A community waiting for answers
The LBUSD Superintendent Transition: What We Know
Dear FUEL Community,
Since the May 12 and May 14 board meetings, we have heard from hundreds of parents, educators, alumni, and community members. The response has been overwhelming, and it has reinforced what we already knew: this community cares deeply about its schools.
Over the past two weeks, we have spent our time listening, researching, and reviewing what has been shared with us. We are sharing what we have learned because transparency matters, and because this community deserves to understand how we arrived at this moment.
Important Note - Let's show up together this Thursday, June 4. We are asking this board for transparency and proper process, and we have the chance to do exactly that when the meeting turns to board business.
A Pattern That Led to This Moment
What happened on May 12 and May 14 did not come out of nowhere. For 18 months, this board majority has made consequential decisions to consolidate power with minimal public input, or in direct disregard of it. Requests for transparency have been met with silence. Actions that belong in open session have happened in closed session.
What many parents, staff, and community members are reacting to is not one decision. It is the cumulative weight of 18 months of governance that has moved away from transparency and toward unilateral control. This has been the pattern of the board majority.
Three superintendents and a CTO have departed. The board majority granted the board president sole control of agendas. Public comment was pushed to the end of meetings for four months. Legal costs have increased significantly. Staff unions issued a vote of no confidence, and teachers marched publicly for the first time in four decades.
The concern is that, taken together, these actions have eroded trust across a wide cross-section of this community, a loss of trust that came into sharp focus over the course of 48 hours.
Superintendent Instability
On May 12, the board majority voted 3-2 to end Dr. Glass's tenure at a special meeting called with 24 hours notice. Ten months into a four-year contract. In closed session. The separation agreement is now a public record.
Forty-eight hours later, on May 14, the same majority voted 3-2 to appoint a permanent new superintendent, Don Austin, at another special meeting. Also in closed session. An interim superintendent was installed in the same window.
Three superintendent positions were decided on during back-to-back closed-session decisions, with no public search, no posted selection criteria, and no community input. Just under one year earlier, Dr. Glass was hired through a four-month nationwide search that included stakeholder engagement and a documented process consistent with Board Policy 2120. This time, that level of transparency was absent. The community was given no meaningful role in one of the most important decisions a school board can make.
And then this. At 6:02 p.m. on May 14, Board President Morgan sent a fully drafted press release from her district email account with the instruction: "For immediate release." That email is public record and includes direct quotes from both President Morgan and Dr. Austin.
Twenty-seven minutes later, families received a ParentSquare message announcing the new superintendent while many were still arriving to speak during public comment. The timeline speaks for itself, and it is difficult to see how this outcome was not predetermined.
This is how President Morgan and the board majority are governing our district: major decisions emerge suddenly, move quickly, and are approved by the same three-vote majority with little transparency or public involvement. How did President Morgan move with such confidence to think her press release would mirror a closed session deliberation?
A Community In The Dark
This is not about Don Austin. He comes from a long tenure in Palo Alto and has a history in LBUSD schools, and some in Laguna Beach remember his previous service fondly and are genuinely excited to see him return. At the same time, we have heard concerns from members of the Palo Alto community based on their own experiences, and his departure there has been the subject of public reporting. These are not reasons to prejudge anyone. They are exactly the kinds of questions a transparent search would have allowed our community to weigh openly.
Because the board majority bypassed a public search, the community was denied the chance to understand how this decision was made. Were multiple candidates considered? Were qualifications and selection criteria established and documented? Was a formal recruitment process conducted? When did discussions with Dr. Austin begin? How was he identified as the sole candidate?
There is a deeper question the board has never answered: not how Dr. Austin was chosen, but why this transition was necessary at all. No public reason was ever given for ending Dr. Glass's tenure. We do not know what the board was asking of him, what he was or was not willing to do, or what need this sudden change was meant to address, because the reasoning has remained behind closed doors. The community is being asked to accept a wholesale change in leadership without ever understanding what drove it.
That is unfair not only to the community, but also to Dr. Austin. A proper search would have given him the opportunity to earn the confidence of the broader community and begin his tenure with a strong foundation of trust. Instead, the board majority's approach has left unanswered questions where transparency and confidence should have been.
There is also the matter of timing. According to a settlement agreement obtained and reported by Palo Alto Online, Dr. Austin and the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Education reached a mutual separation in February 2026, under which Dr. Austin continues to serve Palo Alto Unified as superintendent emeritus, a transitional advisory role, through June 30. His appointment in Laguna Beach is effective July 1. The community was given no opportunity to understand or ask about this through any public process.
President Morgan has cc’d FUEL on emails stating that Dr. Austin participated in last year's superintendent search but was not selected. If that is the case, what changed? A year later, the district and its needs are different. Rather than conducting a new search, the board majority presented the community with a decision and no explanation of how it was reached.
What Comes Next On June 4
The agenda for Thursday, June 4 shows the board working to formalize what it has already decided.
Before the board returns to closed session to negotiate and confirm the appointment, it has placed an open-session item, titled "Discussion and Applicability of Board Policy 2120." Board Policy 2120 is the district's own superintendent search policy. Discussing whether the policy "applies" is not the same as following it. Placing that discussion on the same agenda where the appointment is finalized, after the decision has already been made and announced, does not substitute for the process the policy requires.
From there, the agenda moves directly to the contracts. The board is asked to approve a contract for the interim superintendent and a contract for Dr. Austin. Neither contract is attached to the agenda for public review. The community is being asked to accept multi-year contracts for the people who will lead this district without being shown the salary, the length, the benefits, or the terms. On the same agenda, a routine technology labor contract and a long-range facilities plan are both posted in full. The two most consequential commitments are not.
Accountability Efforts Underway
Community members have taken independent action. FUEL did not file these. We share them because transparency matters.
A formal cure and correct demand was filed under the Brown Act calling on the board to rescind the Austin appointment and conduct a proper superintendent search. A comprehensive Public Records Act request was filed seeking records about the hiring process, conflict of interest disclosures, the Glass separation, and the original unedited recording of the May 14 meeting. Additional written demands have been submitted by community members citing policy violations and requesting transparency. These items along with other concerns have been shared with us and we believe it is our responsibility to share them with you. The board has not publicly acknowledged or addressed the concerns these filings raise.
A Failure of Governance
Perhaps none of these actions will change the decisions that have already been made. But that is not the point. The point is that a high-performing district like Laguna Beach should not find itself in a position where parents, staff, and community members feel compelled to file legal demands simply to obtain answers, enforce transparency, or insist that established policies and procedures be followed.
Strong boards do not operate at the edge of legal boundaries. They do not disregard their own policies. They do not repeatedly shut out the communities they were elected to serve. The responsibility to change course does not rest with parents, staff, or community members. It rests solely with the board majority.
FUEL will continue to hold them accountable. We will do it with facts, documentation, and the voices of the community they were elected to serve. Thank you to every parent, educator, staff member, alumnus, and community member who has engaged, asked questions, shared information, and helped us do this work. We are grateful to stand alongside you. There is real work ahead to restore transparency and trust in this district, and we intend to do it alongside you.
Board Meeting Thursday June 4
First Closed Session 4:30 p.m.
Pre-Recognition Entertainment 5:30 p.m.
Recognition 6:00 p.m.
First Open Session Follows Recognition
Second Closed Session Follows
Second Open Session Follows
Thurston Middle School Library, 2100 Park Avenue, Laguna Beach
The business portion of the meeting, including the discussion of Board Policy 2120, Facility Master Plan Updates, and the votes on the superintendent contracts, follows the recognitions.
Join Us
Wednesday, June 3 - LBUSD Elementary Recognitions at Thurston Middle School
Thursday, June 4 - LBUSD Secondary Recognitions and Board Meeting at Thurston Middle School
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