Malibu Pathway Forward
A Message From Malibu Schools Pathway Executive Director
Greetings Malibu Families, Staff and Community Partners: It gives me great pleasure to share with you our first edition of “Malibu Pathway Forward.” This summer edition highlights some of the school events and activities which took place this past school year. Future quarterly publications will highlight current events and activities occurring at our Malibu schools. Stay tuned!
Our future pathway newsletter will:
- Provide facilities/construction updates for the building of our “New Malibu High School” that provides teaching and learning spaces that supports student and staff collaboration, choice, innovation and creativity
- Spotlight awesome teaching, learning and extracurricular experiences our students have at each of our four schools
- Inform parents and surrounding community with school-district happenings or important events
- Promote the collaborative partnerships that exists between the district/school our PTA’s, Malibu Schools Leadership Council, Malibu Boys and Girls Club, the City of Malibu etc.
Thank you parents, families, staff and community partners for your ongoing support as we navigated through some challenging times to get to where we are today as a school community of learners. I want to reassure you that the health and safety of our students and staff will remain at the forefront.
As we continue our Path Forward, our Malibu Schools promote:
A collective focus on “building and maintaining community” to ensure there are meaningful positive connections with students, families and our broader Malibu partners
Highly trained, credentialed, caring and supportive teachers and staff
Very supportive and engaging school community
Rigorous and relevant curriculum that is taught to encourage student voice, critical thinking and collective expertise
Diversity, Inclusion and Equity for all students and families
I am very fortunate to be apart of the Malibu schools community. I have the privilege to work with dedicated teachers, administrators, staff, families and the community to further advance our schools. I am proud to say that we have a plethora of great things occurring in and out of the classrooms within the Malibu Schools Pathway. I look forward to sharing those wonderful experiences and partnerships in person and through our “Malibu Pathway Forward” newsletter.
In continued Collaboration and Partnership,
Isaac Burgess, IV, Executive Director, Malibu Pathway
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District
Malibu High School Orchestra Places First at Music in the Parks Competition
The Malibu High School (MHS) orchestra earned an outstanding score of 98/100 while at the Music in the Parks competition. Having competed against 25 other musical ensembles, from California, Nevada, Arizona and Idaho, MHS also placed first in Single-A Division, receiving Best Overall Orchestra, Superior Rating and Highest Scoring Ensemble Overall. The competition took place at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA last month.
Read more here.
PTSA
The Malibu High School Parent Teacher Student Association (MHS PTSA) is a unit of the California State PTA and National PTA organization. Advocating for all school children is the core of its mission. Serving Malibu Middle and High School, the PTSA has an annual budget of roughly $115,000 that is underwritten by the Malibu High Shark Fund.
Find out more about PTSA here.
The California Junior Scholarship Federation (CJSF) and California Scholarship Federation (CSF) is a statewide organization of more than 600 chapters. It fosters high standards of scholarship, service and citizenship on the part of students of California's public and private junior high/middle schools and high schools. Congratulations to all of our CJSF and CSF members for a job well done! Your hard work, determination, integrity and perseverance have contributed to your overall success. This year, we here at Malibu Middle School & Malibu High School recognized many students who qualified by hosting an awards breakfast and ceremony for students and their parents followed by a beach day filled with much well deserved fun. We wish you continued success and encourage all eligible students each semester to join. Congratulations to all and keep up the great work! Mrs. Lorene Whitehouse, MMS Counselor
POMS - Parents of Middle Schoolers
Parents of Middle Schoolers (POMS) will meet the 3rd Friday of each month (mostly) at 10:00 a.m on Zoom, for now, to share ideas, address broad concerns, answer questions, give us suggestions, get to know other parents, talk about middle school development, clarify your thinking, share frustrations, laugh, have a casual, friendly conversation while you get to know us as well.
Pepperdine Marine Science Demonstration Day: A big win for our local college and MES students!
Thanks to the MES PTA and with inspiration from Webster School, Malibu Elementary has formed a partnership with the Pepperdine Marine Science Department. The partnership has already brought us the Pepperdine Marine Science Demonstration Day and will soon help MES with field trips.
As you probably know, Malibu Elementary has an extensive marine science program with their K-5th graders. The Pepperdine Marine Science Demonstration Day was the first of our collaborations. Pepperdine summer research students chaperoned the MES annual 5th grade trip to Catalina/ Santa Cruz Island in May.
The Pepperdine Marine Science Demonstration Day was a success! Forty-one MES students stayed after school on Wednesday, April 20th and were joined by Pepperdine Professor Flo La Valle and her Marine Science college students in our MES Marine Science Laboratory. MES students participated in interactive activities.
The activities lead to greater understanding and appreciation for Marine Science. We also hope this event inspired our MES students to do their best on their Marine Science projects. These are the activities from Pepperdine Marine Science Demonstration Day: (1) algae identification bingo with algae from the intertidal, (2) ocean acidification activity with red cabbage juice, (3) kelp forest trophic cascade game of red rover, and (4) build your own stratified ocean density activity.
Our 5th Graders will be going to Catalina Island Marine Institute this upcoming school year.
Webster Elementary School Teaching Garden
Former Principal Daruty had a vision to bring sustainable practices to Webster. She wanted to revitalize our learning garden and teach students how to be more connected to their local community. Through support of our district who helped repair and prep our garden , volunteers from our PTA, a Los Angeles County grant and a partnership from the Boys and Girls Club of Malibu, we launched a garden program just before Spring Break.
Full Circle Compost began by leading an assembly for our students, teaching them about the benefits of composting. This was followed by weekly hands-on teaching sessions in the garden. Every student learned how to sort trash, recycle food scraps from snack and lunch, and how to produce a healthy compost.
Now that there is a thriving compost, actively generating probiotic soil, we began planting. The Regenerative Garden Program will serve the growing vision of the community for student-led local food production, as well as outdoor standards-aligned STEM education. The Webster Garden will be a waterwise, diverse garden full of seasonal herbs, fresh vegetables, and native flowers.
We established a student led Green Team, continue to host weekly gardening lessons and our students are so excited to learn about the ecosystem on their campus. We are engaged in this work and see the enthusiasm it has ignited in our budding bio citizens.
Ms. Daruty has moved to Will Rogers Learning Community as Principal. SMMUSD is in the process of hiring a new Principal for Webster.
