Hathaway takes helm of school board

El Hathaway was voted in as president of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education at its Tuesday meeting.

An eight-year school board veteran, Hathaway also is a past SchoolPower president, and is also on the board of directors for the Laguna Relief and Resource Center.

Hathaway, who also has served as board president in the past, has a master’s degree in organizational management.

He has announced that this is his final year on the board; his son Trever is a senior at Laguna Beach High School.

He takes the mantle from Betsy Jenkins, whom he credited with maintaining a smooth district during her one-year tenure.

Jenkins led the board during the search for and hiring of its new superintendent, Robert Fraisse, and has witnessed improvements in student attrition and fitness during her presidency.

“She has always put what is best for the children of Laguna Beach first,” Hathaway said, before presenting Jenkins with her own gavel.

“I truly have never seen anyone who loves the gavel as much as you,” board member Jan Vickers told Jenkins, who often was affectionately lampooned for her fondness for the order-keeping device during her time in the office.

“The best part of serving on the board has been my fellow board members,” Jenkins said.

“I was a newborn member, and you were a huge help to me,” said board member Theresa O’Hare.

She cited Jenkins’ ceaseless dedication and willingness to learn, adding that the first thing Jenkins did upon entering office was to take a class on being a board president.

Board member Ketta Brown summed up Jenkins’ leadership in three words: “gracious, inclusive and patient.”

Jenkins also was presented with roses, a framed copy of the resolution honoring her accomplishments, and a framed picture of Jenkins posing with the Stanley Cup, which made an appearance at Laguna Beach High School earlier this year.

Robert Whalen, who served as president before passing the helm to Jenkins, sent her an e-mail tribute, as he was unable to attend the meeting.

“If peace and tranquility are a measure of success, you had my tenure beat hands-down,” he wrote.

Presiding over his first meeting of the new term Tuesday, Hathaway encouraged his fellow board members and district officials to use public meeting time to prepare short discussions on topics of interest to them for regular discussion.

Close to Hathaway’s own heart is the question of whether school districts have a mandate to provide pre-kindergarten instruction.

He also encouraged discussion of other issues such as homework and summer school.