How the LBUSD School Board governs, where its authority ends, how public decisions are made, and what the record shows about transparency and accountability.
Who Is Driving the Conversation Around Laguna Beach Unified’s School Board?
A look beyond the dais at the organizations and networks shaping LBUSD’s public debate. Using their histories and public records, this piece examines where Sensible Laguna and FUEL came from, what they advocate for, and the perspectives they bring to questions of governance, spending, students, and accountability.
ACLU Letter to Laguna Beach School Board Is About More Than Closed Session
The ACLU’s challenge over a closed-session discussion involving a parent protest raised questions far beyond one meeting. This piece examines public participation, confidentiality, First Amendment activity, and what accountability looks like when a Board’s own conduct is questioned.
Laguna Beach Schools Need Board Trustees Who Know Their Job
Governance failures rarely announce themselves as governance failures. This piece uses LBUSD’s recent experience to explain the less obvious warning signs—when responsiveness, urgency, transparency, or community input begin replacing the structures meant to keep public institutions accountable.
Three Votes, Two Meetings, One Brown Act Situation
A reconstruction of the meetings and votes surrounding Jason Glass’s departure and Don Austin’s appointment after the Orange County District Attorney’s Office sought answers about Brown Act complaints. It shows why timelines matter when major public decisions happen largely outside public view.
The First Test of LBUSD’s New Board Majority
The current Board majority did not begin with the controversies of 2026. This piece goes back to its first major leadership decision after the 2024 election and examines what that transition revealed about how the new majority would approach authority, process, and institutional change.
LBUSD Policy Didn’t Survive Contact With Power
LBUSD spent years emphasizing governance structures, policies, and process. This piece looks at what happened when the Board’s own superintendent-selection policy became inconvenient—and why institutional rules matter most when people in power would rather work around them.
The Questions Behind LBUSD’s Sudden Superintendent Transition
Rather than speculate about why LBUSD abruptly changed leadership, this piece focuses on the records that could answer the question. It walks through a Public Records Act request seeking timelines, communications, closed-session actions, and documentation surrounding the transition.
Brown Act Smoke, Governance Fire
A plain-English guide to California’s open-meeting law and what it is actually designed to protect. The bigger issue is not whether every disagreement constitutes a Brown Act violation, but whether LBUSD’s decision-making practices are building or eroding public trust.
When Oversight Becomes Interference
This is where a school board’s authority ends and a superintendent’s responsibility begins. It explains why strong oversight matters—and how governance can become interference when trustees move from setting direction into day-to-day administration.