Laguna Beach school board tables multiple policy items, schedules governance workshop

The Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education voted Oct. 23 to postpone several board-policy items and to convene a separate governance workshop to review those policies.

Board President Perry called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. A board member proposed tabling board policies so the meeting could concentrate on restorative justice and student-related issues; that proposal was moved into a formal motion to postpone items 10(b) through 10(j).

The board debated whether some California School Boards Association (CSBA) model policies were routine enough to handle quickly or whether the full set should be discussed in a workshop. Member Kelly said Member Morgan’s motion "comes as a surprise to me" but also acknowledged that it reflected concerns she shared, and she noted that counsel had provided legal guidance at a Sept. 18 workshop that some members had not followed at the subsequent meeting. Supporters of the postponement argued a dedicated policy workshop would allow holistic review and better governance.

After discussion, the chair called a vote. Multiple members responded "Aye," and the motion to table the policies and schedule a governance/policy workshop was declared passed.

The board did not specify new dates for the workshop during the public record of this meeting. The motion as recorded in the transcript listed Member Morgan as the mover; the transcript records a second but does not identify the seconder by name.

Next steps: the board will schedule the governance workshop to review the tabulated policies and return the items to a future meeting for action.