We all love those movies where a special teacher or coach enters kids’ lives and profoundly helps them. They are universal and heartwarming stories, because we were all kids once and we understand that kids need to be truly seen and need love to thrive. Samohi and the Santa Monica and Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) in general, have certainly had their fair share of amazing educators who profoundly impact and love the kids they teach.
Today I want to tell you about one of them; William "Bill" Wishart, and how SMMUSD’s unbelievably poor budgeting and bad administration has meant that he recently received a layoff notice from the district.
Kids find their educational homes in all sort of places. We know that having a place, an inner community that feels safe and personal is important for kids to develop and gives them a reason to show up. That’s why we support extracurriculars like sports, arts and music. For a select group of kids at Samohi that community for almost 30 years has been RWS or ‘running with speakers’. RWS, is the crew of students run by sometimes teacher, sometimes Media services coordinator, Bill Wishart (he holds both jobs concurrently).
Bill is a softspoken, gentle fellow; tall and inconspicuous and like a stagehand, he’s always clad in black. He is a man that makes you feel safe, and that’s what the kids who help haul speakers and sound mixing equipment, who capture video and edit it for SAMO are drawn to. He gives those kids a place to be useful and to be loved. Many of them go on to work in various aspects of production and so he also gives them a pathway to a profession.
Many of these kids are what we might consider at-risk. They’re neuroatypical or their homes aren’t ideal, or they’re just kids who need a little more love. They’re the kind of kids who get lost in the mix. I know all of this because I was one of Bill’s kids 20 plus years ago. I watched as he supported our rough crew of students, giving us a safe place to exist and to succeed.
Recently among the litany of pink slips that the district handed out, was one for Bill.
Even writing that sentence upsets me deeply.
At first, he was told he was going to lose his media services coordinator job, but not the teaching job. A large group of parents, students and alumni quickly formed to speak at the February 27th school board meeting, to make clear the monumental impact he’d made on their and their students’ lives.
The district then told him his media services coordinator position would be retained. Which was a no brainer… imagine having to hire a team of adults to do the work Bill’s crew of all kids does for free. But then, when the coast seemed clear, he received the pink slip for his teaching job. It’s up for debate whether it’s a done deal or whether it will be saved in June once they’ve gone through all of the relevant factors, but Bill is understandably exhausted from this gut-wrenching experience.
Budgets are budgets and the SMMUSD has a duty to stay within their allotment. But when they’re operating in such a way that they have money for all sorts of pet projects like for three separate experimental project-based learning schools or an army of consultants, not to mention the evidence of millions in fraud uncovered last year, one can’t help wonder where their priorities lie?
We parents rely on teachers to educate, guide and ultimately to love our children. We rely on the district to manage the finances so that the people that really make a difference in our kid’s lives are taken care of and can continue to do what they do without financial fear.
What SMMUSD is doing to Bill is unacceptable and frankly it is how you lose excellent teachers. It’s not the superintendent or the self-important school board that makes SMMUSD what it is — it’s the teachers, who day in and day out show up for our kids. The parts of this district that are fantastic are all fantastic because committed teachers care enough to do amazing work and ultimately, they give our kids their love.
We have a new superintendent this year — after our last one left in the wake of a $45m legal judgment. After multiple "is this the right direction" questions, do you really drive away the people who put hearts and souls into these difficult and important jobs: teaching and loving our kids?
Get it together SMMUSD. You owe it to Bill and his thirty years of service to our kids so much more than this. You owe the students whose lives he has truly impacted and the kids who he has yet to impact. If you truly want to create spaces for diversity, equity and inclusion, if you truly care about at risk kids, and it’s not just empty words to pat yourself on the back, you can’t let someone like Bill Wishart go.
Miles Warner is a parent and Santa Monica resident.
