Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials attempted to assuage concerns from Malibu parents recently, particularly as it pertains to January’s school closures and how to handle future power outage situations.
At the Feb. 6 meeting of the SMMUSD Board of Education, Chief Operations Officer Carey Upton laid out the criteria the district uses to close schools, specifically Malibu campuses that missed nearly all of January due to the Palisades Fire. Upton stated that the district’s goal is always to have schools open, but only defer whenever “specific safety factors” are crossed.
One of these factors is road closures in and out of Malibu, as schools will be closed if there are fewer than two major roads open in and out of Malibu. School buses can only reach Malibu campuses through Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Topanga Canyon and Malibu Canyon; and with the on-and-off closures of PCH, buses traveling to Malibu from the north have been during multi-hour drives.
Despite the PCH closures, Malibu schools continued to operate as normal in the first week of February, before ongoing and planned closures of the PCH, Topanga and Malibu canyons for heavy rains closed schools on Feb. 13-14.
When it comes to the January closures and future weather events, SMMUSD officials also look at not only the feasibility of students getting to class, but the availability of staff to do so as well.
“We have distinct communities within Malibu, we acknowledge that … but we also have to balance out what’s the comfort level of our teachers, our staff, that’s a priority as well,” Superintendent Dr. Antonio Shelton said.
He added that while students in isolated, smaller communities like Point Dume can walk to school, he emphasized the comfort level of travel for Malibu staff, as well as having to plan for substitutes if teachers cannot get to campus.
While all Malibu campuses were hit by the Palisades Fire, another example of school closures due to safety took place in December, when the Franklin Fire burned up to the edge of Webster Elementary School’s campus. Upton said that while students could reach the campus, the area wasn’t in an evacuation zone and the school had power; smoke had caused enough damage to cause a campus closure.
To combat power shutoffs that occur during Red Flag warnings and other weather emergencies, the district added temporary generators to Malibu schools on Jan. 24, used at two campuses that same day. The generators were extended until Feb. 14, and the next step for the district to have an on-call generator contract for future power shutoffs.
Another temporary solution posed was courtesy a parent at Malibu Elementary School, who used connections at Tesla to have the company offer its Powerwall lithium-ion batteries for school use. Upton, in looking into it further, said that the Powerwall being primarily a residential use would not make it the “best solution.” Permanent future solutions are also in discussion, including the potential for Malibu and Webster elementary campuses to use solar power from its installed roof solar panels during blackouts.
Power shutoffs also mean the loss of school internet connection, adding extra importance into installing Starlink satellite internet services on campuses, an endeavor aided by City of Malibu staff. Malibu Councilmember Haylynn Conrad used her public comment to thank the district for help on Starlink, but also added that January was an example of why Santa Monica and Malibu should have separate districts.
“It is obvious that Malibu and Santa Monica do not belong together under a singular school district,” Conrad said. “We agreed on this before the fires, and it’s even more obvious now. We are sensitive to anyone affected by the Palisades and Franklin fires, (and) we are likewise focused on rebuilding our community and returning normalcy as soon as possible. That includes a strong public school system with local control.”
