The students of Olympic High School are setting a precedent for their peers in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, letting them know that they can take on the challenge of college courses.
At the Jan. 23 meeting of the SMMUSD Board of Education, Olympic Principal Cynthia McGregory gave updates on the campus’ progress, including another successful semester of dual enrollment classes at Santa Monica College. Olympic students have been taking SMC courses for four semesters now, gradually expanding the variety of dual enrollment classes to include subjects like counseling, business, photography, art and communications.
Gregory noted that she has been working on dual enrollment along with SMMUSD Education Services Coordinator of Learning & Innovation Dr. Devon Smith, adding that students have been alleviating parents’ concerns that they may not be able to handle dual enrollment.
This past semester, eight of Olympic’s 36 students took part in SMC’s Business 47 course, also known as Understanding Money for Lifelong Success. The class, according to the SMC course catalog, covers topics like money management and “the decision processes and behaviors underlying spending, saving and borrowing.” All eight students passed the class with either an A or B grade.
Another continuing dual enrollment course is Counseling 12, which was passed by 28 students during the 2023 fall semester, 19 earning an A or a B. The class, titled Exploring Careers and College Majors, is designed for students who are either undecided about educational or career goals, or seeking transition into a new career.
Beginning this past month, Olympic students enrolled in the SMC courses Counseling 19 (Orientation Seminar), Photo 1 (Introduction to Photography), Art 20 (Introduction to Drawing) and Communications 35 (Interpersonal Communication).
At the Olympic site, McGregory said that the school’s focus has been to use academic language to clearly communicate through writing tasks, such as using evidence when constructing responses. Outside of academics, she added that the social-emotional well-being of students is “always top priority.”
“We all know today may look vastly different than yesterday for most of our students,” McGregory said. “We truly focus on the whole child.”
Looking forward, this will be another busy week at SMMUSD, specifically when it comes to the relationship between the district and its Malibu contingent.
First, Wednesday morning will see the return of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) County Committee on School District Organization discussion on a potential Santa Monica-Malibu separation. The LACOE committee will hear an update on the original 2017 petition to form a Malibu Unified School District, after the January meeting was cancelled due to the Palisades Fire.
The next day, the SMMUSD Board of Education will hold its regularly-scheduled meeting in the Arlene and Dick Van Dyke Theater at Malibu High School. The board previously discussed holding a meeting in Malibu post-Palisades Fire due to the fire’s impacts on Malibu campuses this past month.
Along with continued discussion about Palisades Fire recovery efforts, the board will receive a summary of the 2024 California School Dashboard, a report of district performance and progress in 13 different areas ranging from academic indicators to graduation and suspension rates.
