The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School Board will debate adoption of a formal civility policy at its Nov. 18 meeting following a national trend of rising tensions at school board meetings.
At their Nov. 4 meeting, the board began discussion of the policy but continued any action to its Nov. 18 meeting to allow a subcommittee to reconcile different versions of the proposed document before presenting it to the public.
“Over the past several years, the Board of Education has worked with staff to develop a civility policy,” said the staff report. “The current climate, both nationally and locally, has heightened awareness and concern about the need for civility, prompting requests for staff to bring a proposed policy to the Board that articulates a philosophical commitment and establishes some parameters for civility within our district.”
The document defines “civil behavior” as “… polite, courteous, and reasonable behavior that is respectful to others and includes integrity, honesty, acceptance, timeliness, dependability, observance of laws and rules, and effective communication.”
The proposed document says “No district participant shall communicate or behave in a manner that causes disruption; hinders the orderly conduct of district operations, the educational program, or any other district program or activity; or creates an unsafe learning or working environment.”
Reconciliation of different versions is necessary after Boardmember Craig Foster suggested edits to the original text. Due to limitations on board communication, Foster was unable to share those edits with the board before Thursday’s meeting and other board members said they wanted to work with him on the final product.
“I think that this says a great deal about treating everyone with respect and courtesy, listening respectfully, agreeing to disagree and not make it personal,” said Foster of the original draft. “Lots of really good and important things. And yet I think there’s a lot of language here that is up down kind of language that is in and of itself exacerbating the very or at least echoing the very problems that we’re trying to address with the Civility policy.”
The local discussion comes as debate over behavior at school boards takes a national stage.
In early October, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed federal authorities to hold strategy sessions with law enforcement to address the increasing threats targeting school board members, teachers and other employees in the nation’s public schools.
In a memorandum, Garland said there has been “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation’s public schools.”
The action is in response to an urgent request from the National School Boards Association. The group, which represents school board members around the country, asked President Joe Biden for federal assistance to investigate and stop threats made over policies including mask mandates, likening the vitriol to a form of domestic terrorism.
The association asked for the federal government to investigate cases where threats or violence could be handled as violations of federal laws protecting civil rights. It also asked for the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security and Secret Service to help monitor threat levels and assess risks to students, educators, board members and school buildings.
The group’s letter documented more than 20 instances of threats, harassment, disruption, and acts of intimidation in California, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other states. It cited the September arrest of an Illinois man for aggravated battery and disorderly conduct for allegedly striking a school official at a meeting. In Michigan, a meeting was disrupted when a man performed a Nazi salute to protest masking.
SMMUSD meetings have been virtual throughout the pandemic and while no instances of physical violence or disruption have occurred, verbal comments have sometimes crossed into personal attacks on the board or staff.
Part of the discussion before the Nov. 18 meeting will be over balancing the document’s role as aspirational against any possible enforcement options.
“I actually quite like some of the changes and I think the thing that strikes me is that it’s more focused on how we ask people to behave than how we ask them not to behave,” said Boardmember Jennifer Smith. “And so I think that’s a key component of the change. And I think that that’s a much more positive term.”
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School Board politely asks for revisions to civility policy - Santa Monica Daily Press
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