By Jonathan Friedman
Staff Writer
October 19, 2009 -- A Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District proposal for a six-figure-salaried position “to facilitate communication and public relations for the District” failed to garner any immediate support from Board of Education members at last Thursday’s meeting.
However, several board members said it would be a position worth supporting in a better financial climate.
Board member Jose Escarce said it would be “a very bad idea politically” to support funding such a position at a time when the District is facing a multi-million dollar deficit and is considering layoffs.
“I couldn’t defend this because we are currently in a position where we should be defending our resources … as much as possible,” Escarce said.
He added, “In a $100 million budget, it [the $107,000 salary] doesn’t seem like that much. But it is one nurse, one music teacher, one counselor. It’s one something.”
Escarce’s comments followed a heated commentary by teachers union head Harry Keiley, who said he was “appalled” the item was even up for discussion.
“The reality is you’ve increased class sizes,” Keiley said. “We’re in a so-called economic crisis. And we’re talking about spending more money, not less, on a position that may be needed in good times.”
He added, “When you’re not talking about laying off teachers and you’re not talking about the other things you need from our teachers and from our classified union, we’ll support that position.”
Superintendent Tim Cuneo said the District needs a Director of Communications because the SMMUSD does not currently “have the bandwidth nor the experience here to do” proper communications.
“We are truly lacking in our sophisticated communication internally for our employees as well as externally with the community,” Cuneo said.
The heads of the SMMUSD Council of PTAs and the Financial Oversight Committee supported Cuneo’s position. They said a Director of Communications would be helpful to get the District’s message out, especially since the voters could soon be voting on a parcel tax and a bond measure.
“We need to tell the District’s story effectively to our community, to our voters in our two cities,” said Cynthia Torres, who chairs the Financial Oversight Committee.
Torres said “this could be a revenue producing person,” predicting that better communications would lead to increased revenue for the district.
Torres‘ idea received agreement from several board members, including Ben Allen, who asked that the president and vice president meet with the superintendent to discuss specific details of what should be included in the job description.
Board member Barry Snell said he could possibly support such a position at this time if the details of how it would be funded could be worked out. The District has proposed that it be partially paid for through money from the 2006 voter-approved Measure BB. But District official said the legality of doing that needs to be explored.
