District ejects six students

Laguna Beach police officers recently visited eight local homes looking for students. The students weren’t truants — they were suspected of attending local schools without authorization.

The routine student residency checks conducted in December revealed that, of the eight homes checked, six were not the residences of students attending Laguna Beach High School.

Those students found to be attending school in the wrong district were ordered to attend their home districts.

The Laguna Beach Police Department sent officers on the day shift to help the district in conducting the checks, which are necessary because of the district’s funding status.

As a basic aid district — almost entirely dependent upon local taxes instead of state funding — Laguna Beach schools only receive funding for students who are within district boundaries, compared to other districts in which funding is determined by the number of seats filled.

The checks were scheduled at the end of the semester and calendar year in an effort to cause as little trauma for the students as possible, said Nancy Hubbell, the district’s assistant superintendent for instructional services.

Since residency checks are also conducted at the end of the school year, the students were able to transition to a new district with less difficulty than if they had to do so mid-semester.

The residency checks are standard procedure, Hubbell said; they have not increased in recent years, nor are there plans to step up efforts.

Rumors have been circulating that more out-of-area students are trying to attend Laguna Beach High in hopes of being “discovered” by MTV for its reality show, “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.”

Hubbell said there have been no such incidences in the district.