School Board Okays $300 Parcel Tax

Also Approves $134.5 Million Budget

Hannah Heineman
Mirror staff writer

   Last Thursday, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) Board of Education unanimously approved placing a $300 parcel tax measure on this November’s ballot, as recommended by the District’s Parcel Tax ad hoc committee.
   The committee’s Chair, Neil Carry, reported that at its final meeting on June 24 it had discussed the possibility of exempting low income and/or people 65 and older. “Legal counsel could see no basis for permitting a low-income exclusion…and it would be subject to challenge, ” so the Committee decided not to recommend any exclusions, Carry told the Board.
   If approved by District voters, the parcel tax would start in July 2003, would be in effect for 12 years, and would generate $9.6 million for the District.
   In a related matter, the Board approved a $134.5 million budget for fiscal year 2002-2003, which reflects over $2.1 million in cuts, owing to severe cuts in state funding. The District cuts were made primarily in the area of support services. Further cuts will have to be made next year if the voters do not approve the $300 parcel tax.
   The School Board also heard testimony from a recently formed group of parents, Mothers for Justice (MFJ), who believe that some District administrators routinely discipline Latino and African American youths more harshly than Anglo students. (See related story, this page.)
   MFJ organizer Maria Loya told the Mirror that the mothers had talked about organizing for about two years, but about a month ago when two John Adams Middle School (JAMS) students were “facing [serious criminal] charges at the same time mothers began to get together to support each other.”
   According to Loya, the group found that that “Selective enforcement and racial profiling (of Latino and African American students) had been going on for many years” in the District.
MFJ fears that these unfair disciplinary practices are “criminalizing youth of color” and destroying their lives.
   Parent Belinda Ramos told the Board her son was arrested and convicted on two felony charges, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. “The item robbed was a $1 candy bar, there was no assault and the weapon was his feet.” She went on to say that, according to the robbery victim’s court testimony, Ramos’ son did not frighten or intimidate him, but JAMS Principal Jerry Kantor had intimidated him.
   Ramos continued, “The principal testified and stated that my son instilled fear and intimidated the victim” which led the judge to convict her son. “[He] was placed on probation for one year and our lives have been a nightmare since.” She went on to say that her son’s grades went from straight Bs to straight Fs, and the school is no longer concerned with his academic performance, only his appearance and his [presumed] gang affiliation.
   Parent Natalie Presiado told the Board that her son was “was strip-searched in the gym by security guards hired by the District without a police officer present and [denied] his right to call his parent because he wears baggy clothes” – clothes he wears because he’s overweight, she added. Following that incident, Presiado said her son didn’t want to go to school and was put on probation for excessive absences. When he violated his probation, he was sent to boot camp.
   JAMS parent Mary Cornejo reported that a “Caucasian boy happened to confront her 12 year-old son about stealing a [game] card” and a scuffle ensued. According to Cornejo, the Caucasian boy’s punishment was a Saturday school session, while her son was suspended. The Caucasian boy accused her son of choking him, and, based on a teacher’s statement, police charged her son with assault with a deadly weapon.
   MFJ spokesperson Margie Zepeda stated, “We send our children to get diplomas and instead they are getting police records and prison…[the District] must change its policies and procedures to ensure that intervention, mediation and prevention — not jail — are the focus of discipline.”
   Parent Ama Garanza described the difficulty MFJ had in obtaining a copy of the District’s complete disciplinary policy. Once they obtained and reviewed it, they concluded that the District was not following its “police on campus” policy.
   Garanza also read a series of demands that MFJ believes will help to solve the crisis in discipline of youth of color in the District. Among other things, the group wants “a taskforce within the SMMUSD to develop an alternative approach to discipline.” It also stated, “Police involvement should be a last resort in disciplining students, and criteria need to be established to regulate the involvement of police on campus.”
   In other business, the Board approved the District’s Strategic Plan, which includes the following seven initiatives: abundant resources, curriculum, differentiated learning, equity and equality of education, optimal class size, schools as community centers and universal access to early education.
   The plan’s accountability and implementation team will meet over the summer to refine the plan and to begin to implement the no-cost initiatives for the 2002-2003 fiscal year.