LBUSD's Superintendent Shortcut
A Public Record for Laguna Schools (publicrecordlaguna.com)
- Published:
- 2026-06-02
- Retrieved:
- 2026-06-02
Pre-meeting op-ed published ahead of the June 4, 2026 board meeting, built around the agendized item "Discussion and Applicability of Board Policy 2120." Rule reads the "applicability" framing as the board majority preparing to argue that the 2025 Leadership Associates superintendent search — which selected Jason Glass and reportedly included Don Austin in its vetted pool — already satisfied BP 2120, so no fresh search was required for Austin's 2026 appointment. She argues a year-old candidate pool does not discharge BP 2120's enumerated search-and-selection elements for a new appointment, and lists what the board would need to show for the prior search to count (updated post-Palo Alto reference checks, any current Leadership Associates role, when Austin became an active candidate, why he was not selected in 2025). Brackets the argument with two California comparisons: Oakland Unified 2024-25 (cautionary closed-session-driven separation) and San Diego Unified 2013 (the lone no-search appointment — Cindy Marten — that succeeded). The agenda reading and the predicted board argument are Rule's; both are flagged in the piece as pending verification against the official BoardDocs agenda and the June 4 discussion.
Key points
- Built around the June 4, 2026 agenda item "Discussion and Applicability of Board Policy 2120," placed before a closed session for superintendent appointment and labor negotiations and followed by open-session approval of contracts for the interim superintendent and Dr. Don Austin.
- Reads the "applicability" framing as a tell: the board did not agendize "superintendent appointment" or "superintendent search" but the "applicability" of BP 2120, which Rule argues signals the majority will claim the prior search already discharged the policy.
- States BP 2120 requires the board to "establish and implement a search and selection process" spanning district needs, desired characteristics, search scope, internal and external candidates, stakeholder involvement, advertising and recruitment, screening, interviews, reference checks, and transition planning — none of which, she argues, a year-old pool automatically supplies for a new appointment.
- Restates the February timeline: a February 20 Austin departure date from Palo Alto USD, an unscheduled February 26 closed-session review of Glass six days later, and a reported pattern of closed-session agenda items avoiding the superintendent job title until Glass's May 12 removal.
- Quotes Sheri Morgan's description of "securing and appointing Don" as a win for the district, made before the board had publicly considered and approved his contract.
- Brackets the argument with Oakland Unified (a 4-3 closed-session "voluntary separation" that drew ACLU Brown Act criticism, a suspended $150,000 search contract, and ongoing instability) and San Diego Unified 2013 (Bill Kowba's retirement and the next-day no-search appointment of principal Cindy Marten, who later became U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education).
Cited by 3 events
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the Board did not simply agendize "superintendent appointment" or "superintendent search," it agendized the "applicability" of BP 2120, which suggests the Board is preparing to explain either how the policy applies to what it has already done or why the full policy does not require the current search process the community might expect.
Erika Hennon Rule op-ed published 2026-06-02 at publicrecordlaguna.com, LBUSD's Superintendent Shortcut. Rule's reading of the June 4 agenda framing; the predicted board argument is her inference, pending the June 4 discussion.
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My concern is the route that brought him here. Sheri Morgan's description of "securing and appointing Don" as a win for the district, made before the Board had publicly considered and approved his contract, only feeds the perception that the decision had already happened and that the public process was being arranged around it.
Erika Hennon Rule op-ed published 2026-06-02 at publicrecordlaguna.com, LBUSD's Superintendent Shortcut.
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If the February 20 departure date for Dr. Austin's is correct, then just six days later, on February 26, LBUSD held an unscheduled closed-session review of Dr. Glass.
Erika Hennon Rule op-ed published 2026-06-02 at publicrecordlaguna.com, LBUSD's Superintendent Shortcut. Rule ties the Feb 20 Palo Alto departure to the Feb 26 unscheduled Glass review six days later.