Laguna Beach school community rallies around teachers, staff
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A crowd of demonstrators took to the streets of downtown Laguna Beach Thursday afternoon to support local schools and express discontent over the state of their relationship with the school board.
Organized by the Laguna Beach Unified Faculty Assn. (LaBUFA) and the California School Employees Assn. (CSEA), the rally is a response to what union leaders characterized as an erosion of trust.
One of the reasons behind the discontent, according to organizers, is that disciplinary action has been taken against employees who speak in public comments at school board meetings.
“They moved public comment to the end of the meetings because they didn’t want to hear people complaining about them,” said Thasa Zuziak, the local chapter president of CSEA.
“They’ve taken away all transparency,” Zuziak continued. “We have two-hour closed session meetings, where employee discipline has been on there five weeks in a row, without any report out of closed session. They’re not supposed to use [closed session meetings] to hide things.”
Recent actions by the board, such as the decision to return the high school’s graduation ceremony to the Irvine Bowl, have not reflected public testimony despite large turnouts, organizers said. On that particular matter, student polling was relatively even as to whether the commencement ceremony should stay at Guyer Field. Others felt the decision should have been left up to the school’s administration.
In a Feb. 12 meeting, a narrow board majority comprising President Sheri Morgan and members Dee Perry and Howard Hills changed a bylaw to give final authority over setting an agenda to the board president, subject to the will of the board. The development of the agenda remains a collaborative process between the board president and the superintendent.
“Only [Morgan] can put what she wants on the agenda,” Zuziak said. “Our superintendent doesn’t even know what goes on the agenda. [Morgan] can tell people, ‘Nope, I’m not going to put it on the agenda.’ She controls it 100%, so she puts what she wants on the agenda that meets her goals. We haven’t had one thing on there for students in a year. It’s all been grievances, and ‘we need to change board bylaws.’”
District Supt. Jason Glass declined to comment about the rally prior to Thursday night’s school board meeting.
The rally’s fervor continued during the 20-minute unagendized public comment period of the meeting. A senior at the high school said she was looking forward to being able to vote in the upcoming election.
Those comments were met with vocal applause. When Morgan suggested the audience could show their support through the use of “jazz hands,” so as not to disrupt the meeting, one successive speaker asked if they could perform a “jazz dance,” before giving a brief demonstration.
Board members did not address the rally during their reports, but Morgan did issue a statement during the demonstration via district communication channels.
“The Governing Board of the Laguna Beach Unified School District applauds our community’s demonstrated commitment to its students and schools,” Morgan stated.
“We respect our employees’ rights to engage in lawful protected activities and 1st Amendment expression. LBUSD and its taxpayers provided some of the highest teacher salaries and best working conditions in the state, and we are proud of the unmatched learning opportunities, small class sizes and safe schools offered to our students.”
The statement went on to say the district is facing “historical challenges,” a list that included reigning in overspending, increasing accountability and expanding communication with stakeholders, while providing additional opportunities for “student success and educational excellence.”
“If ‘one district’ and ‘one community’ can do all this, it is Laguna Beach,” Morgan concluded.
At the rally, LaBUFA president Scott Wittkop said morale among the staff is at a low point.
“They’re constantly trying to reprimand us for freedom of speech,” Wittkop said. “They’re trying to silence us. We’ve always worked so well together as unions, and as a community and district in negotiations.”
As Wittkop began to describe his time in the district, Zuziak cut in and said it’s been “a magical place to work.” Wittkop added to that assessment.
“That’s been taken from us, and we want it back,” he said.
Sophomore Ivy Dabbs, who serves as a student board representative, was quick to dispel any notion that students had been coerced into participating in the rally. She said no district administrator, staff member or teacher had suggested they join.
“None of us are being forced to be here,” she said. “None of us are receiving extra credit for being here, and none of us are here for any other reason than to support our cause.”
