Ralph Mechur reappointed to district School Board

After losing re-election to the school board by less than 500 votes, architect Ralph Mechur was re-appointed to the SMMUSD School Board in order to fill a vacancy left by recently elected State Senator Ben Allen. Mechur secured the four necessary board votes for appointment after a nearly five hour-long school board meeting on January 15th. During the meeting, nine candidates were questioned publicly by school board members. The candidates were questioned about everything from private versus public education to centralized funding. Mechur’s competition included Parent Teacher Student Associatio (PTSA) Pres- idents, attorneys and concerned parents.Mechur, by trade an architect, was appointed to the board in 2007 and elected back in 2010. His contributions to the district include providing guidance to Measure BB construction projects and spearheading local parcel tax initiatives to prevent budget cuts during the recession. At the board meeting, Mechur received support from the vast majority of speakers during the “public comments” section of the meeting.

However, Mechur did receive pushback from some Malibu community members. They accused Mechur of ignoring Malibu’s interests and pushing the Malibu High PCB scare under the rug. One advocate interrupted Mechur’s swearing in and approached the board members despite demands to stop.At the conclusion of the meeting, Mechur addressed his supporters and opponents.“I’m humbled by the support of the community and its faith in me as some- one who stands for all children in both our communities” Mechur said.jsadler@thesamohi.com