Community Corner

Come Listen to School Board Candidates in Final Malibu Debate Wednesday

As moderator of the the debate, which is co-sponsored by Malibu Rotary, I will be asking questions submitted by Malibu Patch readers.

I will have the honor of moderating a debate featuring the candidates in the school board race for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Wednesday night at Pepperdine University.

The forum, which is sponsored by Malibu Rotary, is set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Fireside Room at Pepperdine University. To find parking, just ask the security guard at the booth, who will give you a token for access to the parking lot and directions.

In case you are not aware of who is running in the school board race, three Malibu challengers, Craig Foster, Karen Farrer and Seth Jacobson, are hoping to unseat incumbents Ben Allen, Jose Escarce and Maria Leon-Vazquez.

Find out what's happening in Malibuwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Originally, all six candidates agreed to take part in this forum, but Malibu challenger Seth Jacobson backed out this week because he will be out of town.

I agreed to moderate this debate for a number of reasons, but the main reason is that I'm a proponent of civic engagement and the need for citizens to be informed voters. I've written a series of articles about the Malibu candidates efforts to unseat the incumbents on the board in the lead up to the election on Nov. 6.

Find out what's happening in Malibuwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The format of the debate will be slightly unique in that I have selected the best questions submitted by Malibu Patch readers over the past month. I had to leave some out because of time constraints and because some of the questions were repetitive.

The reason the debate is taking place at Pepperdine is because Malibu Rotary, which is active in serving the community, meets weekly there. I was a Rotary member while editor of Palm Desert Patch, but I haven't been able to get involved this year. (You all have kept me pretty busy here in Malibu for the past six months.)

The debate, which is the final debate in Malibu before the election, will be recorded and posted on Malibu Patch in the coming days.

If you have any last minute questions you'd like me to ask the candidates, feel free to email me at malibu@patch.com. I'll be taking submissions through noon Wednesday.

I'd love to see some of you there if you can make it. It's going to be a fun night.


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