By Jonathan Friedman
Associate Editor

March 10, 2016 -- In reaction to an emotional and heated meeting last month in Malibu, Laurie Lieberman, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board, proposed the board should adopt a policy regarding civility.

“Everybody has a First Amendment right, and we’re not going to be able to shut anybody down,” Lieberman said at the board meeting last Thursday.

She continued, “I do think it’s appropriate for us to say what we think should be the norms of how we treat each other and how we talk to each other.”

Lieberman said a good model would be the policy adopted by the Santa Monica City Council in 2011 that lists six behaviors people attending meetings should “strive for.”

Among the behaviors included in council's policy are “treat everyone courteously,” “listen to others respectfully” and “exercise self-control.”

Several board members agreed with Lieberman, including Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, who said he “did feel uncomfortable” at the meeting in Malibu.

At that Feb. 4 meeting, teachers union president Sarah Braff said she was verbally attacked by parents and members of an activist group over a dispute on environmental issues at Malibu High School, according to an article in The Malibu Times.

Lieberman, who did not attend the meeting in Malibu, said there have been uncivil school board sessions in Santa Monica as well.

Jose Escarce said he supports a civility policy, but would also like to have something applying to board members' behavior.

“It’s also uncivil for us to pretend to be listening [when being addressed by members of the public] while we are texting and talking,” Escarce said.

Superintendent Sandra Lyon told Escarce that rules regarding board behavior specifically would have to be a part of a separate policy.

She told the board she would provide them with meeting civility policies from other governments so they can get an idea of what the district could adopt.

Also at the meeting, Board member Craig Foster said he wanted to develop a uniform standard for how school staff members are addressed by name, especially in front of students.

Foster said there is an unofficial hierarchy system in which janitors and related staff are called by their first names and teaching assistants by a title with their first names, while teachers and administrators are addressed with a title and their last names.

“This is fundamentally in opposition to our core values and reinforces a hierarchy that we don’t believe exists,” Foster said.

He added, “The more you think about it, the less you’re going to feel comfortable with it.”

A few board members said they agreed with Foster that the status quo made for an inappropriate hierarchy, although they also questioned how an official policy against it could be enforced.

“I think it will be widely flouted because it will be unenforceable,” Escarce said. “It does run the risk that people will think the board is being silly, sort of like ‘what the hell are they talking about.’”

Lyon will discuss this issue with the district union heads.