by Mark McDermott
Few people know the Manhattan Beach Unified School District as thoroughly as Jen Fenton.
Since Fenton and her family arrived in Manhattan Beach nine years ago, she has immersed herself in all things MBUSD. She served as Robinson Elementary PTA president. She co-chaired the successful Measure C and Measure EE school bond campaigns. She served on the district’s Budget Advisory Committee, and became vice president of MBEF. She was the chair of the successful Measure MB parcel tax and was the social and emotional wellness chair for the entire district.
Fenton has served as an MBUSD Board of Education trustee since 2018, including nine months as board president during the pandemic’s most tumultuous period. She helped organize a coalition of South Bay education leaders to press the L.A. County Department of Public Health to begin reopening classrooms.
“I’ve been involved for a long time,” Fenton said. “And I’m not alone, right? That’s what makes MBUSD what it is. Parents get involved.”
Fenton and her husband, Chris, arrived in Manhattan Beach in 2013, with their 5-year-old twins. She grew up in the Valley and attended private schools, and when her kids were in a private school, something wasn’t feeling right.
“We were living on the Westside at the time. The kids were in kindergarten, and they were on the bus for an hour every day,” Fenton said. “I was working downtown, my husband was in Culver City, and we didn’t have a sense of community. My kids were doing their homework in the back of my car.”
Chris had surfed in Manhattan Beach and was intrigued by its small town feel, and good schools. The couple realized within months of moving to town what a great choice they’d made for themselves and their children. The schools, in particular, offered the personalized learning and varied programs that are the hallmark of private schools, but with the invaluable added benefit of being part of the fabric of the community.
Fenton, a public interest lawyer, felt compelled to get involved.
“Sitting on the sidelines, watching, is not what I do,” she said. “I wanted to make a difference. It’s not always the easy way and not always the popular way, but making a difference is about making our community better.”
Fenton believes she has helped make MBUSD better. She points to the physical transformation of the campuses, delivered on time and on budget. She points to new AP, and honors courses, and the fact that MCHS was recently named the top high school in the South Bay.
What this election is about, Fenton said, is how to not only keep MBUSD as a top tier school district, but also to find ways to make it better.
“The last few years have been incredibly challenging. The city is divided,” Fenton said. “But we’ve always been able to come together to support our students and our schools. While there are six candidates with different backgrounds, we all agree on the importance of education. I think ‘the how’ is the variable. Whoever is elected needs to remember that we have to bring the focus back on providing the best resources, the best programs, and the best staff to fulfill MBUSD’s tradition of excellence. That’s how a district moves forward, and that has to be our cornerstone.”
One of the ways Fenton envisions moving forward is to spread the varied pathways Mira Costa offers to better engage students at all MBUSD schools. She argues that the way to increase enrollment — which she notes happened this school year, an increase in contrast to a 10-year statewide public school decline exacerbated by the pandemic — is to keep offering more educational options.
“We have more APs, more honors, more electives, more pathways for our students than any schools I know, public or private,” Fenton said. “MBUSD is special in that regard. I can name 10 different families who left the district and have returned. These pathways that Mira Costa offers, let’s replicate that model. Because at Costa, kids can find their passion and make their connection.”
Fenton’s own daughter has found one of those pathways through music and the performing arts program at her elementary school. But Fenton said such pathways can take many forms, from STEM programs to language immersion and more specialty courses.
“These pathways allow our kids to find connection and to have those personalized learning experiences that create a private school feel,” Fenton said. “Now, we’re never going to have the funding that a private school has, we’re never going to have the student-to-teacher ratio and class sizes of private schools. But MBUSD does a lot with what we have, and so much of that is because of the partnerships with MBEF, with MBx, with the community relationships we have built, and with the parents who have volunteered their time.”
Fenton said the opposition that has emerged in this election has focused on what should be dismantled. Her focus is on what to build.
“All I hear is ‘tear down,’ and I understand, that is their job,” she said. “And I understand that as a candidate, they’re trying to gather support. But that’s not the solution. This board has to work together. That is how we move forward. Together.” ER
