Laguna Beach Unified School District

A View From The Field

 

Good Today, Even Better Tomorrow

 

In a recent article in the real estate section of a major California newspaper, it was emphasized how important it was for homebuyers to purchase property in communities with good school systems. The article’s point of connecting property values to quality schools could not have been more clearly stated. Seen from another angle, Presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle are quick to agree that in large part the future of our country hinges on our ability to build a public education system second to none. Despite the apparent agreement about how vital it is for our country to maintain quality public schools; few would argue that we are showing mixed results if we look at public schooling from a national lens. One key reason for the disconnect between aspirations and results is that the vision for producing great public schools is largely discussed on the state and national stages, while the really hard work of building great schools is a local responsibility. It is a wonderful opportunity, theretofore, to share some thoughts about this community’s local school system.

 

As the new (and proud) Superintendent of Laguna Beach Unified School District, we believe that we are well positioned and uncommonly united in our intent to move an already outstanding school system to even greater heights.  In a recent School Board retreat, our school leaders built a consensus agreement on a framework to build a short-and long-term strategic plan for our school system to ensure that we follow the “continuous improvement” path.  In bottom line terms, we will be working with teachers, parents, students and community members for the remainder of the spring semester to look at each part of our educational program and determine what is working well and what needs to be re-tooled. We will also review best practices of other great school systems in this state and across the nation (public and private) to determine if others have ideas of merit for our improvement agenda. The very good news for our community is that we begin this task with clear evidence that we are already in the upper echelon of public school systems in this state. The fact that both of our elementary schools were recently selected as California Distinguished Schools, and that Laguna Beach High School is the ONLY high school in Orange County this year to receive a National Blue Ribbon nomination underscores the level of success already in place in LBUSD.  

 

I continually hear from parents that the schools in LBUSD are much improved from a decade ago. The fact that our schools are better today than in the past is a high point of pride and a tribute to the staff and parents who worked hard to leave this legacy of school improvement.  More importantly, we want to make sure that we can state with confidence that “as good as our schools are today, they will be even better tomorrow.”  And, as they say, “the devil is in the details.” Accordingly, during the remainder of this school year, I will take advantage of the opportunity to periodically write articles for the News-Post to outline our efforts as we build answers to the compelling question of what constitutes a great education for students in the 21^st century. Keeping the best of our past practices while stretching to find new and better ways to add value to the educational experience for each of our students, is an excitng and important task; one that we take very seriously. I look forward to sharing our progress along the way.

 

Robert Fraisse, Ph.D.

Superintendent of Schools