MALIBU — The contest for three open spots on the Board of Education has become a tale of two geographic slates, and each will have an uphill battle to prove that they can adequately represent the interests of students in both Santa Monica and Malibu.
Three Santa Monica incumbents — Board President Ben Allen and board members Jose Escarce and Maria Leon-Vazquez — were endorsed as a slate by acclimation at the July 22 convention for Santa Monica’s most powerful political organization, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.
Squaring off against them is the “reform slate” out of Malibu formed by district parents Seth Jacobson, Craig Foster and Karen Farrer, each backed by a wealth of experience in parent organizations and district committees.
It’s the first time in recent memory that Malibu residents have fielded such an aggressive number of candidates, something that reflects the concerns about representation in the Malibu education community and the desire of some to split from the district altogether, said Malibu City Councilmember Laura Rosenthal. “I think the slate [is] three great people who would bring a much-needed breath of fresh air to our school board,” Rosenthal said.
Compared to the Malibu residents, the three Santa Monicans represent the old guard.
Allen is the greenest, with four years of experience on the board under his belt after winning the spot formerly held by Malibu resident Kathy Wisnicki when she chose not to run in 2008.
Escarce and Leon-Vazquez will each be running for their fourth terms on the board.
Although they were recognized as a slate by SMRR for endorsement purposes, each of the Santa Monica candidates is running their own campaign.
So far, people in Santa Monica seem to think that Malibu’s trio is a different story, an all-for-one and one-for-all attempt to take all three positions on the board wholesale. That’s just not true, Foster said. “It’s not intended to be ‘vote for all of us or don’t vote for any of us,’” he said. “It’s not to take away choice, it’s to give more choice.”
By voting for all three members of the self-proclaimed reform slate, residents will be able to realize an actual change on the board with three like-minded members working to court one of the other four to their side to achieve a majority vote. “If you want to make a change on the school board in a way that really empowers that change, then vote for all three of us and we’ll make that change,” Foster said.
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Advocates for Malibu Public Schools 