Three vacancies on the Santa Monica-Malibu school district's Financial Oversight Committee were filled when the Board of Education approved recommendations during its March 19 meeting in Malibu.
Seth Jacobson, Marc Levis-Fitzgerald and Debbie Mulvaney will join an 11-member committee whose responsibilities include reviewing financially significant issues prior to board action and creating reader-friendly budget information to educate the public on district finances.
Two vacancies on the finance committee were created following the election of Craig Foster to the school board and the appointment of Peter Lippman to the Personnel Commission. A third vacancy resulted from the resignation of DeAndre Parks.
The FOC received eight applications following the announcement of the openings, according to a district report. Committee members asked the board to take action on all three vacancies to ensure a full roster for their April 16 meeting.
Jacobson, a public policy advisor and former school board candidate who has advocated for splitting the SMMUSD into two separate districts, has served on the district's Superintendent Advisory Committee. He had a stint on the City of Santa Monica Housing Commission and also served as PTA vice president at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School in Malibu.
Levis-Fitzgerald has worked as UCLA's director of survey research and curricular assessment.
Mulvaney, a former bank executive who runs a business management consultancy, has served as president of Santa Monica High School's PTSA and as a member of a Measure BB bond oversight committee. She also has roles in the Santa Monica-Malibu Education Foundation and Community for Excellent Public Schools.
Jacobson and Levis-Fitzgerald are scheduled to serve on the committee through June 30, 2016. Mulvaney's term expires June 30, 2017.
The incoming trio joins a committee that also includes Gordon Lee, Cynthia Torres, Manual Sweetmore, Tom Larmore, Joan Krenik, Jon Kean, Paul Silvern and Shelly Slaugh Nahass.
Board member Ralph Mechur took issue with the selection process, saying he would have liked to know who the other applicants were before considering the subcommittee's recommendations.
Measure ES manager
The school district is moving forward in its search for a Measure ES bond program manager.
The posting is open through the end of the month, according to SMMUSD Chief Financial Officer Jan Maez, but the district had already received 29 eligible applications as of March 19.
An initial screening of applications yielded nine qualified candidates.
"We've had a lot of interest in it," Maez said.
The district has enlisted Heery International, a professional services firm, to help with the management of Measure ES funds.
The $385-million bond, which was approved by voters in 2012, will pay for facility and technology upgrades throughout the district.
The school board, which last year approved about $34 million for the first phase of technological improvements, recently allocated $180 million for Santa Monica High School and $77 million for Malibu campuses. Roughly $93 million remains unallocated.
Contact Jeff Goodman at 310-573-8351, jeff@www.smdp.com or on Twitter.
