Mid-Summer Meeting Introduces New Faces on Pali High Board

By MATTHEW MEYER | Reporter

Palisades Charter High School’s Board of Trustees gathered for a mid-summer meeting last week that brought new faculty, parent and student voices to the table.

That included community rep Camille Schoenberg, parent representative Shawn McClellan and a new student member, Taylor Torgerson.

New faculty additions David Carini and Mystic Thompson will also join the board at their next meeting.

The five new members join a governing body that influences every major aspect of the school’s function, from setting educational goals to approving the annual budget and guarding Pali High’s financial future.

The board exists because of Pali High’s status as an independent charter school—elected representatives from each of the school’s “stakeholder groups” are placed on the board and tasked with ensuring that the school implements the mission laid out in their charter.

That includes maintaining a relationship with LAUSD. While Pali High governs its day-to-day function independently, it’s still subject to district oversight.

At last week’s meeting, the new-look board reviewed feedback from an LAUSD visit in May.

The annual visits rank Pali High in four categories: Governance, Student Achievement and Performance, Organizational Management and Fiscal Operations, with scoring on a scale from one to four.

Pali High received its standard “3s” and “4s” in each category, except for in Organizational Management, where they received an automatic “1” for failing to fulfill a teacher training program on child abuse reporting.

The school had administered training to most faculty members, but failed to train every staff member that the district required.

The school had already resolved the problem, Principal Dr. Pam Magee reported, adding that the “1” score was “not representative of the whole category.”

But it was a fitting lesson for first-time board members—watchful eyes constantly rest on Pali High’s trustees, and with so many complicated policies governing their activity, minor missteps sometimes threaten to overshadow their successes as a whole.