{"id":318534,"date":"2026-05-16T06:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/318534\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T06:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:37:14","slug":"48-hours-of-chaos-critics-react-as-lbusd-names-new-superintendent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/318534\/","title":{"rendered":"’48 hours of chaos’: Critics react as LBUSD names new superintendent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two days after Laguna Beach Unified School District\u2019s Board of Education reached a mutual separation agreement<\/a> with District Supt. Jason Glass, district officials announced Thursday that Don Austin has been selected as the incoming superintendent.<\/p>\n

Austin, who most recently held the same role in the Palo Alto Unified School District for eight years, resigned from that post in February, according to reports. At his last job, Austin led a district of more than 10,000 students and 1,500 employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Austin is an outstanding communicator and leader,\u201d LBUSD Board President Sheri Morgan said. \u201c[He] is in high demand as he wraps up his time at Palo Alto. Securing him on July 1 is a win for our district. Dr. Austin\u2019s proven leadership will help us drive significant academic progress, maintain fiscal responsibility and improve governance and planning, especially during these complex times.\u201d<\/p>\n

A board majority comprising Morgan, Dee Perry and Howard Hills voted 3-2 on Tuesday to execute a separation agreement with Glass, still in the first year of a four-year contract<\/a> that paid him a base salary of $435,000.<\/p>\n

Glass was placed on paid administrative leave until his official resignation on May 31. The board during Thursday\u2019s meeting appointed Manoj Roychowdhury, the district\u2019s assistant superintendent of business services, as interim superintendent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all liked him a lot,\u201d Hills said of Glass. \u201cHe\u2019s a great guy, and he had some very, very strong qualifications as an educator and a lot to offer in that regard, but I think it was difficult for him to put those strengths to good use in a situation where there was so much political strife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glass\u2019 departure served to fan the flames of critics, many of whom demonstrated outside of and packed the meeting room at Thurston Middle School on Thursday. Signs questioning the superintendent\u2019s removal and pointing to the upcoming election were placed on the bookshelves in the library where the board met in open session.<\/p>\n

Things got heated in the initial 20-minute public comment period, during which a mix of students, parents and teachers criticized the board majority\u2019s decision-making and ability to lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teachers deserve stability,\u201d one speaker said. \u201cOur teachers deserve support. Our families deserve transparency, and this community deserves leadership grounded in integrity, not politics. The greater Laguna Beach community is now paying attention, and people will remember the choices being made here. And finally, you have unleashed the fury of 1,000 moms \u2014 good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

A video shared with the Daily Pilot showed children joining in on chants of \u201cshame on you\u201d as Perry entered the room.<\/p>\n

Reached by phone on Friday, Hills said he felt that particular display was \u201coff-putting to a lot of people in the community,\u201d but he was optimistic Austin would be a uniting force.<\/p>\n

Austin served as principal of Laguna Beach High from 2006 to 2011. From there, he became the assistant superintendent of educational services in the Huntington Beach Union High School District (2011-2014), then the superintendent of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District (2014-2018).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if anybody can bring us together, it\u2019s Dr. Austin,\u201d Hills said. \u201cI have never turned my back on anybody from the opposition. I\u2019ve never turned my back on any of our critics. I\u2019ve always tried to speak to the merits of issues, and sometimes it\u2019s kind of hard, because it\u2019s gotten very personal, but I just think Laguna has a lot of character, and I think Dr. Austin\u2019s going to bring out the best in all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A district-issued statement credited Austin for \u201cstrengthening student achievement, supporting mental health services, developing sustainable budgets, building leadership teams and improving district systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI take great pride in helping talented people see more in themselves, prepare for greater responsibility and step into leadership with confidence,\u201d Austin said in a news release. \u201cThe best organizations are built by people who trust each other, tell the truth, stay focused and keep students at the center.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laguna Beach Unified Faculty Assn. President Scott Wittkop, speaking during a staff report at Thursday\u2019s meeting, referred to the time that had elapsed since the parting of the ways with Glass as \u201c48 hours of chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board owns this new decision as a group,\u201d Wittkop said. \u201cThis cannot be wrong. I implore you to let our new superintendent do his job. I felt like the last one did not get that opportunity, so I implore all five of you to give him a shot. He is definitely more than qualified to run this district. I know him personally, and I know that he loves Laguna Beach. I know that he loves this district. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI also ask the community \u2014 FUEL (Families United for Education in Laguna), Sensible Laguna and everybody else \u2014 let\u2019s work together to make this district what it is and what it should be,\u201d the union president continued. \u201cWe cannot survive another 18 months of what we\u2019ve gone through. I just ask everybody, let\u2019s be optimistic. \u2026 I have hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two days after Laguna Beach Unified School District\u2019s Board of Education reached a mutual separation agreement with District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[133044,15629,7833,46228,133043,133045,7659,67,2500,131,133,132,1741,592,4574,10384,2429,315],"class_list":["post-318534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-board-majority","tag-chaos","tag-critic","tag-district-official","tag-don-austin","tag-dr-austin","tag-glass","tag-hill","tag-leadership","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-lot","tag-people","tag-student","tag-teacher","tag-thursday","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}