Saturday, May 19, 2012
Malibu Mayor Laura Zahn Rosenthal says the meeting with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, union officials, and others could take place in June.
A long-awaited meeting between the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, the city of Malibu and others over the possibility of an independent Malibu school district could happen in June, Malibu's mayor said this week. “I’ve already been approached by the superintendent and we are setting up a meeting within the next few weeks to start this process to see if all the interested parties can get together and reach an agreement,” Malibu Mayor Laura Zahn Rosenthal said during the Malibu City Council's regular meeting Monday. Many Malibu residents say the people of this city and the surrounding unincorporated areas would be better off as part of an independent school district. There are a variety of factors behind this theory, including …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Conference Saturday at Santa Monica College will focus on establishing a statewide student union, potentially modeled after those already established in other countries.
Some of the students who have for months protested plans at Santa Monica College to offer a second tier of privately-funded courses, will host peers and faculty from across California Saturday with the goal of establishing a new, statewide student union. Conference organizer Harrison Wills said an independent union representing the more than 2 million community college students across the state, would be set up like collective bargaining organizations for laborers, and would give students the opportunity to make demands of administrators and college contractors, such as text book publishers and food vendors. He also envisions localized chapters making endorsements during elections for college district's governing boards. Wills said the day…
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Santa Monica College
1900 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA
/articles/santa-monica-college-students-prepare-to-unionize
1338875
/locations/7055895
Monday, May 14, 2012
State workers, in-home care and Medi-Cal payments could lose billions in funding, while education is in question until the November election. Community colleges face $5.5 billion in cuts.
With a plea to voters, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed steep cuts across a variety of programs Monday to close a nearly $16 billion state budget deficit. As predicted, public education from kindergarten though college, could see billions in cuts, pending voter approval of tax hikes this November. The fiscal year starts July 1. "We're going to have to cut deeper," the Democratic governor said in Sacramento while releasing his budget revision. "But cutting alone really doesn't do it," Brown said. "That's why I'm linking these serious budget reductions—real increased austerity—with a plea to the voters: Please increase taxes temporarily on the most affluent and everyone else with a quarter of a cent sales tax." Brown said the state's budget deficit…
Alexandru “Cheech” Ceachir, a tackle turned guard, struggles to pick up the new position—but the Bruins are keeping him in mind.
Alexandru “Cheech” Ceachir, a lineman at Santa Monica College last fall, is starting to fulfill a dream of one day playing on the field for a Division I school. He's played in a spring scrimmage game in front of 13,000 Bruin fans, but whether he's ready for the fall, is still up in the air, according to the Corsair. That's because he's transitioning into a new position as a guard. “I need more work,” Ceachir told the student-run paper. “I am not used to this tempo. It’s a huge difference from everywhere. From practice, to film, studies, exercises, lifting, it’s all a new life. It’s really fast and intensive and there is no one that is special, so you need to work hard to be better then everyone.” Ceachir signed a two-year contract to play …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Casting starts this week for "Our Summer," which will follow eight high school students from either Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades or Malibu high schools.
A new reality show that will document the lives of eight teenagers hopes to pick a cast from either Malibu, Santa Monica or Pacific Palisades high school, the show's casting director said Wednesday. Flyers for Our Summer, which comes from executive producer of The Hills and The City, began circulating on Facebook and other sites on Monday. The show will seek to document the lives of eight students as they head off to enjoy summer vacation. The documentary series will use social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other sites, to document the student's experience, according to Shaggy Bajrami, casting director for the project. "Producers will encourage them to communicate on their social media platforms about what the audience is…
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Based on initial estimates, Santa Monica would see its deficit slashed by a half of a million dollars, but a proposed Malibu Unified would face a $2.35 million budget gap.
Santa Monica would save more than $500,000 if Santa Monica-Malibu Unified were separated into two districts, according to estimates released Thursday at a school district Board of Education meeting. If separated from the current district, the projected deficit for the Santa Monica Unified School District would be about $4.1 million. The school district currently has a $4.6 million deficit, according to Chief Financial Officer Jan Maez. She gave a detailed 90-minute presentation at the meeting at Malibu City Hall that was attended by more than 100 people, nearly all in support of unification, the term used by education officials for the process to separate school districts. The $4.1 million projection is based on current staffing levels, …
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A fresh layer of manure was spread across the lawn were students intended to camp out in continuing demonstrations against Santa Monica College's two-tiered tuition proposal.
To camp, you've gotta get down and dirty. But Santa Monica College students didn't expect to pitch a tent Monday on campus in a fresh layer of manure. The overnight camp-out was planned as part of their ongoing protests against a controversial tuition proposal. Now, the students are accusing administrators of spreading the refuse on purpose to prevent the demonstration. The chairwoman of the college district's Board of Trustees Chairwoman Margaret Quiñones-Perez addressed the accusation Tuesday night. "When I found out tonight, just tonight, that cow manure was put purposefully for the protesters and the sprinklers [were turned] on, it disgusts me," she said. Quiñones-Perez is the only member of the board opposed to the divisive plan, …
34.01893
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Santa Monica College
1900 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA
/articles/poo-was-on-purpose-student-protesters-say
1338875
/locations/6919236
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Cumulatively, Santa Monica College and its neighboring colleges will offer one-third of the courses offered in summer 2008. Survey finds alternatives to controversial "two-tiered" system.
The number of summer classes offered by community colleges in the Los Angeles area has shrunk by two-thirds in the past four years, according to a new survey by Santa Monica College. Released Monday by administrators, the survey shows 15 area colleges—Santa Monica College included—this year will offer one-third of the courses they did in 2008, when the state began slashing budgets. "From 'bad' to 'very bad' is the conclusion," said campus media officer Bruce Smith. The research was initiated by college Superintendent Chui Tsang after the Board of Trustees voted to postpone implementation of its plan to offer a second tier of classes this summer not subsidized by the state, according to Don Girard, Senior Director of Government Relations …
34.01893
-118.470499
Santa Monica College
1900 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA
/articles/smc-not-alone-in-slashing-summer-courses-new-survey-shows
1338875
/locations/6914743
Thursday, April 26, 2012
The money from the city of Santa Monica will help fund varying programs at schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and enable the Education Foundation to hire additional staff as it's placed in charge of new fundraising efforts.
The city of Santa Monica made good on its promise this week to donate another quarter of a million dollars to the nonprofit education foundation that supports the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. The contribution represents the second half of the city’s $500,000 pledge to support the Education Foundation’s endowment for arts education. Foundation leaders said Thursday that the donation will be used to help fund education arts, academic and athletic programs at all district schools. It will also fund the hiring of additional staff as the foundation prepares to take on many of the fundraising duties currently carried out by individual PTAs. RELATED: SCHOOL BOARD STRIPS PTAs OF MAJOR FUNDRAISING ROLES "While we are fundraising …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Classes where students learn about and train for 21st century jobs would be offered as elective in conjunction with traditional core curriculum as soon as this fall at Santa Monica High School.
When it comes to inspiring students, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District says reading, writing and arithmetic are failing. In what could ultimately mean a big shift in the way students are educated, administrators told the Board of Education last week that they want high schoolers to start dabbling in technical career training as early as freshman year. "Those who can see a connection between what they’re learning and their goals for the future are more likely to succeed," SMMUSD Chief Academic Officer Chiung-Sally Chou told the board Thursday night. Cho is asking the board to fund two career "pathways" this fall at Santa Monica High School. Under the program, called Linked Learning, the district would offer students the …
JBB
10:31 am on Tuesday, May 15, 2012
I will not vote for one penny of any tax increase. We cannot spend our way to prosperity. Government has grown too big and using these scare tactics are not going to work any longer. More businesses and the affluent will continue to flee this state in droves, so you will ultimately have less revenue for government. Cut spending, don't raise taxes. We are taxed enough already. Why is it always the… more ›