Deputy district superintendent has resigned in a "mutually agreed upon" settlement.
May 7 - Last Thursday, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education approved (6-0) what the district called "a mutually agreed upon settlement" between the district and the district's deputy superintendent that resulted in his resignation. His handling of the special education department drew fierce criticism from special education parents with claims being made of harassment and intimidation from SMMUSD officials toward special education parents..
Board president Oscar de la Torre said this week those changes could not be made with [Tim] Walker in the administration. An example he gave of this is that last year when the district placed a moratorium on confidentiality clauses in agreements with special education parents, 28 were still made.[Previous story in April suggest the special education parents were 'coerced' to sign the IEP agreements and that Santa Monica officials criticized the school district's lack of cooperation since last year's agreement to enact a moratorium on confidentiality agreements with special education parents.
Santa Monica officials last summer voted to withhold a $530,000 increase to the city's annual contribution to the district unless it had an independent review done of its special education program and agreed to the moratorium. The independent review criticized the agreements.
The district has defended confidentiality agreements in the past as a method to keep costs down. The idea is that it prevents parents from learning about what education programs other parents' children are receiving, and then demanding it for their children, when their children might not need them.
The Lou Barber report acknowledges that settlement agreements are done in other districts, but it says most districts do it up to 15 times per year, while the SMMUSD has had 140 during the past three years.]
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It hasn't been a good week for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. First there was the arrest of longtime middle school teacherThomas Beltran on molestation charges only to find out he was investigated, but not charged, in 2006 on similar charges. TT Entry.
