SMC, SMMUSD Governing Boards Call Special Joint Meeting

The governing boards of the Santa Monica Community College District (SMCCD) and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) will hold a second annual special joint meeting at 6:00pm on Tuesday, Sept. 20. The meeting will take place at the SMC Bundy Campus (Room 121), 3171 S. Bundy Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90066. This meeting is open to the public.

"We are so pleased to continue and strengthen our work with SMMUSD to ensure our local students are successful in college and career," said Louise Jaffe, Chair of the Santa Monica College (SMC) Board of Trustees. "This wonderful, collaborative effort is also part of the Cradle to Career Initiative; we hope to make a great impact on helping students understand how to be ready for college, and to ensure that they have the opportunities and support they need to succeed."

During this special meeting, the members of the two governing boards will discuss their progress towards meeting mutual data-driven goals set at the meeting held on Sept. 17 last year, to ensure that SMMUSD students have access to higher education at SMC and to increase their likelihood of success.

The SMMUSD Board of Education will also consider a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions that, under the College and Career Access Pathways Act, expands access to concurrent enrollment opportunities for high school students. Additionally, SMC will provide an update on the development of the new SMC Malibu campus as well as a report on potential new joint use facility projects.

"We are thrilled to have a collaborative partnership with SMC, which benefits all students in our community," said Laurie Lieberman, President of the SMMUSD Board of Education. "SMMUSD students are fortunate to have such a wonderful institution of higher learning close by to attend concurrently and after graduation."

In 2007, the two districts signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and partnered in executing the objectives. The Young Collegians program was born out of this collaborative, allowing an increasing number of SMMUSD students to get a head start on SMC classes and accrue up to 14 college units. Nine years ago, the program started with 15 students; in the last academic year, over 65 students participated.

In early 2015, the SMC Board of Trustees also waived enrollment fees for high school students, and those who qualify now take classes at SMC for free. SMC also offers media and computer science classes at santa monica high school and Malibu High School under the LA HI-TECH grant to bring interested high school students into a higher education pathway at SMC that will lead to tech jobs.

The SMC Board of Trustees includes Dr. Louise Jaffe (Chair); Dr. Andrew Walzer (Vice Chair); Dr. Susan Aminoff; Dr. Nancy Greenstein; Dr. Margaret Quiñones-Perez; Rob Rader; Barry Snell; and a student trustee Laura Zwicker.

The SMMUSD Board of Education is comprised of Laurie Lieberman (President); Ralph Mechur (Vice President); Dr. Jose Escarce, Oscar de la Torre; Craig Foster; Maria Leon-Vazquez; and Dr. Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein.

The agenda for the public meeting is available at http://www.smc.edu/092016BOTagenda. For more information on the meeting, contact swahrenbrock@smmusd.org or Rose_Lisa@smc.edu.