Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District is a

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

located in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. The district serves the cities of Santa Monica and Malibu. It has ten elementary schools, two

middle schools A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

, three

high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, an

adult high school An adult high school or adult school is a high school facility designed for adult education. It is intended for adults who have not completed high school to continue their education. Some adult high schools offer child care, special integration pro ...

, and an

alternative school An alternative school is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional. Such schools offer a wide range of philosophies and teaching methods; some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientati ...

History

Until the 1980s, students from Malibu were required to bus a long distance into

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

for grades 10–12, but the former

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

there has since become

Malibu High School Malibu High School (MHS) is a public high school in Malibu, California. The school is one of three high schools in the Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District and serves students in the city of Malibu and surrounding communities. Location T ...

Environmental problems

In 2009 and 2010, the Santa Monica–Malibu Unified School District did a

polychlorinated biphenyls Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, Toxic Substances Contro ...

(PCB) cleanup of

overseen by the

California Department of Toxic Substances Control The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (or DTSC) is an agency of the government of the state of California. The mission of the DTSC is to protect public health and the environment from toxic harm. DTSC is part of the California En ...

. During a 2011 construction project on the Malibu Middle and High Schools and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, contractors discovered soils were contaminated with

PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

and organochlorine pesticides like

chlordane Chlordane, or chlordan, is an organochlorine compound that was used as a pesticide. It is a white solid. In the United States, chlordane was used for termite-treatment of approximately 30 million homes until it was banned in 1988. Chlordane was b ...

and

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

and presented “an unacceptable health risk”. In October 2013, 20 teachers jointly complained about health problems, including thyroid cancer. A senior

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

(EPA) employee recommended that teachers consult

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, environmental protection organization of local, state, and national government natural resource and environmental professionals. PEER serves as a resource to potent ...

(PEER) for help. In February 2014, PEER attorneys asked the school district to assess the Malibu High School campus. In July 2014, the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

wrote that Malibu High school had never been a military site, despite published reports and interviews with long-time residents present during those years that Malibu did serve as a World War II military training center. The school district hired an environmental firm named Environ, whose initial clean up plan was criticized for allowing elevated PCB levels to remain inside classrooms for 15 years or more, for not testing caulk in all rooms built prior to 1979 and for air quality monitoring of only one year. In April 2014, the EPA rejected the clean up plan. In July 2014, Environ released a second PCB clean up plan. Two weeks later PEER published PCB test results of June 2014

caulking Caulk or, less frequently, caulking is a material used to seal joints or seams against leakage in various structures and piping. The oldest form of caulk consisted of fibrous materials driven into the wedge-shaped seams between boards on w ...

and dirt samples from school rooms, not previously tested by the District, "at thousands of times the levels previously released to the public". In March 2015, parents and teachers filed a lawsuit to have all contaminated caulk removed. PEER estimated that "probably 80 rooms in the district have contaminated caulk, beyond what was first tested". The district asked the

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States a ...

to press charges against a parent who took samples from Malibu High to be tested for contamination.Austin, Paige.
School District Seeks Charges Against Malibu Mom Who Tested Classrooms for Carcinogens

Archive
. '' Malibu Patch''. November 4, 2015. Retrieved on November 6, 2015.

Schools

Elementary schools *Malibu Elementary School (Malibu) *Edison Language Academy (Santa Monica) *Franklin Elementary School (Santa Monica) *Grant Elementary School (Santa Monica) *McKinley Elementary School (Santa Monica) *John Muir Elementary School (Santa Monica) *Will Rogers Elementary School (Santa Monica) *Roosevelt Elementary School (Santa Monica) *Webster Elementary School (Malibu) Middle schools *John Adams Middle School aka "JAMS" (Santa Monica) *Lincoln Middle School aka "LMS" (Santa Monica) *Malibu Middle School (Malibu) High Schools *Olympic High School (Santa Monica) *

(Malibu) *

Santa Monica High School Santa Monica High School, officially abbreviated to SaMoHi, is located in Santa Monica, California. Founded in 1891, it changed location several times in its early years before settling into its present campus at 601 Pico Boulevard. It is a part o ...

aka "SaMoHi" (Santa Monica) K–8 schools *

Santa Monica Alternative School House The Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH) is an alternative school in Southern California that was founded in 1973 to emphasize "non-authoritarian, non-competitive, non-sexist methods". Originally serving grades Kindergarten through 12th, ...

aka "SMASH" (Santa Monica)

References

External links

* ** ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District School districts in Los Angeles County, California Organizations based in Santa Monica, California Malibu, California Educational institutions in the United States with year of establishment missing