In an event that is about as frequent as a leap year, the City Council and the Liaison Committee of the School Board actually met Tuesday evening at City Hall.
Culver City’s only two elected bodies, who seem to regard each other as rivals, talk about meeting far more frequently than they convene. And this session was branded productive.
Mehaul O’Leary and Chris Armenta represented the City Council. New School Board President Dr. Jessica Beagles-Roos and Scott Zeidman were present on behalf of the School District. Each governing body brought along staff members, including City Manager Jerry Fulwood and Supt. Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote.
For reasons that never have been completely clear, for much of the past decade the City Council and School Board rarely communicated or cooperated with one another. Acknowledging that whatever historical differences existed between prior Councils and Boards were now in the past, Mr. Armenta, Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Zeidman pledged mutual cooperation from this point forward.
What to Do About Campus Area Traffic
The Committee navigated a packed agenda in just less than two hours, spending the bulk of the time dealing with the traffic situation around the Culver City schools. Everyone agreed that the traffic situation was indeed a problem and that there was no single quick solution to solve this long-standing situation.
The quad-school area (Farragut Elementary, Culver City Middle School, Culver City High School and the Office of Child Development) became the focus of the discussion. Mr. Zeidman explained that the drop-off areas for these four schools are all within shouting distance of one another on Farragut Drive and Elenda Street. Considering that the high school’s 9th grade class is the largest in recent history, and that there are close to 4,500 students attending those four schools, there are simply too many vehicles dropping off and picking up students on those streets in the morning and afternoon.
With the status quo being unacceptable, the Committee discussed four strategies to relieve congestion. They include increasing the pedestrian environment, implementing traffic calming measures, expanding driver and parent education, and enforcing existing laws.
Charles Herbertson the Director of Public Works, identified state and federal grant monies available for the program, called the Safe Routes to Schools Program. This plan is designed to decrease traffic and pollution and improve the health of children and the community. It promotes walking and biking to school through education and incentives while also addressing the safety concerns of parents by encouraging greater enforcement of traffic laws, educating the public, and exploring ways to create safer streets.
Cooperation Will Improve Chances
Mr. Herbertson opined that there would be significant competition for these grant monies, and that if the city and the School District could work together, the chances of success would be greater. While city and School Board cooperation in the past was virtually non-existent, all four elected officials in attendance agreed to give their best efforts to work cohesively to obtain these grant monies. If successful, the grant monies would be earmarked for the quad-school area, with similar programs to then be instituted at the remaining four schools.
Joint cooperation was also the topic of discussion on two additional agenda items. Pam Robinson from Parks, Recreation and Community Service provided an update on the city’s Youth Advisory Committee. Mr. Zeidman spoke about the potential for modifying the School District’s policy that currently prohibits the District from distributing flyers to students, unless the content is about school-related matters.
Recently, the city had wanted to utilize the School District to alert parents about a public hearing regarding the oil-drilling company PXP. The School District was unable to completely assist due to the existing Board policy. Mr. Zeidman vowed to have that policy changed “We [the City Council and the School Board] work for the same people, the fine citizens of Culver City,” he said. “If there is some way that the School Board can assist the city, especially if it will save the city money, we should do everything we can to work together.”
At the request of Mr. O’Leary, the Committee also discussed green buildings on any future or existing construction, security issues at the various schools, and the exceptionally large number of students on inter-district permits presently attending Culver City schools.
