Jon Kean is at it again.
An active parent leader who has held several positions in the Santa Monica-Malibu school district, Kean recently filed paperwork to run for a local Board of Education seat in November’s election.
Kean is the first challenger to declare his candidacy in what could be a competitive race for three seats on a school board that is currently dealing with myriad issues, including bond projects, environmental concerns and academic achievement gaps.
Ralph Mechur, who was appointed to the school board last year, recently told the Daily Press that he will seek re-election. He is one of three school board members whose terms are up at the end of the calendar year, joining Jose Escarce and Maria Leon-Vazquez. Escarce and Leon-Vazquez have not yet announced their plans.
The other four board members’ terms expire at the end of 2018.
Kean, who is currently vice chair of the district’s Financial Oversight Committee, has served as PTA president at Roosevelt Elementary and Lincoln Middle schools. He said he has knowledge of education operations at the board and classroom levels.
“I have always sought out leadership positions where I felt that I could affect, in a beneficial way, the largest number of people,” said Kean, a documentary filmmaker who has lectured at Chapman University and served on the board of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. “My desire to seek a seat on the SMMUSD Board of Education comes from the reality that if I truly want to continue my work for all the students of Santa Monica and Malibu, I need to do so from the highest and most effective position available to me.
“A seat on the BOE would allow me to be a voice for all the stakeholders in our school district, a voice that has worked from Day 1 for the members of our community, trying to create positive outcomes for all of our students.”
Kean’s filing paperwork lists his treasurer as Debbie Mulvaney, a fellow member of the district’s Financial Oversight Committee.
Kean has advocated for more foreign language courses at the elementary level, computer science classes in middle school and advanced engineering instruction at the high school level.
He hopes to help in addressing numerous issues in the school district, including aging infrastructure, environmental remediation and changes in career-oriented programming.
“I’m not saying that I have all the answers and that progress is as easy as flipping a switch, but I do believe that I have an understanding of the conversations that we need to be having at our school board,” he said.
Kean previously tried to secure a spot on the school board to no avail.
In early 2015, he sought to fill the vacancy created by the departure of state Sen. Ben Allen, losing out to Mechur.
During that competition for appointment, Kean was supported only by current board member Craig Foster.
“He has a committed life purpose,” Foster said at the time, explaining his nomination. “I value him most for his vision and for the inspiration he brings to a lot of people. As a board member, he would fire our imaginations.”
Shortly after Mechur’s victory, Kean said he would enter the upcoming race.
“Consider this a very early announcement,” he wrote in a Daily Press letter to the editor last January. “I will be seeking a seat on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education in 2016.”