SMMUSD BOE members face recall election

By Juliet Swimmer, Copy Editor

SMMUSD Board of Education members face recall election by a parent group alleging misconduct amidst a pandemic. According to a press release sent out on March 31, 30 residents of the district are advocating for SMMUSD president Jon Kean, SMMUSD Vice President Laurie Lieberman and SMMUSD board members Maria Leon-Vasquez and Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein to be recalled.

“The members who are being recalled did not focus on educating students and instead focused on real estate purchases, construction projects and fighting parents’ lawsuits while not letting parents, teachers and school staff have a meaningful seat at the table,” the parents who initiated the petition Kat Blandino and Patrick Acosta claim.

The press release claims that Laurie Lieberman has diverted money from the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District to Santa Monica real estate developers her husband's law firm represents. 

Board member Leon-Vasquez is under fire for a similar form of corruption. According to the statement, Leon-Vasquez voted to award large SMMUSD contracts to the clients that paid her husband tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees. This would be a direct violation of California’s Political Reform Act, according to the statement on the group’s website.

According to the group, President of the Board, Jon Kean, recently voted to have SMMUSD pay his expenses for a political expense without prior approval. He has been said to violate the Brown Act, trivialize parents during board meetings and have misused SMMUSD funds, and Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein has consistently voted on items that benefit himself and fellow board members, despite their conflicts of interest. 

The recall comes during a difficult time for the district as it works to return all students in the district to in-person learning, if they so choose.  

“This petition against me is categorically false, mean-spirited, and harmful to our exemplary school district. The recall is baseless and does not serve our students or the voters of Santa Monica and Malibu. Again, the recall drive against my colleagues and me is based on lies and personal innuendo. It is meant to confuse the voters and undermine our democratic process,” Tahvildaran-Jesswein told the Santa Monica Daily Press. 

In the meantime, parents and groups supporting the recalled board members, including the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teacher’s Association (SMMCTA), have begun their own campaign.  

The SMMCTA has characterized the recall petition as an unnecessary cost to taxpayers and as an  “attempt to  destabilize the District” and “capitalize” on the pent up frustration of parents during the pandemic.

“Our established board members have been accused, without evidence, of corruption and fiscal mismanagement. [The recall group has] made defamatory and false allegations,” SMMCTA said in a statement to members last month.