Bylaw Backlash For Laguna Beach School Board Member

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Dee Perry a retired Laguna Beach teacher who taught for over 20 years in that district anticipated becoming the LBUSD School Board's next president. Instead, the board voted in favor of reinstating Jan Vickers to that role. Perry was the lone dissenting voice in that equation, a vote that passed 3-1.

Last month, the board recommended changing the confusing bylaw, which led Perry to believe she should have been president by rotation, according to the Daily Pilot.

The original bylaw stated:

“After serving one year as clerk, the elected member may serve one year as president of the board. The board intends that all board members will rotate through the sequence of clerk and president.”

The word"may" caused confusion, and at a Tuesday night meeting, the board voted to delete that line of text from the bylaws.

Peggy Wolf, another school board member, stated that clerks don't automatically become president, while Carol Normandin, the current clerk, said Perry should have nominated herself for the role of president at the organization.

Perry didn't "understand how meetings work," The Pilot reported Normandin saying that is "something that should be understood if you want to be president."

According to Perry, following and not changing the bylaws was what she considered the most critical issue.

“I think that not following our own bylaws is taking away confidence in the community, confidence in the board, confidence in the administration,” Perry said.