February 26 Recap and March 12 Meeting Agenda
Dear FUEL Community,
Thank you for being here. Whether you have been with us from the beginning, recently joined our community, or are reading this for the first time, we are grateful for every one of you. The conversations happening in our neighborhoods, at school pickup, and at the Farmers Market are a groundswell of engagement that is what this community needs right now.
Next Board Meeting: Tomorrow, Thursday, March 12. There is important business on the agenda and your voice matters. Details on how to attend and submit public comment are at the bottom of this email.
Before we get into tomorrow, we want to share a recap of the February 26 Board Governance Meeting. It was a long and eventful evening, and there is a lot our community deserves to know.
Thursday, March 12 at Thurston Middle School | Closed Session 4:30 p.m. | Open Session 6:00 p.m. | Agenda | Link to Public Comments | Link to Watch. Please show up, watch live, or submit public comment.
February 26 Board Governance Meeting: What Happened
Agenda Item 3D: Superintendent Performance Evaluation (Closed Session)
The February 26 closed session agenda included an unscheduled performance evaluation of Superintendent Dr. Jason Glass. When the board returned to open session, Board President Morgan stated simply: "We have no report out of closed session."
Under the Brown Act, California's open meeting law, the board is required to publicly report any action taken in closed session. A "no report" means either no action was taken, or no information is being disclosed. The community has no way of knowing which is true.
FUEL's View: Dr. Glass was hired unanimously, 5-0, by this board. His formal annual evaluation is already scheduled for August, which is the appropriate timeline for a superintendent in his first year. This evaluation came just ten weeks after the previous one, during a period that included two weeks of school breaks. Off-cycle evaluations outside of the established process send a signal to our superintendent, our staff, and our community. We believe Dr. Glass deserves the stability and support to lead the district he was hired to lead. The lack of any report out of closed session leaves our community without answers or transparency, and that matters.
Agenda Item 5A: High School Graduation Location
The board majority voted to move the 2026 LBHS graduation ceremony to the Irvine Bowl. This decision was made despite repeated requests from community members to refrain from taking action at the board level, unanswered questions, and a process that did not engage all stakeholders equally.
Superintendent Dr. Glass recommended that graduation remain a site-level decision. The board majority rejected that recommendation. Member Kelly put forward a thoughtful substitute motion to move graduation to the Irvine Bowl the following year, allowing adequate time for planning and full stakeholder input. Members Kelly and Malczewski voted in support. The board majority voted no.
Following the vote, community members made repeated public requests to place the item on the March 12 regular board meeting agenda, where broader participation would be possible. This item was not added to the March 12 agenda.
FUEL's View: We have not taken a position on where graduation should be held. We are focused on the process, and this one fell short. Graduation is a complex event and the LBHS Commencement at Guyer Field has been in the planning phase since Fall, as is routinely the case annually. The Thurston 8th grade promotion will continue to be planned by site administration. The high school staff are now being directed by the board, which is not what the board should be focused on in a high-performing district. Since this vote, we have watched the harm of board overreach play out again in real time. The criticism directed at staff in the aftermath has been deeply disappointing. We remain concerned that this pattern of overreach is a serious detriment to our students, staff, leadership, and community.
Agenda Items 7A-C: Board Governance Workshop
This item was a governance workshop, led by new board attorney, Jonathan Pearl. The series is intended to build a shared understanding of board bylaws, Ed Code, and the respective roles of the board and superintendent. Mr. Pearl was clear: the board acts collectively, not individually. No single board member has the authority to direct staff or bind the district. The superintendent is responsible for daily operations. The board governs. The superintendent manages.
FUEL's View: Our board needs a shared foundation to function well together. What we observed on February 26 was a board majority that could not articulate shared goals, made inaccurate statements about the rules, and continued to resist the kind of collective accountability that effective governance requires. There are also ongoing efforts by the board majority to modify CSBA-recommended policies in ways that fall outside established process.
Tomorrow: March 12 Regular Board Meeting Highlights
Item 3A - Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items for Closed Session clarification on any action taken during closed session at the February 26th Board Meeting.
Closed Session includes a public employee discipline/dismissal/release item alongside ongoing labor negotiations with LaBUFA and CSEA.
Item 8A - Financial Health Report: The 2025-26 Second Interim Report supports a positive certification. The district is on solid financial footing for this year and the next two.
Item 8B - Pool Modernization Funding: A vote on an $11 million interfund transfer to fund the approved LBHS pool modernization project.
Item 7A - School Resource Officer MOU: A review of the revised agreement between LBUSD and the City of Laguna Beach governing the SRO program. This is a discussion item tomorrow. Formal approval comes at a future meeting.
Item 12 - Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items - Public comment remains at the end of meetings, despite hundreds of requests for President Morgan to restore public comment on non-agenda items to the start of open session allowing students, families, staff, and community members to address their elected officials directly.
How to Support FUEL:
Attend in person: Thurston Middle School Library, 2100 Park Avenue. Open session at 6:00 p.m. Please join us in person to see what occurs in our School Board hearings. Help us be in the room and witness what occurs in full from the Dias.
Have a question? Reach out to us. Email FUEL Board
FUEL, Families Unified for Education in Laguna, was formed by Laguna Beach parents who witnessed conduct at the December 2024 board meeting that raised serious concerns about governance, tone, and accountability. We came together to provide an organized, informed, and fact-based parent voice in our district.
Our mission is to champion student success and elevate our school district to the highest standard of excellence. We track board actions, explain decisions clearly, and share accurate information so our community understands what is happening in our schools. We are parents, grandparents, educators, neighbors, and residents. We welcome conversation and community engagement.
A 501(c)(4) structure allows us to do this work fully and transparently, with the compliance and reporting obligations we welcome.
