PaliHi Hires Michael Smith as Interim Executive Director

Since assuming Palisades Charter High School’s executive director position on July 1, Michael Smith has stayed busy overseeing the construction of the state-of-the-art aquatic center and taking the lead on school fundraising.   Smith, an educator for 37 years, is doing all this in lieu of retirement.   ’I missed being around students and education,’ Smith said of why he wanted to return to work after retiring from the Los Angeles Unified School District in June 2009.   ’I saw this as an opportunity to come into an environment that has flexibility for what is right for kids,’ Smith, 61, continued. ‘The charter school movement is the next step for educating youth in America.’   After former Executive Director Amy Dresser-Held accepted a position at Citizens of the World in Hollywood, PaliHi’s board of directors decided to hire an interim executive director so the school community could continue to work another year with UCLA School Management Program consultants. The UCLA consultants are helping to define the school’s vision, leadership structure and hiring process.   Interim Principal Marcia Haskin (also a retiree) is returning this fall. Her job will be to evaluate teachers in the classroom as well as resolve conflicts among students, teachers and parents, while Smith will be in charge of facilities, transportation and fundraising. He will also serve as the liaison with LAUSD and the community.   The full-time position will earn Smith an annual salary of $120,000, and he will still be able to collect his retirement benefits.   Smith heard about the job through Haskin, whom he worked with at LAUSD from 2002-04. ‘I am glad to reunite and work with Marcia again,’ said Smith, who lives in Culver City with his wife, Diana Garcia-Smith, the principal of a charter school in Huntington Park.   Smith, who earned his bachelor’s degree and teaching credentials from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena and his master’s degree and administrative credentials at Cal State Los Angeles, believes his extensive experience in education will be an asset to PaliHi.   A diverse student population travels here from communities all over the city. Smith has worked in many of those communities, having begun his career in 1973, teaching and working as a bilingual coordinator at LAUSD elementary schools in South Los Angeles and Maywood.   Smith has also worked in a community with similar demographics to the Palisades as an assistant principal at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica and an assistant principal at Santa Monica High.   In addition, Smith has worked for Little Lake School District as a bilingual specialist, as a principal of an elementary and a middle school in the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District, and as an administrator of an adult and alternative education program for Paramount Unified School District.   He spent the last seven years of his career at LAUSD, working for two years as the Local District I coordinator of English Learning Services and then as the director of School Support Services for District 7, where he supervised principals.   In his year in retirement, Smith enjoyed time with his family. He has two daughters, Nicole Smith-Carmona of South Pasadena and Ashley Smith of Culver City, and two grandchildren, Alana Raye and Francesca Rose.   Smith also taught an administrative credentialing class at Cal State Northridge and has taught teacher and administrative credentialing courses in the evenings throughout his career.    This year, however, will certainly prove more challenging. Smith will oversee the opening of the $4.9-million Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center. The contractor will announce the exact date the 12-lane competitive pool and two-lane teaching pool will be filled with water at the August 31 Pool Committee meeting.   Once the pool is filled with water, it will take a couple weeks for the plaster on the sides of the pool to cure and to make sure the water is filtered properly. The facility will also have to pass inspections by Division of State Architects and the L.A. County Health Department before opening.   The aquatic center was originally supposed to be finished in April. In response to the delay, Smith said, ‘The reality is that we have to do it so it’s right; we want it to be the best facility for the community and the school.’   Smith has also assumed the work of Candice Koral, a fundraising consultant whose contract was not renewed after one year. He will focus his energies on raising money to supplement the general fund and help support busing transportation.   In February, LAUSD officials decided that the district could no longer afford to provide busing transportation to PaliHi. This spring, LAUSD and PaliHi officials reached an agreement to continue transporting the incoming sophomores through seniors to provide continuity in their education. PaliHi will pay a maximum of $600,000 for transportation this school year and the goal is to raise the entire amount. Thus far, parents of traveling students have pledged $120,000.’   Smith has authorized the purchase of a software program to compile a list of donors and fundraisers taking place on campus. The database will allow school officials to target donors and recognize their contributions. PaliHi and the Booster Club have partnered for the annual giving campaign, agreeing to split the first $500,000 raised. For amounts above $500,000, the school will receive 80 percent and the Booster Club will receive 20 percent. This campaign focuses on parents of PaliHi students.   ’The Booster Club has been very supportive in these hard economic times,’ Smith said.