SaMoHi Cameras, a New Member for the Financial Oversight Committee and the Search for a New Superintendent

By Lookout Staff

It could be lights, cameras, action soon at Santa Monica High School.

In an effort to reduce property damage on campus, the School Board Thursday night took the first steps in approving the installation of a closed-circuit video-television-camera- based surveillance system at the high school.

The cameras -- which will be placed in the exterior of the campus, as well as in some hallways -- will be designed, developed and installed with a $40,000 grant from the Alliance of Schools for Cooperative Insurance Programs.

The board debated the consent calendar item for half an hour before directing staff to produce a written operations and procedures manual to ensure that the proposed system is operated lawfully and effectively. The manual will cover such topics as privacy, authorized access to the system and use of the images.

Before the item comes back to the board for final approval, it will go before the Site Governance Committee, the Associated Student Body and Community Health and Safety.

Similar systems are in place at high schools in Glendale and Manhattan Beach. School officials said there have been no complaints at the two campuses.

In a separate action, the board appointed Walter Rosenthal to the district's financial oversight committee. Rosenthal, who is semi-retired, has been president and CEO of several companies, most recently of the Budget Group, Inc. storage subsidiary. Rosenthal has a Masters Degree in finance.

The board also reviewed the appointment process for District Advisory Committees and received an update on the search for a new Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent of Fiscal & Business Services.

The next step will be to approve a Request for Proposals for a recruitment firm on September 21, followed by advertisement of the RFP the following day. RFPs will be due Oct. 13 and interviews and selection of a recruitment firm will be completed by Oct. 27.

Advertising and recruiting for the positions will begin on Dec. 1 and end on Jan. 12. The board will announce a new superintendent March 14, with the announcement of an assistant superintendent a month later.