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3w10.442.1651 ww.andrewthurm.com Volume 9 Issue 20
Santa Monica Daily Press SAMOHI GIRLS MAKE DO SEE PAGE 3
We have you covered
THE DAWNING OF A NEW DAY ISSUE
Special ed gets personal BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
SMMUSD HDQTRS For Kim Moran, negoti-
issue from tenants and landlords, Condon said the board’s staff decided to include information explaining the policy on temporary rent reductions in its latest newsletter. She said, in the past year, the board has received a handful of inquiries each week about temporary reductions. Under the Rent Control Board’s existing policy, if an owner reduces rent for an agreed upon time period, the maximum allowable rent, or MAR, is not affected unless the temporary reduction occurs during the first term of tenancy. If the reduction occurs during the first term, the new MAR is determined by the average monthly rent paid during the first term.
ating special education services for her son was like sitting through an episode of “Let’s Make a Deal.” “I didn’t know quite where to go,” Moran said about her experience navigating the district’s special education program when she first enrolled her son. “It was confusing and I felt disconnected and isolated.” Today, Moran’s son, who’s on the autistic spectrum, is in the second grade at Grant Elementary School where she currently serves as a Parent Resource Network (PRN) volunteer, using knowledge gained over the past few years from advocating for her child to help other parents who ask the same questions she once had. The Santa Monica-Malibu PTA Council launched the PRN last year after a longbrewing issue in special education came to a head with the release of an independent audit that revealed a series of concerning issues, from the practice of using confidentiality clauses in students’ educational plans to allegations of intimidation. Many parents say the program has made strides since the release of the Lou Barber report in early 2008, a nearly two-year-period of time in which the district has seen a new administration and increased collaboration between school officials and parents through ad hoc committees and biannual forums. The network designates a pair of volunteer point persons at each school in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, giving parents access to an experienced individual who has been there before. “I know that the parents who have been chosen as PRN representatives are excellent choices,” Theresa Harris, the chair of the Special Education District Advisory Committee, said. “They have a real desire to create an avenue where parents in need of information can go to someone who’s in a like situation for information.” Christy Hobart, who is the co-chair of the PTA Council’s Special Education Committee and PRN volunteer, remembers the at-times challenging years of when her son — a fifth
SEE RENT PAGE 10
SEE SPECIAL ED PAGE 11
DANCING THE NIGHT AWAY
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com Children dance as pop violinist Josh Vietti plays Christmas songs during the Montana Holiday Walk on Friday night.
Renters seek temporary relief BY NICK TABOREK Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL At 87, Freda Mendelsohn still has an independent streak. The Santa Monica resident lives alone and travels to Downtown Los Angeles some days to fill in as a federal court reporter, earning money to supplement her pension of a few hundred dollars and her Social Security check. But, in recent months, work at the courthouse has become more sporadic, and with money tight, she made the difficult decision to ask her landlord for a temporary rent reduction. “I’m not the only one that’s in trouble,” she said. “There are so many people who
are in even worse trouble.” Mendelsohn is one of a growing number of Santa Monica residents living in rent controlled apartments who have sought temporary relief because of financial difficulties in the past year, said Tracy Condon, administrator of the city’s Rent Control Board. “We’ve been hearing [requests for temporary rent reductions], certainly, for the past year or so as the economy has changed and people are feeling the impact,” Condon said. Any agreement to reduce rent has to be reached between tenant and landlord; the Rent Control Board doesn’t have authority to grant rent reductions. But after being approached about the
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