SCHOOL BOARD WRAPUP

The following is from Tuesday’s meeting of the Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education.

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Swearing-in

Jan Vickers and Bill Landsiedel were sworn in to the board. Both were returned to the board in a non-contested election that was not placed before voters.

Vickers has served on the board continuously since 2000 and previously held a seat from 1981 to 1987, and again from 1992 to 1996.

Landsiedel had served a term that was vacated when the late K. Turner stepped down due to illness in 2006. He had agreed not to run for reelection in the next consecutive term, and to wait until 2008 to seek a full term.

Landsiedel “” who is assistant chief counsel of the California State Compensation Insurance Fund and holds a teaching credential “” expressed some disappointment that he was not able to campaign and thus place his qualifications before the voters.

“I feel lucky to be here and hope to make a contribution,” he said.

The board voted Vickers as president and Ketta Brown as clerk.

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SchoolPower ‘short of goal’

Jeff Spurlock, president of SchoolPower, the Laguna Beach Education Foundation, presented two checks to the board: $100,000 as a first installment on the organization’s annual gift of $250,000; and $56,925 to provide $200 to each teacher in the district for educational purposes.

Spurlock said fundraising has become more difficult due to the economic downturn.

“We are short of our goal, but are hopeful we will maintain our funding,” Spurlock said. In the fall of 2008, the organization raised almost $500,000 for local education, according to its website.

Supt. Robert Fraisse praised SchoolPower and said the Laguna organization is doing much better than other similar foundations in the state.

“Jeff is humble,” Fraisse said. “SchoolPower is short of its target only because the target is so high. A lot of school foundations have gone out of business this year.”

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Budget balanced

Assistant Supt. for Business Services Norma Shelton told the board in the first interim budget report that the district’s budget is balanced, and has a balance of $81,000, in addition to a reserve fund of 20%.

El Morro roadway

On the issue of the shared entrance road at El Morro Elementary School, Shelton reported that the district-appointed committee had met Nov. 24 with a traffic consultant, Joe Foust of Santa Ana-based Austin-Foust Associates Inc.

Fraisse described a proposed traffic configuration that would allow parents to drop off children at the school roundabout and create a new exit route to the shared roadway.

A public meeting of the advisory committee is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at district headquarters. Minutes of the meeting and other information is posted on the Superintendent’s page at lbusd.org

The next meeting of the Board of Education is 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at district headquarters, 550 Blumont St.

“” Compiled by Cindy Frazier