Superintendent Transition — Did the Board Follow Its Own Rules?

In three days in May 2026, the LBUSD Board ended one superintendent's contract (Jason Glass, May 12) and appointed another (Don Austin, May 14), both by 3-2 votes in closed session. The dispute is whether that firing-and-hiring complied with the District's OWN adopted board policies — the rule against terminating a superintendent without cause at a short-notice 'special' meeting (BP 2121), the requirement of a yearly performance review first (BP 2140), the step-by-step hiring process (BP 2120), and outside-employment disclosure (BP 4136/4236/4336, re: Austin's SimpleWins business). A parent, Prudence (Prue) Wyman, filed a 45-item Public Records Act request on May 18 seeking the documents that would prove compliance either way; the District has not responded on the record. Erika Rule's June 3 article reports on it.

On this page

Explain it like I'm 5

In one week, the school board ended the schools' boss's job and hired a new one — both decided in private meetings, each by a 3-to-2 vote. The board has its own written rulebook that says things like: you can't fire the boss at a quick last-minute meeting, you have to give the boss a report card first, and hiring should take weeks with interviews and reference checks. Here the whole thing took two days. So the real question is simple — did the board follow its own rules? A parent sent a long list of questions asking exactly that, basically: 'Show me the paperwork.' Nobody's accusing anyone of a crime. But if the answer to 'where are the records?' is 'there aren't any,' that itself shows a step got skipped.

Settled — not in dispute

On May 12, 2026, the Board voted 3-2 in a special-meeting closed session to end Superintendent Jason Glass's employment (~10 months into his tenure).
On May 14, 2026, the Board voted 3-2 in closed session to appoint Don Austin as the new superintendent; no vote count was reported out publicly.
In a May 14 written reply to parent Prudence Wyman, Board President Sheri Morgan stated the closed-session agenda was 'originally incorrect' and was corrected by the District's legal team.
On May 18, 2026, Wyman filed a 45-item Public Records Act request seeking the records that would show whether the District followed its own adopted policies.

Contested — the framing question

Whether the three-day firing-and-hiring actually complied with the District's own adopted Board Policies (a yearly evaluation before termination, the no-special-meeting-termination rule, the full hiring process, outside-employment disclosure), or whether one or more of those steps was skipped — which the records, once produced, would show either way.

How the sides frame this

The Board acted within its authority

board-majority-aligned

Hiring and firing the superintendent is the Board's job, and personnel decisions are properly made in closed session. The Board has the legal power to act, the contracts are public, and the appointment vote happened. (Note: as of June 2026 the Board has not responded on the record to the specific policy-compliance questions, so this framing is the general position implied by its conduct, not a documented rebuttal.)

The Board may have skipped its own rules

board-minority-aligned

The May 12 firing and May 14 hiring may have departed from the District's OWN adopted policies — BP 2121 (no without-cause termination at a special meeting), BP 2140 (annual evaluation required first), BP 2120 (the full search-and-selection process), and BP 4136/4236/4336 (outside-employment approval, re: Austin's SimpleWins coaching business). The point: the Board adopted these rules itself, so it can't claim they don't apply. Parent Prudence Wyman's 45-item records request is the instrument for testing this; it also surfaces Board President Morgan's written admission that the meeting agenda was 'originally incorrect,' and asks whether the May 14 meeting video was edited.

Public Records Act Request — Superintendent Transition (45 items) — Prudence Wyman (LBUSD parent)

The rulebook scorecard

You can't fire the superintendent without cause at a last-minute "special" meeting BP 2121

Glass was removed 3-2 at a special meeting on May 12. The announcement called it a "mutual separation."

Disputed — for cause?
Give the superintendent a yearly performance review first (a single signed document) BP 2140

Glass served about ten months; no signed evaluation is evident in the public record.

No record shown
Hiring follows a multi-week process: advertise, interview several candidates, check references BP 2120

Austin was hired two days after Glass was let go.

Records requested
Employees must disclose and get approval for outside jobs BP 4136/4236/4336

Austin owns SimpleWins, a superintendent-coaching business.

Records requested
Only designated people may issue official announcements BP 1100 / 1112

The appointment announcement went out about 37 minutes after the private vote.

See Austin Appointment

Each row is a policy the Board adopted itself. 'Where it stands' is the point: nothing reads 'Followed,' because the documents that would confirm compliance haven't been produced. A records request (filed May 18, 2026) is the tool being used to fill the column in.

The short version

Over three days in May 2026, the LBUSD Board ended one superintendent’s job and hired another:

May 12 — the Board voted 3-2, in a private “closed session” at a special meeting, to end Superintendent Jason Glass’s employment, about ten months into his tenure.
May 14 — the Board voted 3-2 in closed session to appoint Don Austin as the new superintendent. The public announcement did not say what the vote was.

The Board clearly has the authority to hire and fire the superintendent. The question this page is about is narrower: when it did both in three days, did it follow its own written rulebook — the Board Policies the Board itself adopted?

The scorecard above lays each rule next to what happened. The honest answer to most of them right now is “we don’t know yet,” because the documents that would settle them haven’t been released. A parent, Prudence (Prue) Wyman, filed a 45-item public-records request on May 18 to pry those documents loose — so the request is best understood as the tool for answering the question, not the controversy itself.

Two things the request already surfaced

The Board President admitted the agenda was wrong. In a written reply to Wyman on May 14 (9:43 a.m.), President Sheri Morgan wrote that she “noted originally it was incorrect, and had our legal team direct staff accordingly” about the agenda — an acknowledgment, in her own words, that the meeting agenda for the appointment had to be corrected.
The request asks whether the meeting video was edited. A whole section seeks the original, unedited recording of the May 14 meeting, any edited versions, who made the edits, and exactly what was removed — and, if there is no original, when it was lost and on whose authority.

Why “show me the paperwork” is the whole point

Most of the 45 items end the same way: if you have no records, say so in writing. That turns the request into a simple test. If the District produces the evaluation, the reference checks, the disclosure forms — the rules were followed. If the answer is “no such records exist,” then the step was skipped. Either way, the documents settle it.

How this fits with the other controversies

The same three days are looked at from three different angles on this site, and it helps to keep them straight:

This page asks the did-they-follow-the-written-policies question (BP 2120 / 2121 / 2140 / 4136).
Glass Departure asks the what-do-we-call-it question — a mutual separation, or a board-driven removal dressed up as one?
Austin Appointment asks the was-it-decided-in-advance question — anchored on the ~37-minute gap between the private vote and the public announcement.

All three — along with the closed-session pattern, the bylaw 9310/9322 changes, and the graduation-venue lane fight — are instances of one recurring question about this Board majority: does it govern within the rules it is bound by? This page is the superintendent-transition slice of that larger pattern.

What’s still open

As of early June 2026, the District had not produced the records and had not responded on the record to the policy-compliance questions. So nothing here is proven — these are questions, not findings. The answers (or the absence of answers) are what will show whether the three-day transition followed the District’s own rules.

Sources, events & open questions (11)

Open questions (6)

Did the Board conduct the annual performance evaluation that BP 2140 requires before ending Glass's employment? He served about ten months; the request asks for the signed evaluation document, and notes none is evident.
Was the May 12 termination 'for cause' or 'without cause'? BP 2121 says the Board shall not terminate the superintendent without cause at a special or emergency meeting — and May 12 was a special meeting. The records would show which it was.
What does the step-by-step BP 2120 hiring record show for a two-day appointment — advertising, multiple candidate interviews, reference checks, qualification verification?
Did Austin file the outside-employment disclosure BP 4136/4236/4336 requires for his ownership of SimpleWins (a business that coaches superintendents), and did the Board evaluate it?
Was the May 14 meeting video edited, and if so, what was removed and on whose instruction? The request devotes a full section to the original vs. any edited recording.
What did the District's response to the records request say — and for any item where it answers 'no records exist,' does that confirm the step was skipped?