot.”
Both of the new candidates expressed a
desire to give back to the community. “I want to come
back and help,” Bley said.
Allen concluded by saying, “I bring
deep roots and a love of community, as well as a different
generational perspective.”
Malibuites will get a chance to meet,
question, and hear the candidates at a second forum on Monday,
Oct. 6, at Malibu City Hall from 11 a.m. noon. The regular
school board meeting will also be taking place in Malibu next
week, on Thursday, Oct. 2, at 5:30 p.m., at Malibu City Hall.
The public is encouraged to attend.
