Released by the Manhattan Beach Unified School District on May 10, 2011:
Several weeks ago Manhattan Beach Unified School District received a facility use application for the filming of a movie that was represented to be a comedy about the typical life of a high school student. A production company requested use of a portion of Mira Costa High School to provide a backdrop for the film. Facilities use requests are received and processed by MBUSD administrative services personnel at the District Office, not by individual school sites. The application was approved for three days of filming, May 8-10
At the end of the first day of filming, District officials responded to concerns brought to their attention. They further investigated and became aware of additional information that the theme and content of the movie was not as it was billed, but instead promoted a lifestyle that is inconsistent with the values of the District and the goals of the District’s Substance Abuse Prevention and Education Taskforce.
The District immediately canceled the contract and all remaining production activities. Dr. Steve Romines, Assistant Superintendent, indicated, “Once we learned the true subject matter of the movie, we immediately canceled the contract. The District will not be receiving any facilities use fees for this canceled project. The District is also demanding that any footage taken not be used in the production.”
Ms. Ellyn Schneider, Executive Director of Educational Services, added, “The MBUSD Substance Abuse Prevention and Education Taskforce has worked tirelessly to create a campus culture at all school sites which advocates and supports healthy lifestyle choices. The content of this movie is clearly inconsistent with our goals as a District and community.”
School district facilities in the South Bay are appealing to Los Angeles area production companies for use as settings for films and television shows. Manhattan Beach Unified School District leases facilities to outside organizations following the guidelines outlined in Board Policy.
Wow, you can pimp your prom with KIIS FM but Snoop Dog is banned. Sexual innuendo is ok but high school comedy is not. How hypocritical.
I agree — the district is in no financial position to turn away a ~$5000 per day usage fee. Does no one differentiate between fantasy and real life? Allowing a production company to film on location does not amount to condoning drug, alcohol and tobacco use. My personal feeling is that the administration is too battered by the recent baseball team scandal to take a firm and assertive stance – especially since an administrator supervised the shoot and declared that no violations of the Education Code were found. If MBUSD would like to continue to receive much-needed revenue from production companies, they are setting a poor precedent.
Another retarded decision made by the idiots in charge of Mira Costa. Now if the subject matter of the film was about kids in high school drinking alcohol, the socially acceptable, secret drug of choice for the majority of administration, teachers and parents.. you would have never heard of the film. But since the movie involves pot it poses a threat to the healthy life style smoke screen they put up. Now lets review some basic facts…
Alcohol causes extream liver damage
Pot causes extream munchies
The more you drink the drunker you get eventually resulting in alcohol poisoning
The more pot you smoke the sleepier you get eventually resulting in a good nights sleep
This decission obviously wasnt given much thought. Useing the school as a set for a movie doesn’t make the school look
Daily use of alcohol will cause physical dependance resulting in the DTs
Daily use of pot will cause no physical dependance if you don’t smoke a few days… no problem